Who can step up?

[kendrick]

Well with Nathan Brown out for the year,who is going to fill the gap?

i dont see Richard Tambling being the player he was hyped up to be at the start of the year, Pettifer is good..but not a matchwinner... Krakouer is very hot and cold... im worried we will now go back to the old "kick it to Richo" ways ...

i really hope we dont fall away without Brown...

im still shattered!!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[mightytiges]

Stafford should be back next week so Wallace will be able to revert back his tall "Terry's triangle" forward strategy again. Browny took over from Stafford when he got injured and hsi class made him a matchwinning leading small forward. We don't have anyone that can replicate Browny (there's only one Nathan Brown  ) so I think it would be best for us to modify our forward structure to fit in with what works for the blokes.

Cambo in his prime could have played near goal but he doesn't have the leg speed and acceleration anymore to be a leading forward. I always felt Bowden could have been tried at FF as a surprise tactic but we really need his run and clean delivery off half-back.

Pettifer has been next small forward this year but as you said kendrick he as well as Krakouer are still inconsistent. Pettifer started the season in terms of kicking goals well but that's dried up the last few weeks. Then again if we don't see how a Pettifer or any Tiger with question marks over him will go with added responsibility then we won't really know whether or not they belong on our list.

Deledio is amazingly talented and from what we saw tonight with his contest marking skills could do the job but given he is so young I'm not sure if that's the best path to take for his development. He is capable of playing virtually anywhere so he should be allowed to continue learning the various roles at this level instead of us expecting an 18 year old with only 10 games under his belt no matter how good he is to suddenly win games off his own boot for us stuck in a forward pocket. It'll take a couple more preseasons for him to become a matchwinner  .

Btw welcome aboard OER kendrick.

[PuntRdRoar]

i hope im wrong...but i get the feeling the wheels fell off last night when browny got injured!

[Tiger Spirit]

i hope im wrong...but i get the feeling the wheels fell off last night when browny got injured!

If they did, we’re kidding ourselves that we’ve made any improvement this season.  It’s not the best thing that could ever happen, but it’s not the end of the world either.

Seriously, did we think we were going to win the Premiership?  Some might be smitten by our “structure”, but it doesn’t really mean much when things fall apart under pressure?  And obviously we have other areas to work on before we’re anywhere near being able to compete against and match it with the best.

There’s no use being upset about it and at least now we have a good coaching set up, but obviously not the overall class and ability of the better teams.  But we’re a lot further advanced than in previous seasons and I don’t think we’ll fall off the face of the earth from here, even if we do come back to the field.

Which was probably going to happen anyway, because momentum can carry teams for a few weeks. Our true form is probably somewhere between our best and worst so far this season.

[JohnF]

Well if you just look at the games we've played and won this year, without Brown we would have lost to Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Collingwood, Brisbane and possibly Port Adelaide as well.

We'll be pushing schit uphill to win games for the rest of the year no doubt.

[JohnF]

Hopefully we field this team in the second half of the year:

B:        Jackson        Gaspar         Kellaway           

HB:      Bowden         Hall             Newman

C:        Hartigan         Coughlan      Hyde   

HF:       Deledio         Simmonds     Meyer

FF:       Stafford        Richardson    Tambling     

Foll:      Knobel          Tuck           Johnson

Int:      Campbell, Schulz, Graham, Chaffey/Tivendale/Krakouer

[Tiger Spirit]

Well if you just look at the games we've played and won this year, without Brown we would have lost to Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Collingwood, Brisbane and possibly Port Adelaide as well.

We'll be pushing schit uphill to win games for the rest of the year no doubt.

You could be right JohnF and no doubt Browny adds a lot to the team, and will be missed for many reasons, but we really haven’t improved at all if we’re a one-man team.

The sooner some of the young players gain experience then the sooner we can start to seem some dramatic improvement.

Browny’s 27 and was having his best season, and the way he was playing, he’s pretty much irreplaceable, which will mean that every player has to lift to some degree.

The players who have the ability don’t have the experience just yet and those with experience don't have or may never reach Browny’s level.

It’s going to take a few years for these 18, 19 and 20 year olds to start making a real impact.  But if you’re not winning, it’s at least good to watch their progress.

To an extent, we’re a mish mash at the moment and until we get some real class and depth into the team we’ll struggle in the big time, with or without Browny.

[one-eyed]

Tigers vow to fill void left by Brown
29 May 2005   
Sunday Herald Sun
Jon Ralph

RICHMOND'S forward line has vowed to pick up the slack created by Nathan Brown's injury and not allow the Tigers' year to collapse.

Small forward Kayne Pettifer, likely to be given increased opportunities, said the club had no alternative but to lift in Brown's absence.

"It has got to be me, Andy (Krakouer) and Wayne (Campbell) that have got to step up a bit," Pettifer said.

"It is a massive hole to fill and I don't think you can fill it, but we have to find that extra five or 10 per cent every week.

"He (Brown) is a freak player and he has won us the last two games in the last quarter, so it was a horrific smash.

"He has helped me that much this year and just to see that (the accident replay) is shocking."

Centre half-forward Troy Simmonds said the Tigers would use the Bulldogs' determination to rebound after losing captain Luke Darcy as motivation to keep their season on track.

"The Western Bulldogs lost Darcy a couple of weeks ago and we have got to take a leaf out of that book and just keep our heads up. He is a good player, but we can cover him.

"Hopefully we can keep working at it and someone else will get a chance to step up."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,15437899%255E19771,00.html

[WilliamPowell]

While I am devastred with the Brown injury - I think this will give us a real indication of how much we have improved as not only as a team but a club as well. Good club's tend to thrive in these situations

Without trying to be either flippant, sounding like I am on either No Doz or better yet pethadine , I do think this a great opportunity for one or two of our other players to make a mark.

Whether it be Pettifer, Karkouer, Deledio, Tambling or even a Gilmour there is a great opportunity there for someone. They need to be courageous enough and more importantly be smart enough to say here's my big break (no pun intended ) and grasp it. Sometimes situations like this can make players

[letsgetiton!]

i hope im wrong...but i get the feeling the wheels fell off last night when browny got injured!

thats ok, u give up! i spose the 1/3 greek members will also!!! how week is that!
well im italian and i never give up! one door shuts another opens, one man does not make a team, we have 22 on a feild and have to stick to the game plan!

Geez , brown is fantastic, one of our best players but he uis not the team! wayne campo, deledio, krak, petts can all fill his role, and once bling gets his hammy right he also can

we need stafford to sit in th square 4 the rest of the yr , shultz to be a leading target , richo to do as he does and we need crumbers to be sitting under all our big mens arses, what disapponted me on frid , was every time richo spilled a mark there were no crumbers, if i were a tiger samll fgwd i would spend teh whole game just following richo and backing him ep!

[cub]

Now that I have had time to reflect over the weekend I see it this way. Even though I'm still pretty shattered as Browny was our unofficial captain out on the field marshalling the troops giving people around him confidence and leading by example - Dont think any one player means more to a club than Browny the way he was going.

BUT - Now is the time to see how far we have actually come, 1 player does not make a team the small crumbing types like pettifer and krak need to work that 5 - 10 % harder at the feet of the big boys staff richo simmonds and knobel - Push hard for a chance at playing finals so the guy's get some experience - we have been pretty spoilt so far this season going by the expectations I would say most of us had. 4 - 5 more wins will get us there and that I must admit is more than I hoped for and will give the guys something to go on with in the following years knowing they can do it without browny. Lets hope everything goes OK for Nathan and he gets back next year but it will take him at least 1/2 a season to get back into form so when he is back the boys will be all the better for the experience.

[miastar]

Rory Hilton has only just turned 26 and has played pretty well when he hasn't been injured.

He can play on ball and forward.  Had a big impact against Hawthorn last year I seem to recall.

He is about the only person on the list who has been in the system for a while.  I think he should be given a chance to prove himself and earn his money.

[Roar]

Theres no doubting Browny is a huge loss for us but our goals for this season haven't changed our mission in Terry's 1st year was to be competitive and make the 8 that's still the case, we have won 7 from 10 we now need to win a minimum of 5 from 12 to have a successfull year.

A lot of people have got exited and were eyeing a premiership it was proven against Geelong how far we are away from being top 4 it was confirmed by St.Kilda and again by Melbourne although we were undermanned, anywhere from 5 to 8 will be a fantastic season for us. All these teams have been building for at least 3 years to get where they are and make no mistake all will be top 4 clubs by seasons end.

We are looking at that amount of time before we can reach that level so we need to be patient we are playing kids who will grow and mature as footballers in that time, there will be highs and lows but as long as we can continue to beat those sides that belong below us on the ladder the job will get done.

We don't need to sneek a flag and tail off we want to build a successfull era that can be sustained but if the chance falls our way we won't knock it back, that will depend on our senior group carrying the kids to another level, I don't know they have that in them. 

[letsgetiton!]

Rory Hilton has only just turned 26 and has played pretty well when he hasn't been injured.

He can play on ball and forward.  Had a big impact against Hawthorn last year I seem to recall.

He is about the only person on the list who has been in the system for a while.  I think he should be given a chance to prove himself and earn his money.

i totally agree and he has no fear and goes hard at the ball

[mightytiges]

Theres no doubting Browny is a huge loss for us but our goals for this season haven't changed our mission in Terry's 1st year was to be competitive and make the 8 that's still the case, we have won 7 from 10 we now need to win a minimum of 5 from 12 to have a successfull year.

We said Roar. I think the initial fear was it might have been a career ending injury to Browny so everyone was in shock. If Browny is back on the park by round 1 then as you say our original goals would be unchanged in terms of rebuilding the list and Club over 5 years to bring ongoing on-field success. It's not like we were going to win the flag this year after finishing last in 2004 and with our young list and skill and decision making deficiencies of some of our more senior blokes. So far 2005 has already exceeded all expectations.