Slow, Incompetent & Dumb

[letsgetiton!]

I have no probs with the way Wallace coached or his match-ups as the preseason games are glorified practice matches where you should try all sorts of things. It's just that for example some of the decision making by our runners or Richo kicking 1-4 and 1 OOF wasn't rustiness or a bluff. We've seen it before during the real stuff. I not saying it's the end of the world as I believe the gameplan Terry is developing will become very effective given time. However, bad habits shouldn't be tolerated even in meaningless games. Wallace was dragging blokes on and off for poor decisions.

i know what u mean mt, bluffing is bluffing, but simple set shots at goal aand pathetic kicking technique is no excuse.  anyway i cant go to shepp next week, if ur going let me know , love to know how that game pans out

[strav]

Unbelievable. Why don't we just put a gun to our heads and pull the trigger. Its just a practice match. When round one comes around, no one will even remeber this thread.

Now having said that, Roach and Hartigan are spastics and should play another season at Coburg before being allowed on to the MCG.

[Harry]

No, it's not the end of the world - we are just crap and expect some hidings during the year.  It's been like this for years.

We have quickly been overtaken by Hawthorn who have many many more talented kids than we do.  Our recruiting has to improve big time and we need to get smarter players to the club.

[mightytiges]

We are still miles off being any good, no doubt about that, but I don't reckon the Hawks have overtaken us. If they were any good they should have been up by 10 goals at half time at least. That's how pathetic we played with zero pressure and dumb turnover after turnover. Not forgetting they were 2 (3 when Everitt went off injured) short of their best 22 while we had 6 missing and that's excluding Chaffey, Tivs and Kellaway.

The Hawks didn't play a single young first gamer while we played White (and Howat as a rookie). Buddy and Lewis had shockers while Roughead was quiet. Patto and Tambo (except towards the end) did little for us. Lids and Clinton Young were the only 2004 draftees out there on saturday who played well. Guys like Tim Boyle, Campbell and Sewell have been in the system for 4-5 years. The Hawks had only 5 guys from the past 3 drafts 2003-2005 playing. We had 10 plus the older Tucky. They had 12 guys in the 4-7 year bracket. We had 5.

The Hawks had a stronger and more mature line-up and they could only knock us off by just over a kick. We might be crap but so are they. The Crows would have done to both of us what they did to Port if either side had played them. 

[letsgetiton!]

No, it's not the end of the world - we are just crap and expect some hidings during the year.  It's been like this for years.

We have quickly been overtaken by Hawthorn who have many many more talented kids than we do.  Our recruiting has to improve big time and we need to get smarter players to the club.

no offemce, but that statement is fos!!! im glad most of us aint quitters and pesimists like you on here.
you obv dont understand  what terry has planned and how this year training has been vastly different to last year. we wont be ready to play until rnd 1. have you ever heard of periodised training!!! 

its still pre season, relax. what do u want us to do, jump out of teh blocks like last year and fade.

terry has said many times, last yr we were ready to play footy by xmas based on the training they did cos he had to see what cattle he had.
this yr he knows what cattle he has and thus training is targeting rnd one not xmas!!!!

if the hawks are so far ahead, why was it just a 10pt win, in a game had richo kicked str8 we would have won!!! we played our worst , we played shocking, yet it was only 10pts and not a blow out.

[Puntroadroar]

I remember reading a comment by Weaver on BF last year where he said usually you will get one or 2 blokes a year in the draft that will make it, but not generally be super stars. If your looking at replacing 14 odd guys, in Richmond's case probably more than that in the past 2 years, then at worst your looking at a 7 year period of rebuilding.

I think that way of thinking is spot on and unfortunately not all your draft picks are going to work out, you may jag one year and find 3 possibly 4 players that will go on, but its highly unlikely. Although I agree with many critics here over players like Rodan & Krak, I dont think its defcon 1  just yet. I'm looking forward to this season to just see which of our kids can take it to the next level.

Seriously 2 years ago our list won a spoon and couldnt win a match, 2 years on the way some people carry on it seems they think we should be playing finals? what a joke. Some of us have to remember this is the second season of Terry's 5 years as coach we have a long way to go.

[cub]

1 - I was peeed off Sunday but
2 - It was round 1 of the NAB cup ffs
3 - Maybe I was more peed off than I should of been cause it was the dawks
4 - Lets face it we had a bad game and they went hard and wanted it more
5 - Dont forget the Lions were on or near the bottom of the AFL ladder only a couple of seasons before heir 3 peat

I'll take that game as a bad practice match out of the way and really dont expect more more in the next couple of games at least.

I expect the season proper to be much the same as last year - to be competitive in most games and maybe to hopefully start finishing the seasons better.

Remember that as ST Kilda were building to where they are now at their finishes to the season were much the same as our last 2.

It takes the young guys a few years to get used to the length and rigours of a full AFL season and be able to see it out ... that is to be expected with any young rebuilding side.

I will give it another year or two of full seasons before I start on the sheep stations.

[tiga]

To me it looked like there were two gameplans in action at the same time. We seemed to be playing the running game from the backline with the likes of Shultz, Hartigan & Rainsey but once we got past midfield our forwards appeard to be either standing still or on really slow leads. Stafford, whilst he is an accurate kick at goal he movels like the Rialto on rollerskates and invariably ended up with 3 opposition players around him by the time the ball arrived due to his lack of speed. Richo tried hard and led well but his kicking is still absolute poo and he is becoming so predictable that opposition teams have him worked out well in advance. So when we Had Richo, Patto and Stafford in the forward line it looked like a scene from attack of the zombies!

On Krak, I would have to go with the general consensus and say his game was poor and lacked any kind of intensity. Anyone who couldn't see this must have had beer goggles on.

Joel Bowdens crucial missed mark was a killer. The look on his face just before the ball arrived was like mine just before the teacher belted me over the head with a 1 metre ruler in grade 5.

Roach on Williams was a big mistake. You either get a Guy just as quick to keep up with him or a bigger body to muscle him out of line. Unfortunately Roachy is neither of these.

I don't think it's all doom and gloom and we can take a few things out of it to prepare us for the season ahead.

1. Never, I repeat never should we have 3 planks in the forward line at any stage. We must always keep a good mix of mobility and height.
2. Krak is not a midfielder and he will never be. Back to the forward pocket for mine where he can snap the odd opportunistic goal.
3. Shultz will be great for us in the backline this year.
4. Foley still needs more work before he will be a regular first grader but there is some promise there.
5. Raines is starting to look the goods.
6. Tuck should be better for the run and I would expect a much more consistent game from him next up.
7 We should have more key players back soon. We have to remember that we went into the game with an understrength side whereas the Hawks were nearly at full strength. Last years premiers went into their game with a similar lineup to us and they also got a towelling against the Roos who also had a nearly full strength side. As far as I'm concerned this time of year is for experimentation and I guarantee that our lineup for round one will be completely different.

[mightytiges]

1 - I was peeed off Sunday but
3 - Maybe I was more peed off than I should of been cause it was the dawks

I was in those categories because I thought we had just given the Hawks a free kick membership wise over ourselves.

[Harry]

I'm not pee-ed off or dissappointed at all because I know we are very ordinary.  I wasn't surprised by the performance.  I'm just stating the facts that we are crap and that we need smarter players at the club.  I have very low expectations of our list - not basing it on a "practice match", basing it on the actual list.  TW is good but he can't perform miracles - he'll need all of his 5 years assuming the recruiting is done well. 

[mightytiges]

TW is good but he can't perform miracles - he'll need all of his 5 years assuming the recruiting is done well. 

Totally agree Harry. It'll take that long just to get our list back into balance. Using Lids as a guide he'll only be 22 and hitting his "peak" age.

Roach on Williams was a big mistake. You either get a Guy just as quick to keep up with him or a bigger body to muscle him out of line. Unfortunately Roachy is neither of these.

Roachy is fairly quick but I just don't think he is a footballer. At least Wallace gave him a full game on Williams to show if he was up to it instead of playing him on and off the bench.

1. Never, I repeat never should we have 3 planks in the forward line at any stage. We must always keep a good mix of mobility and height.

[Mopsy]

Roach on Williams was a big mistake. You either get a Guy just as quick to keep up with him or a bigger body to muscle him out of line. Unfortunately Roachy is neither of these.

Roachy is fairly quick but I just don't think he is a footballer. At least Wallace gave him a full game on Williams to show if he was up to it instead of playing him on and off the bench.

Wallace is no Frawley in that respect.