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

[the claw]

Wasn't going to mention it but after that display WGAF.
Was out last Saturday night and walked into The Bridge Hotel to see half our side drinking. I left near on 2am and most were still there having a half decent crack. Now I'm no prude and played a lot of local footy and going out Saturday night with the boys was pretty standard, but it wasn't AFL footy and after that poo last week against the Blues I wouldn't think you wouldn't  have much to celebrate. I know we won but it left more like a lose. And after our farcical first half today I cannot help but think most of our side are selfish heros that think they are better than they really are.
I couldn't get there today, I had my little one for the afternoon but I'm glad I didn't waste my time.
This side needs a fresh attitude and some fresh faces, this current 22 have got us about as far as it's going to. Be a man Dimma and drop some of your favourites. We need an injection of youth who want to chase and tackle. I would rather watch us loose with some young kids who maybe are not quite there yet then watch lazy, one way runners that refuse to get involved in the contest.

here here well said tone.

i still believe for the club to go forward we may have to take a small step backwards, when they show enough we need to get games into the likes of mcbean,arnot, mcintosh,lennon find out what lloyd and helbig have to offer and see where elton is at plus others. its always been about development and getting games into the younger players.

[Jackstar is back!!!]

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

Disagree
Great player
Don't think he is a good leader
Good leaders Selwood .Watson .Ablett .Nick Riewoldt .Hodge .
Now there good leaders who regularly lift there teams to Victory

[sdc01]

yeah but almost all the captains you mentioned are about 30 years old...give cotch some more time to grow into the role...

[YellowandBlackBlood]

yeah but almost all the captains you mentioned are about 30 years old...give cotch some more time to grow into the role...

Correct.  And Selwood captains a former premiership team.

[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.

[Hellenic Tiger]

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

Disagree
Great player
Don't think he is a good leader
Good leaders Selwood .Watson .Ablett .Nick Riewoldt .Hodge .
Now there good leaders who regularly lift there teams to Victory

Cotch had leadership. 2012 he was massive. Just has not recaptured the same form and his skills have slid slightly too. Mentally not the same player IMHO.

[WilliamPowell]

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.

[dwaino]

Captain Clanger. Does a couple of flashy things but no where to be seen once the chips are down. Would love a bloke like Watson, Judd or Hodge who when the going gets tough says move over boys, I've got this. Jack kicking 4 with a hanger in the second half is about as close as we got to it today.

[WA Tiger]

It's ok WP, apparently we are developing the stuff out of our VFL players regardless of the fact that they were beaten today by 117 points...

[tony_montana]

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

[dwaino]

It's ok WP, apparently we are developing the stuff out of our VFL players regardless of the fact that they were beaten today by 117 points...

We're training for the Gourdis cup between us and Coburg.

[tony_montana]

The only leader that stood up in the first half was capitano.

Where were you newman and Chaplin?

Agree with you re Chaplin & Newman

But to see your captain, your leader weave through traffic and 35-40 metres out and then instead of having a shot he tries a dink pass that goes over someone's head  sorry but that ain't leadership.


Again our lack of leadership in the first half was deplorable

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

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.

yep and yet praises Tim Clarke efforts in the reserves

Wake up WP you have had a terrible run lately

well said you 2

[WilliamPowell]

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

[tony_montana]

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   

[Francois Jackson]

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