Tiger tall forwards 'the bane of my existence' says Hardwick .... (afl site)

[one-eyed]

Tiger talls 'the bane of my existence' says Hardwick

Jennifer Phelan 
afl.com.au
February 7, 2015


DAMIEN Hardwick hasn't ruled out playing all three of Richmond's tall forwards together in 2015, as he uses the summer to work out his best attacking combination.

With two-time Coleman medalist Jack Riewoldt the obvious focal point, the Tigers trialed different set-ups around him in 2014, using Ben Griffiths and Ty Vickery.

The three played together on seven occasions - mainly in the absence of Ivan Maric until round 11 - with mixed results.

Hardwick said there hadn't been a firm decision made against trying the three together again, and the Tigers would continue to work on devising the best structure to increase scoring power.

"The three talls is probably the bane of my existence at the moment, trying to figure out how that's going to work for us," Hardwick told AFL.com.au this week.

"It's worked at various stages, then last year we go on a six or seven game winning streak without the three talls.

"The way we structure up will dictate (our forward set-up) a little bit but Ben Griffiths has got good running capacity so he can play a little bit further up the ground, Jack and Ty can play a little bit deep, Ty is up the ground at stages also.

"It's just how we structure up that forward line but the situation is, we've got to kick more goals and we'll be picking the side that's got to do that.

"There's certainly competition with spots up for grabs … and the reality is we've got to make sure we pick the best forward line that's going to kick goals."

This week, Riewoldt said Vickery - who copped a four-match sanction for striking Dean Cox in round 18 - had responded to being left out of the round 23 and elimination final teams by putting in a strong pre-season to date.

He added he believed the three could play in the same side again.

The colourful goalkicker also indicated there could be even more talls pushing for a berth in the senior team, with Liam McBean and newcomer Reece McKenzie impressing this summer.

"We certainly can [play together]. We've got some selection headaches down there with young Liam McBean training very well at the moment as well," he said.

"Training and games are a different thing, so I'm really excited to see those guys when the pre-season trials come around and a few of the intra-clubs.

"It's going to be great for the Tigers' faithful to see some young key forwards hopefully showing what they've got."

McBean finished fourth in the VFL's goal-kicking last season and is yet to appear at AFL level while McKenzie kicked 35 goals in 10 games in the TAC Cup before being drafted in November.

Hardwick said Tiger fans could expect Riewoldt's role in 2015 to be similar to recent years.

"I think he's probably the only player that's averaged over 50 goals for the last four years so he'll play the same sort of role," he said.

"He'll be at various stages deep and at various stages up the ground, whatever is best for the side, and he's happy to do that."

Hardwick also said he expected Riewoldt – who is again not officially in Richmond's leadership group – to keep progressing as a leader this season as he did in 2014.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-02-07/talls-the-bane-of-my-existence

[Andyy]

Openly admits he has NFI what to do with our forward line for all the AFL world to see.

[(•))(©™]

2015 sig sorted.

[Go Richo 12]

Openly admits he has NFI what to do with our forward line for all the AFL world to see.

NFI, or he doesn't want to tell the press and therefore the whole football world what his plan is?

[Chuck17]

Openly admits he has NFI what to do with our forward line for all the AFL world to see.

NFI, or he doesn't want to tell the press and therefore the whole football world what his plan is?

Or possibly two of the three are under performing

[YellowandBlackBlood]

Needs four talls.  Add Reece "the truck" McKenzie!

Then it will work!

[WA Tiger]

By mid season he will try to turn one of them into a backman or winger..

[🏅Dooks]

Does anybody else think it's odd that Hardwick sees this whole matter as a negative? 'The bane of my existence'?

 Depth is supposed to be a good thing, no? 

Shouldn't the Bane of his existence be why we get destroyed in finals?

[Tigers of Old]

'a nice problem to have' would have been a better quote.
Damien needs to work out who can play. If he can't then he's the problem, not his tall forwards.
We don't need another half a season wasted before playing the guy who should have in the first place (Miles).

[Chuck17]

'a nice problem to have' would have been a better quote.
Damien needs to work out who can play. If he can't then he's the problem, not his tall forwards.
We don't need another half a season wasted before playing the guy who should have in the first place (Miles).
[/quote
Etc etc

[(•))(©™]

Caretaker coach

[The Big Richo]

Just to recap, so far this preseason our 'coach' has come out and said he has NFI how to win a final or set up a forward line. 


 

[Chuck17]

Just to recap, so far this preseason our 'coach' has come out and said he has NFI how to win a final or set up a forward line. 


 

Time to get the sack Hardwick thread pumping again?

[(•))(©™]

Just to recap, so far this preseason our 'coach' has come out and said he has NFI how to win a final or set up a forward line. 


 

The guy is a loser. Loll

[the claw]

Does anybody else think it's odd that Hardwick sees this whole matter as a negative? 'The bane of my existence'?

 Depth is supposed to be a good thing, no? 

Shouldn't the Bane of his existence be why we get destroyed in finals?

its only depth if the players in contention can consistently perform at the level.  when they cant it becomes a problem. in a round about way i reckon this is what hes saying.he openly says  we need to find goal kickers and a better performing fwd line.  he then says riewoldt is a lock in, and then without being critical he basically says griffiths and vickery are have been the problem. which we all know they are.

what he doesnt mention is the lack of fwd pressure the lack of sml and medium fwds who are capable of kicking 40 plus goials and applying fwd pressure and locking the ball in.
yep we have a few mids who can rotate thru these positions but we dont have any top end  stay at home types.

our problem is mckenzie and mcbean wont fix the problem atm. they arent at the right stage of development.mcbean too skinny and mckenzie first yr.hopefully they will get some games and continue to develop. who knows we may get a bolter out of one of them.  if vickery and griffiths fail or suffer long term injury these are the only two alternatives  we have.  we need to at least get em to a stage where they can compete at the level. it would be diabolical if we went all yr made finals only to lose two of the tall fwds to injury on the eve of finals.

to me atm the question is which one of vickery or griffiths will play the fwd ruck role and which one plays kp.
i like the look of griffiths as a ruck/fwd. id be playing him as much as possible in the ruck. he would play aginst the ryder and blicav types and has spent some time in defense so he has a clue when these types drag him into defense.he also takes good marks around the ground his problem is a total lack of consistency and he lack mongrel.when  fwd he needs to hit the scoreboard and drag defenders away from riewoldt.

put vickery in a kp and let him sink or swim.at his age and games experience its time to stand up and show he can play really well in a position and play the position exclusively.he just has to find a way to bring his teammates into games by doing the unrewarded things and just working hard.

im not sure if  ben lennon will make it or not. but going by most people who have seen a fair bit of him  his junior footy and what  the club says, we have a genuine classy medium fwd on our hands so  play and develop him there. ease him into rotations later.

dan butler is the guy id like to see us fast track. we have a huge hole and are in dire need of a sml fwd who has goal sense has genine pace lays a  tackle and can find a bit of ball. at 182/80 a sml he looks capable of at least physically  playing straight away. i think sam lloyd is another option a mature player at 25 whos had a season to get used to the tempo hes a goal kicker supposedly, pace is an issue though, with the 3 talls and lennon  the need for defensive pressure is just as great as kicking goals.
 the last fwd spot id like to see knights get fit and play there 60% of games allowing us to rotate deledio and martin thru there with him.failing that another who has real pace and a defensive mindset drummond perhaps who could be a big part of rotations.

finally i think we all know we need change to improve. we all know while the likes of houli, grigg, batchelor. chaplin, petterd, newman, foley, plus vickery and griffiths to date we cant challenge for a top 4 spot. yep they have given decent service and have enabled us to get to final 8.  with these blokes 7th or 8th is the ceiling . we need these guys to retire in newmans case,  or be the depth players and no longer starting 22.we desperately need one or both of vickery and griffiths to finally stamp themselves as players.

i really hope that kids like butler, drummond , mcbean, mckenzie, menadue, ellis, lennon, mcintosh, dea, and mature recruits lambert and hunt are not tucked away in the corner and forgotten about.we must play em at every possible opportunity while phasing out at every opportunity those who clearly cant take us any further.
 i gotta ask would we really lose that much if  6 or 7 of the above regulars was dropped. it may be a slight step backwards in the short term but a decent step fwd long term if we find 3 or 4 good players.


hf:  Lennon - Vickery -  Knights/deledio/martin. there is no other option but vickery time to stand up.
ff:  griffiths  -  riewoldt - Butler/Lloyd/edwards. its butlers pace and tackling that we need to inject here. people may scoff and call me names but i can see hamspud coming in and given another chance in griffiths place.