Richmond lacking leadership in tough timesCaroline Wilson
The Age
3 July 2020Neil Balme's newish and currently part-time role at the Richmond Football Club comes with the unorthodox football title of ''senior advisor''.
When asked about his revised position at Tigerland shortly before the round-three Hawthorn game, the veteran football boss joked on 3AW: "Not that anyone listens to a word I say."
Suddenly though, Richmond's predicament is no laughing matter. All of a sudden, too, the decision to remove Balme and football talent boss Blair Hartley from the day-to-day running of the football club looks at cross purposes with these unprecedented AFL times and the Tigers' struggle to embrace them.
It seems brutal to criticise the club that reinvented itself with such excitement, flourish and wisdom and has been the competition's benchmark for the best part of three seasons.
But as Brendon Gale said on Monday, proving yourself in this game is a week-to-week proposition. Gale added that it didn't take much to bring you back to the pack. Which is where the club finds itself as it prepares to move out of Victoria for a period and - as some critics have enjoyed pointing out - away from the MCG.
Richmond after the season shutdown looks unrecognisable from the club that launched its premiership defence in March. The Tigers of this bleak 2020 winter seem negative, unprepared, unwilling to bring their trademark pressure and at times even searching for excuses.
Each of the 18 clubs was forced to make some tough decisions as they prepared to return for round two and a 2020 season that continues to roll out new challenges. Savage cuts meant that Balme could no longer fall under the football budget and Hartley made way for an assistant coaching/performance role with only 25 off-field staff allowed inside the playing bubble.
That seemed the right way to go for a club in the position to challenge for another premiership. Richmond fought for an extra number but like other clubs failed in their quest. Now, as the club prepares to leave home, it is time to revise that thinking and add an experienced voice to the officials and coaches and other staff who will travel with them. Even if it comes at the expense of a direct performance role.
This is no disrespect to football boss Tim Livingstone or the reigning premiership coach Damien Hardwick, but Livingstone is new in the role he set out to share with Hartley and surely Hardwick could use another football elder given the demands, vagaries and the restrictions of hub life.
The Tigers have fought hard to retain their personnel and the strong culture they established against the realities of the AFL's savage cuts. This has not endeared them to the AFL but the good people and culture remain and season 2020 has months to run.
Which is why Gale should travel with the team as Simon Garlick chose to do with Fremantle. And if not Gale, then Balme or Hartley or both. It was Balme, after all, who stepped in at the end of the 2016 disaster and declared that there was not much wrong with the football club that could not be fixed. And Gale, incidentally, who admitted he should have kept a closer eye on the football department.
When you try to drill down on what Balme actually achieved when he helped oversee so much positive change the simple explanation is that he cut through the blather. When elders at Geelong, Richmond and Collingwood explain his influence they all say that Balme is a voice of simple wisdom and a great person to have around your players and coaches. So why not bring him back inside the tent?
Still the club, with the veteran Balme's blessing, moved to replace him with both Hartley - who has a superb relationship with the senior coach - and Livingstone in split roles so if not Balme, then both current football bosses should be there when the team is struggling.
Whichever way you cut it the club's on-field leaders this week did not show great enthusiasm regarding the prospect of doing their bit for the competition.
Whichever way you cut it the club's on-field leaders this week did not show great enthusiasm regarding the prospect of doing their bit for the competition.
The official leadership group is small. It consists of Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt. For some reason Dylan Grimes, who seemed the natural successor to Alex Rance in leadership terms, was not promoted when Rance retired despite more than holding up his end on the field.
And as it happened it was Cotchin and Riewoldt, the Tigers' two leaders, who cast serious doubt on some of their teammates moving interstate to represent their club in this obstacle-ridden season.
Both footballers were interviewed on Tuesday, 24 hours after Gale had insisted on SEN that the players were "as driven as ever" and "really excited to be playing". Frankly the players did not exactly back up their CEO but instead cast serious doubt on several senior teammates even making the trip.
Most people accept that expectant fathers such as Shane Edwards and Bachar Houli would want to remain at home for the impending births of their children but Cotchin and Riewoldt hinted that other personal issues could force other teammates to take time off. Again if there are players with serious mental health issues lacking the resilience to leave home then that is a matter for the club and should be respected, but the impression left was negative.
As a player Cotchin has not taken a backward step this season and his highlighted comments were admittedly only one part of his interview but they came at a time the competition is crying out for a collective willingness.
This week's fixture setbacks have seen most players take the hint and publicly deliver. Already a pattern is emerging where on-field results are concerned.
Riewoldt has been a champion of the football club and his form is not the only troubling issue facing Hardwick but it is a big issue. He is such an important player that if he is struggling to find the hunger then that compounds the issue.
Player empowerment and the mutual embracing of teammates' vulnerabilities helped lift Richmond to the pinnacle of the competition. But there's a fine line between vulnerability and resilience. Just as there is between structure and flexibility. It's all very well to say the Tigers have lost just two games in a year but that would be to deny the warning bells.
Their season is clearly salvageable but only if the club's leaders embrace the unpredictable nature of the coming months and prove themselves more flexible than they are presenting.
No one is suggesting that Gale, Hartley or Balme are not doing their bit behind the scenes for a team that is struggling. But constant telephone check-ins and zoom conferences are not the same when you're not in the bubble. Sometimes you just have to be there.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-lacking-leadership-in-tough-times-20200630-p557ni.html
