Tigers should trade DeledioMark Robinson
Herald-Sun
May 3, 2016THE question at Richmond is: What happens now?
Do they tank — sorry, list manage — and begin the long road back?
Apparently not. They are 1-5 and holding course this year, according to the office holders at Punt Rd.
But what happens if they are 1-7 after playing Hawthorn and Sydney in the next two rounds?
Or 1-8 after Fremantle at Fremantle in Round 9?
Still hold course? The answer has to be “no”.
As much as the Tigers can’t be drastic with their public utterances, their fans deserve to know what strategy will be pursued.
Chief executive Brendon Gale told the Herald Sun the Tigers could still play finals in 2016.
Gale’s dig-in, that players need to learn to win, deserves credit. But arguably he and others at Richmond are in denial.
The team is maxed out. Most of the well-discussed trades such as Troy Chaplin have reached their ceiling and most of the young draftees are still making their way.
A decision on coach Damien Hardwick is irrelevant. He was appointed for two more years so we can park him.
No, it’s about the list.
The only strategies available to improve the list are: go to the draft table, trade or acquire free agents.
They need to be bold with their trading.
To acquire more first-round draft choices, the Tigers have to entertain trading away one of Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Alex Rance, Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin and Shane Edwards.
A first-rounder for Edwards? They rate him highly internally, but don’t know if a club would cough up a first-rounder.
Riewoldt is 27. Rance is 27. Edwards is 27. Martin is 24. And Deledio is 29.
If they want to break up the band, the obvious call is on Deledio.
At 233 games he is the longest-serving player on the list, so it would be an emotional decision. He is a high walk-up first-rounder, though.
Teams chasing a flag would love him: Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne and Hawthorn, for they seem to be the line for everyone.
It might get the Tigers two picks inside the top 10 at this year’s draft, which is a start.
St Kilda was bold with Ben McEvoy (in return got Luke Dunstan and Shane Savage), Rhys Stanley (Hugh Goddard), Brendon Goddard (pick 13 on traded to get Tom Hickey) and Nick Dal Santo (pick 25 for Billy Longer).
Not all those worked, but the point is they were aggressive.
Right now, the Tigers believe they don’t need to rebuild.
That’s fine, keep all the guns. Recruit talent in dribs and drabs and hope the talent matures while the guns are still around.
If that’s the case, the Tigers have to look at development and drafting, and that puts the spotlight on recruiter Francis Jackson and list manager Blair Hartley.
The list isn’t pretty now that the trade-ins have maxed out.
Of the draftees, Martin gets a tick, maybe Ellis, maybe Vlastuin. The rest are made up of possibles (Corey Ellis, Ben Lennon, Sam Lloyd, for example), likely nots (Ben Griffiths), or they’re starting their careers (Daniel Rioli, Nathan Broad, Connor Menadue).
If it’s 1-7, the Tigers surely will look at youth. Not play them all at once, but give them all a sprinkle of games. Players like Jason Castagna, Jayden Short, Oleg Markov, Dan Butler, Adam Marcon and Liam McBean. Butler is injured, Nathan Drummond is coming back from an ACL and Broad is a mature-age recruit.
But what about key position player Todd Elton, who has played two games in six years?
To go anywhere, you need to understand where you are. Maybe that’s Richmond’s immediate issue.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/richmond-needs-to-be-bold-at-the-trade-table-and-regenerate-its-list-mark-robinson-writes/news-story/c216a8492823c8f3c8a4e2522a425340
