They’re at a crossroads’: Caro’s concern for Richmond (3aw)

[tdy]

We peaked too early. The early rounds were our best games, also Collingwood thought us out and with the new rule changes next year we have to change. Not wholesale but we need to plan to hit form from round 16 and 18 onwards.

[Tiger Khosh]

God i hope I don’t have to hear the reporters ask about going from being the hunter to the hunted back to the hunted with Dimmas answer being “the way we play we always consider ourselves the hunter” every few days next year.

[big tone]

Does anyone think we reached the heights of our finals wins of last year in any game this year?

I personally don’t remember any game this year where our pressure was what it was in those finals.

Even with all those wins it was like we hadn’t improved and some of the better teams had improved that 5 or 10%.... especially in the prelim

I think our backline is pretty set for next year with the exception of Houli. I think we need an upgrade on him and he should be “depth” at best.
Markov is quicker, tougher, more desperate, and his disposal is very good, and with more game time his poise and decision making will improve.
Even if his output isn’t the same as Houli’s at round 1, he should be played ahead of him so at round 15 or even 20, his output hopefully will be better than what Houli can give.
Markov’s upside if give games is better than Houli’s ceiling going forward.
If we are to improve, we need to change the personal of players that can not improve.

Grigg is also in the same boat imo.

I would also look at potentially giving Vlastuin another crack as that inside mid we are after. I know he had a crack last but it’s not going to happen overnight but the upside could be enormous.
 
A backline like this could still be very good especially with a couple with a years senior footy under their belts

Grimes  Rance  Astbury/Broad
Short  Bolta  Markov

And a forwardline of

Rioli  Jack  George
Butler  Lynch  Caddy/Townsend

The 3 smalls are all lightening quick which sets them apart from the other smalls on our list. Our 3 all have different qualities which also makes them important, and if one of them is down, the other two usually step up. The pressure they can apply as a group is outstanding and all are still young and hopefully improving each year.

Which leaves the following as onballers/wingman/half forwards

Nank, Dusty, Cotch, Prestia, Vlastuin, Edwards, Lambert, Higgins, Graham.

Still a quality young side with lots of improvement in it.
If we can regain our pressure in 2019 and Lynch can have a good year and give us something we desperately needed, we should be ok.

[Tiger Khosh]

I like the idea of giving vlastuin another crack in the middle, Balta seems like a good replacement if he is ready for senior footy - good contested mark, long penetrating kick and can provide more dash than vlastuin can back there.

Would also like to see Bolton and Stengle get more opportunities next year assuming they both stay they can challenge for the 3 small fwd roles with castagna and butler while Higgins and I think Rioli next season can rotate through the middle.

Thinking with lynch coming next year caddy will get a lot more midfield time then he’s had in his first 2 seasons considering he’s essentially played that second kf role which lynch will slot nicely into.

[Diocletian]

Like to see Caddy & Vlastuin rotate thriugh the middle and up forward...never together though - both too slow to be in the same part of the ground at the same time....

Bolton to me should be the Yarran type of hbf....but capable of playing in all three lines....

Castsagna has untapped potential as an on baller and a run with player. IMO...might be  his best chance of staying around beyond next year....

All moot though as I doubt Hardwick would make any of those moves.....

[Diocletian]

Of course I'd rather we just got another decent inside mid and just left Vlastuin & Caddy where they are....would still like to see Vlastuin swing forward more often though and on ball occasionally....same goes for Short and even Astbury.....the more flexibile players you have, the better and it also helps you better cover injuries...

[MintOnLamb]

Balmey will have it under control.

We were exposed by not having played more vfl players and leaving players in one position.

Sheedy was the master of that one.

[big tone]

Like to see Caddy & Vlastuin rotate thriugh the middle and up forward...never together though - both too slow to be in the same part of the ground at the same time....

Bolton to me should be the Yarran type of hbf....but capable of playing in all three lines....

Castsagna has untapped potential as an on baller and a run with player. IMO...might be  his best chance of staying around beyond next year....

All moot though as I doubt Hardwick would make any of those moves.....

Do you really think Bolton could be hard enough and disciplined enough to play off halfback? Even physically big enough?
We have had to endure Houli off halfback with his below AFL standard defending for year now, imo we don’t need another reluctant to tackle, poor spoiler, in our backline.
Short is no beast in this area and I hope he can improve, but his kicking and run make it a tiny bit more barable. And you can have one maybe in your side.
That’s why I think Markov could be ideal. He is made to play that position I reckon. He gives you the best of both worlds, hard and tough and with excellent run and carry and a nice kick.

I would love to see a back 6 that are fanatical in their attack of the footy- 6 Grimes’ would be nice.
4x 190mm players that can play on talls and smalls (Grimes, Rance, Broad, Bolta) with the 2 running, still good defenders first and foremost, penatrating kick flankers.

As good as Astbury has been, he gets found out sometimes when he hasn’t got a decent match up.
It’s ok to have a guy like Astbury that can play in 18 wins for the year, but if gets beaten in the other 4 games against good sides, he needs to be looked at imo.

Our backline is in good shape imo.

[YellowandBlackBlood]

Bolton is an outside mid, winger. That's his best position. He uses his pace and evasiveness to slice through the opposition's defensive zone. He did that as a junior and that's where he's played his best football in the VFL. He csn go forward and kick a goal but really isn't a permanent small forward.

[Tiger Khosh]

Losses to port and gws wernt due to the defence.

The other 3 losses - Adelaide, west coast and Collingwood the whole defence was well beaten. Not sure how you’ve singled out Astbury there.

[The Machine]

Agree with BT regarding Markov and Houli. I hope they play Markov from round 1 next year as he is everything BT said he is and Houli isn't. Houli to play most of the year in the VFL for mine. I had an interesting conversation the other week with an employee of the Tigers about Balta, Millar and CCJ. The view is the Club is very excited about them all becoming good players but needed further development to learn the game at the top level. Should Balta fast track his development over summer he could be looked at...just needs to slow his mind down and make good decisions with the ball. Very similar to Rance early days.

[big tone]

Losses to port and gws wernt due to the defence.

The other 3 losses - Adelaide, west coast and Collingwood the whole defence was well beaten. Not sure how you’ve singled out Astbury there.

Astbury has improved out of sight but without Rance, Vlastuin and Grimes going second man up, he would struggle imo.
And if he can’t do the job on the big forwards, we have to look at someone else that can.

[Diocletian]

Bolton's best games in the VFL this year were when they moved him to half-back and also put him on ball.....for one he didn't try to take speccys and kick goal of the year with every possession like he does up forward....


Also Short in finals  played the way we all worried Houli was going to play last year....got exposed as a massive brown pantsed shirker....

[Hard Roar Tiger]

Agree with BT regarding Markov and Houli. I hope they play Markov from round 1 next year as he is everything BT said he is and Houli isn't. Houli to play most of the year in the VFL for mine. I had an interesting conversation the other week with an employee of the Tigers about Balta, Millar and CCJ. The view is the Club is very excited about them all becoming good players but needed further development to learn the game at the top level. Should Balta fast track his development over summer he could be looked at...just needs to slow his mind down and make good decisions with the ball. Very similar to Rance early days.

Spot on 

[georgies31]

I think we need to focus on contested possession and winning clearances number one priority we a ranked 18th worse then the bottom sides and it showed how important it is last Friday this puts alot of pressure on our defence and the river breaks eventually .Hear this BS tigers don't mind conceding them that's crap for me we just can't win them and puzzling with our midfield to.Need inside midfielders.