Who are the players your club can't afford to lose? (AFL site)

[one-eyed]

According to the AFL site it's Chaplin.


RICHMOND - TROY CHAPLIN

Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin are Richmond's stars and the obvious candidates here. However, the Tigers' versatility in attack and growing depth in the midfield leaves them relatively well placed to cover injury to their two biggest names. It's a different story in defence where Chaplin was irreplaceable in 2013 after crossing from Port Adelaide as a free agent. The Tigers boast a number of young tall defenders – including Dylan Grimes, Ben Griffiths and David Astbury – but injuries have plagued the group. Alex Rance has been a consistent presence since 2009, but he was a significantly better player alongside Chaplin. At 195cm, Chaplin often stands the opposition's most dangerous power forward, allowing Rance to peel off his opponent and rebound. Chaplin, who finished third in the Tigers' best and fairest last season, also has the ability to create attack from defence. He is valued at Punt Road as an on-field marshal who improves the players around him, and the 27-year-old will be critical to the Tigers' chances of pushing into the top four this season. - Nathan Schmook 

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-29/who-is-your-clubs-most-important-player

[gerkin greg]

lmao

[Judge Roughneck]

Schmook... schmuck

[Phil Mrakov]

Is Schmook a Jew?

[tiga]

Enter Coach......

He won't be able to resist this tasty morsel

[Diocletian]

Port match last year showed we could win without Cotchin. (Conca didn't play that game either IIRC, leaving Tuck as our only genuine/experienced clearance player and he was injured for most of the second half.) Ruckmen only need be servicable most of the time.Maric was poor last year yet we still finished 6th. Hampson & Stephenson should at least play to that level. We surely have enough forward options to at least cover Riewoldt. Chaplin is our most important player. He has no real understudy, Rance at fullback is as useful as t@s on a bull and Astbury would need to improve ten fold.

[Judge Roughneck]

Lol

[Dice]

Give me a break shmooksy ?
Two words >>
TRENT COTCHIN

This bloke has to star for us to achieve anything next year.

[Diocletian]

Lol

So we didn't beat Port - who were 5-1 at the time with us coming off three straight losses and away from home- without Cotchin? We have a dozen midfielders on our list, with half a dozen more who can rotate through. At least four (Deledio, Ellis, Conca, Martin)  are high quality players - five if you count Vlastuin as a mid. We now have three genuine, experienced ruckmen. We only have one genuine, experienced fullback. Your best player isn't necessarily always your most important.

Clearly some of you have forgotten what an utter shambles our backline was before Chaplin's arrival.

[Stripes]

Up until our last trade period I would have said Maric was our most important player. Now we have Hampson and the Big O actually showed enough to suggest he is a quality reserve. Now, just to throw a spanner in the works, I would suggest Jack is our most irreplaceable player. He was our number one forward target and created the most goals for our team through goal assists. He has the X factor which can not be coached and is always difficult to match up on whether he is deep forward or half half forward.

Without Jack we would not score anywhere near the same amount either straight off his own boot or through his assisting actions.

[the claw]

theres 4 players we cant afford to lose at anytime. chaplin. riewoldt, maric, cotchin.
riewoldt - there is no other player on our list who can play kpf and consistently kick goals the way jack has. if he goes down who comes in. mcbean elton, maybe griffiths or astbury. trouble is the last two have been developed down back in recent times while the first two need a lot of development.

chaplin - without chaplin two seasons ago we didnt have an effective defensive kpd. atm there is only one other on the entire list in rance who has shown hes remotely capable of holding down a key defensive post.

maric - we dont have another rruckman who has remotely performed to ivans level. we all hope the underwhelming hampson will become a good player.

cotchin - well we dont run real deep in  midfield depth but we arent thread bare either. anyway  to lose our best mid and player while not as damaging as losing the others he cant really be replaced with a real high quality player.

[(•))(©™]

I am a tad concerned. with the fact Hampson hasn't played football for 7 years

[YellowandBlackBlood]

I am a tad concerned. with the fact Hampson hasn't played football for 7 years

Great.  He'll be exceptionally fresh then!

[1980 I Was There]

I am a tad concerned. with the fact Hampson hasn't played football for 7 years

Just what I was thinkin too 

[dwaino]

We did alright without Cotchin all last season.