Can the Tigers make the 8 in 2013?Written by Kiah A Turner.
Newsroom Staff | AFL
Sporting Journal
March 12, 2013 at 9:58 pmIt’s a question supporters have been asking for over a decade.
There is no doubt the Richmond holds one of the strongest playing lists the club has seen for many years and with limited injuries along with one of the fastest midfield in the AFL it is not difficult to see what’s getting fans so excited.
Recent NAB Cup form shows a convincing win over Melbourne, a last minute 4 point loss to North Melbourne (realised as Cotchin, Delideo and Martin relaxed on the bench) and finally a convincing win over a near full strength Essendon.
Despite the Tigers finishing 12th last season, as a result of a number of close placed losses, players, assisting coaches, supporters and board members alike have all expressed their high hopes in coach Damian Hardwick.
In a time when moral and performance can mean life and death with the opening games of the season approaching the last thing any coach needs is negative media attention pulling the playing group down.
The controversy around, key midfielder Dustin Martin who’s been accused of being the ‘unnamed player’ in the AFL doping scandal, has caused frustration at the club. Damian Hardwick, has completely dismissed these rumours and laughed off the suggestion that Martin was almost sacked this pre-season for behavioural incidents outside the club.
In-light of the ACC’s report on Doping in Sport, with limited new information, every rumour must be grasped with both hands in a dog-eat-dog struggle for the breaking story of the day.
All eyes are now turned to new Captain, Trent Cotchin. As the equal second-youngest Captain in the AFL, a great amount of pressure to perform has been placed on the 22-year-old. ’Fresh blood’ seems to be exactly what the Tigers need however, with all new leadership appointments hopes are high that Richmond can earn themselves a finals position in 2013.
Things have dramatically turned for Richmond since the appointment of former player Brendan Gale to the CEO position. Gale unsurprisingly has silenced the critic feeding frenzy of the ninth again stigma and Club’s era of wasteful draft selections.
Through vision and well executed planning, Gale architected the selection and recruitment of a coaching and administrative combination capable of further developing quality draft selections. This in turn has led to generous donations to the Fighting Tiger Fund by both the working class and corporate partners, further strengthening their cause.
There can be no denying that support builds for the Club that now can boast players worthy of the Coleman medal, top two Brownlow medal placing and All Australian selection status.
So will the Tigers make the eight? Given the recent sell out of the Club’s 3,121 membership package which guarantees finals ticket allocation, one could conclude that Richmond supporters have answered their own question and believe that it is Tiger Time.
But with every question answered a new one looms.
So who of last year’s finalist will now miss out?
http://www.sportingjournal.com.au/2013/03/can-the-tigers-make-the-8-in-2013/