Will RFC make the 8 in 2013?

[Jackstar is back!!!]

IMHO and it saddens me to say it but I believe this latest rebuild is on the verge of failure. I say this because a rebuild is supposed to be the basis for a club achieving the ultimate and in AFL Footy that is a premiership. In the game against geelong we only had 3 or 4 players who had played under 50 games of footy Geelong had 9 or 10. Collingwoods stocks of younger players also show more. Essendon for all the question marks have flown past us again. Port seems to have found plenty of young players who seem to find the balls to fight out of a problem. For all the redevelopment we have a bunch of panic merchants in our team, some who have been their for years, we have others who have specialised in turning over the football game in game out for years, our supposed stars never lift when the team is in trouble. We are on the verge of another failed rebuild and its sad for all of us because the only positive that our club has ever had over 30 years is the supporters and the members who year in year out do their bit by buying memberships and supporting the clubs fundraising plans.

Totally agree
Lose this weekend, season over.
Signs arent good
Especially when the coach comes out after 5 rounds and says your best player was Daniel Jackson year to date

[Stripes]

Stripes agreed however a kid like Dea who played footy last year or Batch should play week in wee out.

Yes forgot to mention Dea and Batchelor. I can't see what a player like Petterd offer us that Batchelor doesn't  Batchelor is a far better kick and seem more poised too. Dea also deserves a game and is killing it for Coburg consistently so he meets all the parameters I mentioned.

What you stated about all players being susceptible to ressies football rings loud and clear to me. I agree completely. Tuck and Nahas obviously fell under that criteria so I hope Jackson and Vickery are judged in the smae manner if they continue to disappoint.

Play the kids yes but only when they deserve it. Don't hurry players in to prove a point but when they legitimately deserve a opportunity like Batch, Dea and A.Edwards, give them a chance over a few weeks.

[eliminator]

.......Wouldn't say we are on the verge of failure just yet. The Cats and Pies have many experienced GF players around the youth, so the youth appear to be better than ours because they have more support. Our youth such as Vlastuin, Conca, Martin and the like don't have that experience around them, they have to fight to show what they are made of.

The Cats and the Pies, the players, have been together a long time a lot longer than ours and we have turned over many more players than them in the past few years. If we are in the same boat next year I will be concerned but until then it's not all doom and gloom going forward. A couple of experienced KPP's could mean the world of difference.

Fair call.

[RedanTiger]

It's not leadership, it's confidence.

We have some of the most talented players in the competition - Cotchin, Deledio, Martin, Riewoldt, Maric, Vickery - and they're all playing below standard.

Look at the other clubs. It's not leadership it's confidence.
Collingwood's kids play well not because of their on-field leaders but because of the belief they have instilled in them.
Part of that comes from on-field leaders and the way they treat the kids but mainly it comes from the attitude of the club and most particularly the coaching staff.
same with Port.
Same with Hawthorn.
Same with Geelong.
Same with Essendon.
Same with Sydney.

[Judge Roughneck]

When blokes like Jackson, White, Grigg in the 22 when we have kids that need the game time for development. When the same blokes fail time and time again for two regimes and still get a game ahead of kids like Elton, Dea, Griff, Batch then that hurts.

I can cop losing with kids and losing showing some fight and spirit with kids but when the same old failures keep on failing that is what hurts.

Where are our leaders. Even Cotch has caught the poison it seems.

The rebuild has not failed yet but selecting blokes on a list who have failed before ain't helping the rebuild either.

Reminds me of 1997 to 2001. Middle of the road with kids languishing in the ressies while Ben Moore, Ben Harrison, Lionel Proctor, Craig Biddiscombe, Adam Houlihan were getting games gifted.

No point lauding your depth if you are not going to use it.

Wise words

[tony_montana]

Stripes agreed however a kid like Dea who played footy last year or Batch should play week in wee out.

Yes forgot to mention Dea and Batchelor. I can't see what a player like Petterd offer us that Batchelor doesn't  Batchelor is a far better kick and seem more poised too. Dea also deserves a game and is killing it for Coburg consistently so he meets all the parameters I mentioned.

What you stated about all players being susceptible to ressies football rings loud and clear to me. I agree completely. Tuck and Nahas obviously fell under that criteria so I hope Jackson and Vickery are judged in the smae manner if they continue to disappoint.

Play the kids yes but only when they deserve it. Don't hurry players in to prove a point but when they legitimately deserve a opportunity like Batch, Dea and A.Edwards, give them a chance over a few weeks.

Both of you are spot on

[Judge Roughneck]

Even before the season had starting Hardwicks fetish for playing Pettard over Bachelor and/or Dea is odd and troubling.

[unplugged]

Pettard is a forward.  Hardwicks fetish for playing him in defense is the real concern.  Up and under kicks are fine for shots at goal, not for kicking the ball at half back.  Hardwick likes to free him up to float along half back for his marking ability.  Really doesn't hurt opposition sides in that role.

Batchelor and Dea need to show more.  They strike me as lazy players.  They need to earn their spots.  They need to provide clean skills, run and carry and I can't say I saw that from either of them in the reserves on the weekend.

[rogerd3]

Rebuilds should always be evolving, should never be happy with the status quo.

From what was handed over to  Gale and co, I reckon we have come a fair way but much more needs to be done and the club is always stating this.

Hell we were level pegging with Melbourne when both clubs started, I think at least we have got some structures right at the RFC, thank god we aren't doing a rebuild on top of rebuild as MFC claim to be doing.

Need to start shaking the tree at GWS and GCFC to see what youngsters they can't accommodate, considering they have cherry picked the last few years.

[yellowandback]

We are fixated in recruiting players on football ability alone - no wise heads, no natural leaders apart from Cotch who has it all.
Who is the Nick Maxwell of the back line or the Sam Mitchell of the mids at Richmond?
Where is the support cast to back the leaders on field?
Hartley needs to move beyond the single dimension of statistics nd start measuring leadership and on field initiative - particularly in his free agency choices.
Goddard should have been a lock at Tigerland.
If anyone tries to tell me it's due to salary cap pressure I will pop a cap in their backside!

[WilliamPowell]

Think one of the reasons they went so hard for Chaplin was for his leadership

Ditto Maric

But agree with your point yelloweandblack

[Penelope]

We are fixated in recruiting players on football ability alone - no wise heads, no natural leaders apart from Cotch who has it all.
Who is the Nick Maxwell of the back line or the Sam Mitchell of the mids at Richmond?
Where is the support cast to back the leaders on field?
Hartley needs to move beyond the single dimension of statistics nd start measuring leadership and on field initiative - particularly in his free agency choices.
Goddard should have been a lock at Tigerland.
If anyone tries to tell me it's due to salary cap pressure I will pop a cap in their backside!

Think you will find leadership was a big part in the drafting of  conca and vlastuin. (just dont expect it to show through in their first or second year). not sure about ellis on this front.

I take it from the goddard comment that you dont agree when hardwick said that experience in other sports that have free agencey has shown that when you pinch a high profile player it ultimately leads to the loss of a number of lesser players?

[tony_montana]

We are fixated in recruiting players on football ability alone - no wise heads, no natural leaders apart from Cotch who has it all.
Who is the Nick Maxwell of the back line or the Sam Mitchell of the mids at Richmond?
Where is the support cast to back the leaders on field?
Hartley needs to move beyond the single dimension of statistics nd start measuring leadership and on field initiative - particularly in his free agency choices.
Goddard should have been a lock at Tigerland.
If anyone tries to tell me it's due to salary cap pressure I will pop a cap in their backside!

Think you will find leadership was a big part in the drafting of  conca and vlastuin. (just dont expect it to show through in their first or second year). not sure about ellis on this front.

I take it from the goddard comment that you dont agree when hardwick said that experience in other sports that have free agencey has shown that when you pinch a high profile player it ultimately leads to the loss of a number of lesser players?

Yep Ellis too, they feel with his dad battling cancer from when he was 16 (iirc), he's had to grow up and mature pretty quickly.

[Simonator]

As much as I really hate to say it, I feel Hardwick isn't the man that will lead us to a premiership. As I have said before, I respect him a lot and what he has done for the club, he has turned things around, into the right direction for us. But I feel him as a coach doesn't have the capabilities of leading us to the Flag.

The names of Roos and Choko however are exciting. I am willing to give Hardwick every chance though, but we just need a better, more experienced coach and a flipping hardass one at that, that wont gift players games.

[dwaino]

99% of coaches won't take their clubs to a premiership. Hardwick hasn't shown anything yet to convince me he'll win us a flag any time soon, but he's the best we've had in a long time and will at worst set us up for the future. That's unlike previous coaches who left us worse than when they started.