Richmond vs W.Bulldogs @ Etihad - Round 3, 2014

[Hellenic Tiger]

Problem is the players have been taught to be unselfish. Why inhibit Dusty for instance from 50 to go short into a pocket when his natural instinct is to run carry and kick long. Basically not using gis assets. Yet we can be selfish in other areas leaving too much to too few. When we are hot Jack needs to sit close to goal no ifs or butts.

Vickery is not a footballers ahole. Enough of the excuses if in his 6th season he cannot make consistent positive impact. Griff has gone past him IMHO. Has been great at both ends in all 3 games.

We play with no flair because we are taught that way. Whilst we were rebuilding it was nice to see our blokes showcase their talent whereas to me Dimma has instilled a safe brand of football that inhibits natural flair and ability to grab a game from the scruff of the neck.

Furthermore the continual selections of Newman and Grigg as two examples are horrific. Grigg's turnover in the third just as we were mounting a comeback missing a target from 20 was football suicide. Kids like Gordo come in and do the right thing so I was happy with the kid.

Titch is another who time and time again just does not do enough. The quality of a player is based on how you can play also when the chips are down. We just have very few and to me losing Vlas just compounded this.

It seems the brand of footy we are playing is taking us backwards from where we were in 2012 . Sure we lost close games but with natural progression, maturity and development you would expect that we would have the ability to rectify this 2 years on.

The other argument for the naysayers depending on where you sit is we have reached a stage of our development were growth has plateued and over the next few months based on performance will show whether we peaked in 2013 or there is plenty of growth left in this group. Which means that this year remains consolidating in the 8 and next year 2016 we are looking for the ultimate prize. Yet I see that Nought, West Coast, Essendon, Gold Coast who didn't play finals last year are already ahead of us this year at this stage.

Lamentably though I feel that Dimma has done well upto now but how good a coach he is depends on whether we can make top 4 and challenge and sadly I don't think he can given the amount of kids and talent he has at his disposal. We need to turn over blokes like Grigg, Edwards, Newman plus a few more whether by trade or just natural attrition to further upgrade the list.

Leaders need to stand up 2010-12 were the years were we had reasons in our failures. Failure in 2014 is not an option and I am hoping last year was not a tokenistic finals series appearance that then in the subsequent years plunged the club into disarray.

One might also start to question whether the timing of Demetriou's resignation and the possible recruitment of Benny Gale to the AFL top job has something to do with any instability?

As for Brando I can forgive him but boy he owes his mates and us over the next few weeks.
As for the team they should never have been in that position in the first place.

I'm angry and upset over the result but life goes on.

Good to see you posting again   

Thanks pal. Nothing like the footy to bring us to the boil.

Problem is the players have been taught to be unselfish. Why inhibit Dusty for instance from 50 to go short into a pocket when his natural instinct is to run carry and kick long. Basically not using gis assets. Yet we can be selfish in other areas leaving too much to too few. When we are hot Jack needs to sit close to goal no ifs or butts.

Vickery is not a footballers ahole. Enough of the excuses if in his 6th season he cannot make consistent positive impact. Griff has gone past him IMHO. Has been great at both ends in all 3 games.

We play with no flair because we are taught that way. Whilst we were rebuilding it was nice to see our blokes showcase their talent whereas to me Dimma has instilled a safe brand of football that inhibits natural flair and ability to grab a game from the scruff of the neck.

Furthermore the continual selections of Newman and Grigg as two examples are horrific. Grigg's turnover in the third just as we were mounting a comeback missing a target from 20 was football suicide. Kids like Gordo come in and do the right thing so I was happy with the kid.

Titch is another who time and time again just does not do enough. The quality of a player is based on how you can play also when the chips are down. We just have very few and to me losing Vlas just compounded this.

It seems the brand of footy we are playing is taking us backwards from where we were in 2012 . Sure we lost close games but with natural progression, maturity and development you would expect that we would have the ability to rectify this 2 years on.

The other argument for the naysayers depending on where you sit is we have reached a stage of our development were growth has plateued and over the next few months based on performance will show whether we peaked in 2013 or there is plenty of growth left in this group. Which means that this year remains consolidating in the 8 and next year 2016 we are looking for the ultimate prize. Yet I see that Nought, West Coast, Essendon, Gold Coast who didn't play finals last year are already ahead of us this year at this stage.

Lamentably though I feel that Dimma has done well upto now but how good a coach he is depends on whether we can make top 4 and challenge and sadly I don't think he can given the amount of kids and talent he has at his disposal. We need to turn over blokes like Grigg, Edwards, Newman plus a few more whether by trade or just natural attrition to further upgrade the list.

Leaders need to stand up 2010-12 were the years were we had reasons in our failures. Failure in 2014 is not an option and I am hoping last year was not a tokenistic finals series appearance that then in the subsequent years plunged the club into disarray.

One might also start to question whether the timing of Demetriou's resignation and the possible recruitment of Benny Gale to the AFL top job has something to do with any instability?

As for Brando I can forgive him but boy he owes his mates and us over the next few weeks.
As for the team they should never have been in that position in the first place.

I'm angry and upset over the result but life goes on.

Great post Don

But you're very forgiving

Not in the mood for forgiving Ellis, his refusal to go the mark was ..well.... Soft...happened right in front of me..was an easy chest mark if .not going to go there....  cost us the game. That and our happy handball fetish on the half forward line when we hit the front when we should have been locking down the play and forcing stoppages

Yep agreed on the handballing and yes was sitting bottom level aisle 46 and Ellis was woeful there.
For me WP if the kid learns from this and never does that again then the lesson whilst being an expensive one as we know will be worth it. Can't do anything about that passage now other than Brando or anyone else ensuring they never let what happened today happens again.

All today means is we have to beat a Collingwood or Geelong in the next month to make up for today
Win one we don't expect to win.

[Chuck17]

It didn't go over someones head, it was cut off. Would have hit Jackson on the tit had it not been spoiled. Poor decision but doesn't have anything to do with his leadership.

Trent is a great leader for our club. Our best player and one of the leagues finest. A fearless warrior

Fact is should have a had shot at goal, shouldn't have looked to pass it to anyone, he should have kicked it.

Very harsh WP, can't agree at all. He can walk off with his head held high.  No one is a machine,  everyone commits errors its what they brought overall and overall he was far and away our best

Did I say his entire game terrible? Nope don't think I did. You lauded his efforts in the first half, I raised the issue of leadership and where he made IMV decisions that were poor as the captain and as a result thought his first half was average. The 3 missed set shots were costly too

We have problems with leadership. We have Chaplin newly elected to leadership group who's input is as leader on field is currently bordering  on non existent. Our former captain is giving us zippo, Jacko was good in patches but was struggling to run out the game.

Despite what Hardwick said at his presser during the week where he praised our leaders for their efforts against Carlton the facts remain they went missing last week and for the first half this week they MIA again. It continues to be an issue just like it was last year and has been this year.

Yep, ridiculous. Some people really need to get a stuffing clue. Would've lost by 12 goals had he not been there. Expected to do everything on his own.

give it a rest WP you got no idea what your talking about. He was the only senior player who stood up again.

I don't have a clue because I have different opinion to you? Last time I checked forums were about opinions.

Will repeat No where have I said he was terrible for the entire game but there were a couple crucial stages where he needed to make a statement and he didn't.

Guarantee in the days of Newman being captain a lot of folks on here would be doing a head gasket and bagging him over the things I've mentioned.

You didn't say his whole game was terrible but what you're doing is nit picking. Ridiculous to be having a crack regardless imo. We weren't 40 points down bc of these 1 or 2 incidents, there was so so SO much more putrid things going on that to isolate and even bother mentioning it seems petty and OTT. 28 touches, 11 clearances and without him we would've been spanked by a whole lot more. You'd think people would be happy to leave it at that - but obviously not.. There are bigger problems.

BTW I saw one passage of play with GAJ in tonights game where he was on the boundary and passed it instead of taking a shot. Shocking play by the captain, lets isolate that a couple of other grubbed kicks instead of the fact he was their best player 

And Newman was never half the player cotch is - hence why most fans barring you and dwaino, will allow for the occasional error. Has built up plenty of brownie points

That's a good post, we watch Cotchs whole game but measure him up against the highlight reel of other captains

[WilliamPowell]

You didn't say his whole game was terrible but what you're doing is nit picking. Ridiculous to be having a crack regardless imo. We weren't 40 points down bc of these 1 or 2 incidents, there was so so SO much more putrid things going on that to isolate and even bother mentioning it seems petty and OTT. 28 touches, 11 clearances and without him we would've been spanked by a whole lot more. You'd think people would be happy to leave it at that - but obviously not.. There are bigger problems.

BTW I saw one passage of play with GAJ in tonights game where he was on the boundary and passed it instead of taking a shot. Shocking play by the captain, lets isolate that a couple of other grubbed kicks instead of the fact he was their best player 

And Newman was never half the player cotch is - hence why most fans barring you and dwaino, will allow for the occasional error. Has built up plenty of brownie points

Ok got it now.

I haven't got a clue because I dare to post an opinion that the majority doesn't agree with it. And we are not allowed to or shouldn't be critical of certain players. But ironically the same people who are having a whack at me tonight are some of the same folks who have been critical of Cotchin's little dinky kicks this year and last but that's OK and clearly not the same thing. People bag Lids for going missing in games, Jack for dummy spitting and that's OK right?

As I said got it now 

But you what tony? You are right there are bigger problems and I just think outside of the usual suspects continually being gifted games that are not warranted our biggest problem right now is leadership and I am not talking about just Cotchin I man actually talking more about the other supposedly leaders around him ....

[Rampstar]

Cotchin is a good leader but when Maric and Deledio isnt around we have nothing left in terms of leadership. The players who should be leaders have never stepped up and have in reality never been leaders.

[Francois Jackson]

Yeah let's do that at the same age

Let's start with Watson as the guy was mentioned

the guy sheeds was gonna trade when he was complete and utter rubbish and supporters even hated gin
 
Not to mention a cheat

Wake up he can't do it by himself

[Chuck17]

Cotchin is a good leader but when Maric and Deledio isnt around we have nothing left in terms of leadership. The players who should be leaders have never stepped up and have in reality never been leaders.

[Chuck17]

Yeah let's do that at the same age

Let's start with Watson as the guy was mentioned

the guy sheeds was gonna trade when he was complete and utter rubbish and supporters even hated gin
 
Not to mention a cheat

Wake up he can't do it by himself

And nick Riewoldt, wtf captain cry baby and point kicker

[Francois Jackson]

Yeah let's do that at the same age

Let's start with Watson as the guy was mentioned

the guy sheeds was gonna trade when he was complete and utter rubbish and supporters even hated gin
 
Not to mention a cheat

Wake up he can't do it by himself

And nick Riewoldt, wtf captain cry baby and point kicker

His bloody 31 and ur gonna compare him to cotch

Ur reaching pal

[WilliamPowell]

Yep agreed on the handballing and yes was sitting bottom level aisle 46 and Ellis was woeful there.
For me WP if the kid learns from this and never does that again then the lesson whilst being an expensive one as we know will be worth it. Can't do anything about that passage now other than Brando or anyone else ensuring they never let what happened today happens again.

All today means is we have to beat a Collingwood or Geelong in the next month to make up for today
Win one we don't expect to win.

Yep was in Aisle 46 too.

Agree he needs to learn from it but he's done it a bit over time. It seems to be something he cannot completely out of his game

Newman should not be spoken off in the same breath as that cotch

Embarrassing that his still on our list and getting paid money for his last 3 yrs

WP you were having a dip at the only senior player who played his guts out today yet in other chats praise the work of one T Clarke

That says to me your opinion is way off the mark

Laughing my arse off yeah jack kicked 4 but the game was lost in the first half and where was he there and where was cotch

Fair enough you think my opinion is "off the mark". Have no problem with that Angus I really don't. But it doesn't mean I am not entitled to my opinion does it?

To be honest I thought the entire team was pathetic in the first half. With the coaches box even worse

2nd half was better but like Don said we should have never been in that position. What was dished up in the first half was the same rubbish we got in round 1. Not switched on to play: playing like the result was in the bank without even having to actually play.

Said it before we aren't good enough to take that mindset into any game

Now onto our VFL side. Let me make it clear 100+ point losses are not acceptable. Doesn't matter the level results like that are not acceptable.

What I have said and will continue to say is that results are not the focus of our VFL side, player development is. This is what people at the club have said. It isn't my opinion its what I heard come out of the mouths of people at the club at a number of functions. I am not sure where I have "praised" Tim Clarke. What I said after a Praccy game when people were upset with a loss and I think it was BJ who said Clark would soon be out of a job was that he wouldn't be because he was doing what he was supposed to be doing and that is focusing on development. I didnt say whether he was doing a good job. I just stated what I knew his main job was and again this was based on what I'd been told/heard. I also said that if people are only going to be focusing on the results of the VFL side then they were likely going to be very disappointed.

[(•))(©™]

No hope of finals.

Get on with your lives this year.

[big tone]

No stand alone AFL reserves side should be beaten by 100 points in any game any time! Development maybe their  focus over winning but being beaten by a team in a rebuild phase means something or someone isn't doing a great job! Considering our depth is supposed to be deeper this year after only taking one kid in the ND.
Club is standing still while others walk on by

[YellowandBlackBlood]

No stand alone AFL reserves side should be beaten by 100 points in any game any time! Development maybe their  focus over winning but being beaten by a team in a rebuild phase means something or someone isn't doing a great job! Considering our depth is supposed to be deeper this year after only taking one kid in the ND.
Club is standing still while others walk on by

[Francois Jackson]

No stand alone AFL reserves side should be beaten by 100 points in any game any time! Development maybe their  focus over winning but being beaten by a team in a rebuild phase means something or someone isn't doing a great job! Considering our depth is supposed to be deeper this year after only taking one kid in the ND.
Club is standing still while others walk on by

Well said BT

100% true

[Hellenic Tiger]

No stand alone AFL reserves side should be beaten by 100 points in any game any time! Development maybe their  focus over winning but being beaten by a team in a rebuild phase means something or someone isn't doing a great job! Considering our depth is supposed to be deeper this year after only taking one kid in the ND.
Club is standing still while others walk on by

Yep today was a defining today for the whole footy club, both seniors and ressies.

[Diocletian]

No stand alone AFL reserves side should be beaten by 100 points in any game any time! Development maybe their  focus over winning but being beaten by a team in a rebuild phase means something or someone isn't doing a great job! Considering our depth is supposed to be deeper this year after only taking one kid in the ND.
Club is standing still while others walk on by

Yep, the Treading Water Tigers continue their march on the spot.