Richmond Coaching/Team Review

[Tiger Spirit]

The club is also about to appoint an advisory board, including at least one person from outside the club, which will review the performance of the team under Frawley.

It will examine and evaluate the team, coaching, leadership, recruiting and the football department.

"We want to know the areas they have and haven't done well in, and the outcome of that will obviously be in the form of a recommendation," Casey said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9719252%255E2722,00.html

As outlined above, RFC is about to review the on-field performance of the team, so let’s do an OER review and see how our views stack up.

What do you think has been good and what has not been so good about the following areas:

Team:

Coaching:

Leadership:

Recruiting:

Football department:

You can then make any additional comments/recommendations that you think could assist us in putting a better team out on the field.

[Tiger Spirit]

TEAM

Overall, a lack of team spirit and unity has been lacking for many seasons.  Nothing seems to have been done to change this.

Our inability to fight back in games suggests that this is the case.  The Club has a lot to answer for here, because, to me, it created a split between the haves and the have nots of the team.  Not a way to build team harmony.

4/10

COACHING

Even allowing for inexperience and the difficult situation any Coach would find himself in at Richmond, a lack of awareness and an inability to be a progressive coach means that this area fairs poorly.  The team has been largely unable to carry out the Coach’s game plan, indicating an inability to communicate his message to his players, with devastating results.

Another major criticism of mine has been the handling of young players.  Too many times we see players brought up from Coburg only to spend the majority of time on the bench.  They eventually need to go back and regain fitness and confidence through the VFL.  The only way to give young players a chance is to give them proper game time, to show some faith and confidence in them and let them show their stuff.

3.5/10

Perhaps very harsh, but given the amount of time and faith afforded to the Coach and his staff to show improvement, there has been no tangible results to suggest this department has progressed in that time.

LEADERSHIP

Supporters have lamented the lack of on-field leadership for many years now and it is a concern that we are unable to develop any real leaders.

One of my major criticisms is that some of the younger players could have been placed on the leadership group, even as rookies, to give them an insight into what is expected.  It gives the impression that the Coaching staff don’t have faith in their ability to support the players to get better, so instead hold them back.

The Club’s insistence on pushing up players who have been at the Club for a number of years and who have never really displayed on-field leadership was mystifying.  Meanwhile, some of the young up and coming players, who showed greater on-field leadership qualities than their senior teammates seemed to be totally ignored.

4/10

RECRUITING

A major criticism of RFC is that no one really knows whether the Club is in re-building mode or preparing for a finals assault.

As a result, recruiting has seemed haphazard, at best.  The list seems to fall away pretty quickly, after 12 or so.  The team consists of too many players who are incapable of taking us up the ladder.

At the last draft, the Club did go for more youth and has a number of ‘project players’, which some consider to be a bit risky.  However, the signs are good for a number of them.

The inability of some high draft choices to deliver suggests that recruiting has been very poor.  I tend to think that other factors have contributed to that, so am not as scathing as some, but would prefer to go for youth, rather than players who have been tried elsewhere and will not help the Club long-term.

4/10

FOOTBALL DEPARTMENT

A lot seemed to fall back on Danny Frawley and none of the other coaches ever seem to be in the firing line.  I think they need to take some responsibility for the way things are.

The only thing that has probably saved this department is the recruitment of Greg Miller.  His knowledge and no nonsense style at least brought some sanity and realism to what seemed to be a deluded area of the Club.

4/10

RECOMMENDATIONS

A necessary requirement is a Coach and coaching department that is able to communicate its message to the players.  The ability to create team unity/harmony and also to motivate and inspire a team.

People who see ability and have the capacity to draw that out of players.

A definite plan to improve the playing list.

An exciting brand of football that makes people want to go to the game.

[mightytiges]

As this is about the footy side of RFC and given our recent perfomances over the past few years this will most likely be overtly negative so bear with me. I'll try to be constructive with my criticism rather than just blast away. I'll base my overview on the past 5 years as that involves Danny's reign as coach.

Team:

We have nowhere near enough Grade A players compared to the top sides - Brown and Cogs would be the only definites in that category IMO (Cambo uninjured and Richo on his day would squeeze in as well) . See our "Our List thread".

http://oneeyed-richmond.com/forum/index.php?topic=137.0

Many of our "core" players would be B graders at best at another Club or if we had a decent list. That is instead of being classed in our top 6 say they would be more like ranked between 10-15 or thereabouts (and paid accordingly). When most of these B-graders have a best year (2001) we make the finals occasionally but they are not consistent enough and/or talented enough to maintain that level throughout their careers.

The skill levels of many of our players is not AFL standard. Players who cannot hit targets via hand or foot or whose decision making is woeful. If a guys kicking action is suspect he shouldn't even be considered by us for drafting. Stupid turnovers just kill us every single week. If we keep our intensity up and force another side into similar turnovers then we are competitive. However, when the opposition turns up the heat we typical fall to pieces as our skills under pressure are deplorable (a la last weekend). We also lack physical presence especially important in premiership winning teams.

Team severely lacks cohesion and spirit.

Only a large turnover of our list and proper recruiting and development from now on will fix this.

4/10

Coaching:

Tactically poor. We have Plan A (kick it to Richo) and that's it. If that fails then goodnight Tigers. We simply for the most part do not play a modern flowing style of footy. We overpossess and first reaction of our players is to handball off hence we over-handball. We lack players running in waves past a teammate with the footy to receive handballs and break the lies through the corridor. We essentially play long kick to a pack footy (hello 1970s) and play via the wing. The contribution of goals from our midfielders is virtually non-existent. Why the likes of Tivas, Bowden, Fiora, etc.. try to pass when they get to 50 or are inside 50 is beyond me ???.

Add to that our negative style of play with heaps of players behind the ball trying to turn every game into an ugly scrap. Our average score is around 75 points. Kicking 10 to 11 goals a game isn't going to win you many.

Inability to develop our most of own kids - ie. bring a kid up from Coburg only for him to have to spend the majority of his time in the seniors on the bench. Not having the faith in most of our kids to play them when the game is still hot. Just look what we did to young Roach. Bringing him on against Port when we were already 10 goals down ???.

2/10

Leadership:

I know Cambo cops alot in the leadership stakes and yes he is no Voss or Hird but it's pretty hard to replace him or anyone for that matter when no other options exist. He's the best by far we have got. It's amazing how we have a number of players who have been on our list for around 10 years yet fail to show leadership on the field. An indictment on the Club.

2/10

Recruiting:

This is the area we have failed miserably not just since Danny has been coach but for a long time now. Trading away high draft picks is a mortal sin when it comes to building and rebuilding our list. Even forgetting the likes of Hudson, Houlihan, Fleming, Fletcher, etc... recruiting even good players such as Brown (pick #6), Johnson (pick #2) and Cameron (now retired) is short sighted as it firstly denies us a chance of getting access to quality kids coming through and secondly those players will be retired or in the twilight of their careers by the time we will, if ever, be challenging as a top side. All it does is keep as middle of the road - not good enough to make the finals regularly but not bad enough to get decent draft rewards as compensation to rebuild our list properly.

Only good thing to come out of our recruiting the last 5 years is Cogs with Newman, Krakouer and Zantuck (handy for pick 70ish) good gets. Stil too early to judge any of our younger guys from the 2003 draft.

Greg Beck after 10 years as recruiting manager must go!   

See under the "my solution?" thread for what I would do in terms of recruiting.

http://oneeyed-richmond.com/forum/index.php?topic=190.0

2/10

Football department:

I'd guess the above already answers this. Danny cops the flack but so should his assistants. Obviously none of them has any fresh ideas to turn things around.

Apart from Miller goodbye to them all - Frawley, Brittain, Crocker, Hutchison, Spargo, Beck.

Flood being in only his first year might stay unless the new coach wants his all his own assistant coaches and support staff .

2/10

[mightytiges]

RECOMMENDATIONS

A necessary requirement is a Coach and coaching department that is able to communicate its message to the players.  The ability to create team unity/harmony and also to motivate and inspire a team.

People who see ability and have the capacity to draw that out of players.

A definite plan to improve the playing list.

An exciting brand of football that makes people want to go to the game.

I would have exactly the same recommendations TS.

[PuntRdRoar]

The Team:

Lacking clear quality, the team is on the verge of another 10 years in the wilderness. The List is aging at the top end, very little is emerging at the bottom. In another thread i wrote we only had 8 youngsters or so who were capable at the level. Of those only 2 have major tricks- Coughlan and Krakouer. The team is poor. Culling of the list properly would see another 18-20 players disappear- they are not up to league standard.The tigers must immediately go for youth. We have 3 years to find another 12 players capable at the level.

3/10- we are nowhere near top 8 material

Coaching:
Frawley has struggled in his 5 years as coach. When he came we were at the bottom, when he leaves- we will still be at the bottom. Tactically outsmarted often by other coaches he is reactive rather than pro active. His use of the english language is poor. Communication and use of phrases such as Yeah Nah and Cherry Ripe make Richmond look like we are an U12s unit. Frawley has also failed to develop our early picks...Pettifer and Fiora remain disappointing although Fiora shows signs of improvement. Development wise Frawley is not a good teacher!

4/10- Frawley and Co try hard. AFL football isnt about trying hard. The VFL or the WAFL are.

Leadership:
When I look at other teams I realise what leadership is about. has anyone listened to the Leigh Matthews tapes. The ones being sold to corporate australia- thats what i call leadership. Well spoken, Well thought out, Motivating. Truth breeds confidence...Yeah Nah leads no where. On the field...great teams have leaders. What is leadership in an onfield sense. For me leadership is when your team suddenly goes under the pump. The momentum of the game turns against you...and a player puts his hand up and does something to change the course of the game. Often this also shows a major factor part of onfield leadership- Its called awareness. Sadly we dont have any. We also dont have physical presence. When essendon is under the pump...Hird goes into the centre- he'll win some centre clearances or kick a goal or two to stop the rot. We dont have players who do this. Brisbane has Voss and Akermanis and Lynch and afew others. We dont have any.

2/10- Poor

Recruiting:
We are where we are because our philosophy is wrong and the recruiting team has either made wrong choices or were overuled. Pavlich- Need I say more. Greg Beck has been at Richmond a long time. We have not improved our position ... we are going backwards here!

5/10- Coughlan Krakouer Newman Hartigan mean that Beck gets a Pass. Unfortuanately 5/10 never gets you a flag. Time to go Mr Beck!

Football Department:
Outside of Greg Miller we dont have one. He is the football Department. At RFC the football department is another name for financial black hole. Its good to resource your football department properly- unfortunately for us we employ people who arent up to the task in lifting Richmond. Thanks for your efforts Messers Frawley Brittain Wheadon Crocker Spargo and Hutchison. Unfortunately i cant even say "thanks for the memories"

I get the feeling we have such a big dept because we had to protect Frawley. Would Wallace need so many assistants? Probably Not. Replace The 6 people above With Wallace and 2 Assistants. Bring in Balme or someone of his ilk to replace Hutchison. Overall replace 6 with 4...save $300,000 a season. You dont need 6 anyway if you have a coach like Wallace!

2/10...Its a disaster at Richmond. Time for wholesale changes!

Recommendations.

Well Ive already started above..further...Id go out and try and get a Scott Clayton or and Adrian Dordoro from Essendon in recruiting. On the playing front we need to get early picks and take as many youngsters as possible. Finishing last is a good option for us!