Mark Robinson says every person at Richmond must take blame for Tigers’ on-field woesMARK ROBINSON
HERALD SUN JUNE 02, 2014
9:00PM
THE question is: Who’s to blame at Richmond? The coach or the players?
It’s always the question because the Tigers, in and outside of the club, are masters at laying blame.
The fans blame the coach. The club blames the players. Last week the players blamed the coach for not being hard enough on them.
Meanwhile, most of the rest of the football world looks at Richmond and shake their heads.
The club wants respect, but have done little to command it.
Off the field, the club has rebuilt Punt Rd, wiped out a $5 million debt and has record membership and sponsorship. Mighty congratulations.
But the core business of any football club is winning and the Tigers have been found wanting yet again.
The players should be ashamed of their effort on Saturday night.
Big game. Big occasion. Big nothing from the yellow and black.
The blame is with everyone and everything - the coach, the players and the current culture.
It’s typical of Richmond fans to blame the coach. They have inundated radio talk back with calls for Hardwick to be sacked. It’s is ridiculous. Richmond’s directors used to react when the smell of blood was in the air. But not anymore.
Still, Hardwick has tough decisions to make.
He has coached for four years and 10 games. He won six games in first season in 2010, and followed with eight, 10, 15 but only three wins this season.
He is a baby in terms of coaching. He is infinitely better than when he started and he will be infinitely better in another four years’ time.
But if fans believed Hardwick was going to improve, and improve this team and then win the premiership - in a span of five years - they are deluded.
What’s happened is Hardwick and his players have hit a hurdle and it’s up to them to climb over it.
Clearly, there is a culture issue in terms of setting standards and playing to them and not accepting anything less.
Seriously, what does Richmond stand for? Don’t say ‘’ruthless Tigers’’ because you’re living in the ‘70s.
The Tigers aren’t ruthless. They’re pedestrian.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was asked last week on AFL360 what’s his No. 1 unconditional as coach. He said: “Win your own ball.”
If the Tigers were ruthless, they would not play Shaun Grigg and Bachar Houli. Both are skilled, but both are not unconditional.
Reece Conca is young but seems to pick and choose his efforts. Troy Chaplin has fallen away.
Ben Griffiths plays on his terms. He is known as a brilliant kick, he should be known as a pack splitter as well.
Why can’t Cotchin be as demanding on-field as Jarryd McVeigh? Why can’t Deledio impose his will? And Rance more often?
They made the call on Ty Vickery, but maybe more are needed.
How, in 120 minutes of football in an era demanding defensive pressure, can 13 Tigers players have two or less tackles like they did against the Bombers.
Richmond’s performance on Saturday night, and for much of the season, reflects the culture of the club.
One week - against GWS - they’ll come out snarling because their backs are against the wall. The next week - against Essendon - they drink their own bath water and think it’s simply going to happen again.
The great teams, such as Sydney, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Geelong aside from Friday night, now Port Adelaide, and a growing Collingwood, play every week as if their backs are against the wall.
That’s their culture. That’s their standard. It’s not the be all and end all in life for those players, but it’s damn close.
The Tigers are a reactionary team. They play North Melbourne on Sunday night and bet your last dollar the Tigers will run through brick walls. They should do it every week.
For that, Hardwick has to accept responsibility for the collective competitive spirit.
That comes under every coach’s leadership umbrella, which includes team personnel and the environment he creates within the club.
The players are at fault, too. Surely there’s an expectation they come with a certain level of self-motivation because, after all, they are professional sportsmen.
Hardwick’s test, similar to every coach, is to set standards on acceptable effort and commitment, and that’s effort and commitment to not only defend but to attack.
The players this season have let him down.
Perhaps, he has allowed them to let him down.
Perhaps Hardwick needs a new rule: Win your own ball. And if you can’t, or won’t, you don’t play.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/mark-robinson-says-every-person-at-richmond-must-take-blame-for-tigers-onfield-woes/story-fni5f0at-1226940635984
