The parallels Hodge sees b/w Richmond & end of Hawks' premiership era (SEN)

[one-eyed]

THE PARALLELS HODGE SEES BETWEEN RICHMOND AND THE END OF HAWTHORN’S PREMIERSHIP ERA

Andrew Slevison
SEN
2 May 2023

Richmond finds itself in a precarious position after just seven rounds of the 2023 season.

The Tigers gambled in the trade period by recruiting Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper from GWS, giving up in total a future first-round selection (currently pick 3) plus picks 12, 19 and 31 as they went about trying to emulate their recent premierships in 2017, ‘19 and ‘20.

While Taranto has been the club’s best player so far this season and Hopper has been serviceable, it doesn’t change the fact that the Tigers find themselves in a hole having basically given up their 2023 draft activity.

With just one win from seven matches to their name, the season is slipping, or has already slipped, away from the yellow and black and the club now faces a tough decision.

Do they pull the trigger on a rebuild, or wait for their injured players to return and attempt to fight back in the second half of the season?

Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge says the situation at Punt Road reminds him of the Hawks in 2016 after they tried to hang onto success on the back of their 2013-15 three-peat under Alastair Clarkson.

“It’s a sensitive one for Damien Hardwick and the Richmond Football Club,” Hodge said on SEN’s Sportsday.

“I was in the same situation at Hawthorn. When you’ve had a team that had so much success and then you bring guys into your club like Taranto and Hopper, it’s no different to what we did with bringing in (Tom) Mitchell and Jaeger (O’Meara).

“They’ve got some tough calls to make.

“I reflect on our journey where we went through the same at Hawthorn.

“The coaches want to hold onto that for as long they possibly can, but then they also promise new people that they brought in. We brought in Mitchell and O’Meara on the mindset of ‘if we keep this list fresh, young and energetic then we could continue to stay up the top’.

“It didn’t go to plan and I know ‘Clarko’ made it hard to make decisions to try and rebuild because he committed to those players that he brought in.”

Hodge feels with the profile of Richmond’s list, which has a number of ageing veterans, things could now be at a crossroads in regards to which path they take forward.

“I’m looking at ‘Dimma’ with the same mindset as what Clarko had where he’s got the legends of the club like (Trent) Cotchin, (Jack) Riewoldt, (Dustin) Martin, (Dylan) Grimes who have been so good for them, but there’s also (Dion) Prestia and (Robbie) Tarrant who are over 30 as well,” he added.

“At what stage does he start to make the call of ‘are we still a chance to win a flag?’

“Because he’s promised Taranto, he’s promised Hopper, he’s brought them in on long contracts (to say) that they’re going to continue to push for flags. You look at that list and you think they probably could (contend) if they have everyone up and firing, but unfortunately with AFL it’s not fair and they’ve had a lot of injuries.

“They’re now in a position that’s probably looking like they may have to go down the rebuilding stage.”

The Tigers sit 16th on the ladder with a 1-5-1 record which appears bad on the surface, however, they have been in every game.

Nevertheless, the record stands and the wins would need to come thick and fast if they want to avoid staring down the barrel of a rebuild.

Next up is the hapless West Coast at the MCG on Saturday - a fixture they really should win.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/05/01/the-parallels-hodge-sees-between-richmond-and-the-end-of-hawthorns/

[the claw]

Hmm Lots of paralells with ageing teams to be made. Reckon there are some good indicators that tell coaches and clubs that you have to go to the youth well.

[Simonator]

So looking at Geelong how were they able to remain so competitive ? They obviously acquired exceptional talent in Dangerfield who was in his peak when he arrived there but until Cameron came along they really only acquired role players like Rohan, smith, etc. they were able to
Firstly find a lot of young talent without bottoming out and then secondly get game time into their kids and remain competitive. That’s where we are really failing atm imo. We can’t find good enough young talent and apart from this year we haven’t been able to give them enough chances at the highest level.
Their strategy has kept them extremely competitive over the last 10 years albeit with only 1 flag. I think it starts with good scouting and we have had so many busts it’s not even funny

[Francois Jackson]

So looking at Geelong how were they able to remain so competitive ? They obviously acquired exceptional talent in Dangerfield who was in his peak when he arrived there but until Cameron came along they really only acquired role players like Rohan, smith, etc. they were able to
Firstly find a lot of young talent without bottoming out and then secondly get game time into their kids and remain competitive. That’s where we are really failing atm imo. We can’t find good enough young talent and apart from this year we haven’t been able to give them enough chances at the highest level.
Their strategy has kept them extremely competitive over the last 10 years albeit with only 1 flag. I think it starts with good scouting and we have had so many busts it’s not even funny

exceptional list management and recruiting. Tim Kelly for one. Picked him up cheap and then offloaded him for a huge windfall. Sam De koning was steak knives in that deal.

didnt they grab another youngster last year as well. Jeremy Cameron was part of that trade haul with kelly im pretty sure.

Whoever is doing the deals at the cattery needs to be poached.

[Gracie]

The gains from trading Kelly were all spent on Cameron

[Francois Jackson]

The gains from trading Kelly were all spent on Cameron

You do realize they got something back the other way and a player was selected also from the Kelly trade.

People forget about the clubs that traded picks to move higher. Cats were one of those who benefited greatly.

the Cats sent the Gold Coast selection (No.15), This pick was traded up with the dumb suns, so really was cats pick 27, the Eagles' 2020 first-round selection (No.18), their own first-round pick (No.25) and a future-fourth rounder to the Giants. In return they got Cameron and two 2021 second-round picks (one tied to GWS, the other to Essendon).

https://www.afl.com.au/news/599568/how-tim-kelly-helped-jeremy-cameron-get-to-geelong

IMV the cats are where they are now with a recent flag due to this trade period with Cameron, De koning.

[lamington]

This is going off tangent but yes 10000% looking back Geelong fleeced GWS with the Cameron trade. At that point in time it was a "reasonable" trade considering Tim Kelly was probably best on ground in the first half of the 2019 Prelim final. The Jeremy Cameron trade is probably a massive sliding doors moment in keeping Geelong afloat.


Also further off topic how about that Luke Jackson trade? Coming off a premiership, Max Gawn has on record said "he's a way better player than me". Holy poo you don't want to be Fremantle's list manager/recruiter and try and figure out how to get $900K value from him

[mightytiges]

Geelong has an advantage compared to the Melbourne-based clubs when it comes to attracting players from other clubs. In that they can offer a regional lifestyle to players who want a life away from the 24/7 footy bubble. They also attract those who like Dangerfield originally came from South-Western Victoria and there's no other clubs to have to bid against. So, Dangerfield can live back in Moggs Creek. Others can live in Torquay and surf in the morning before heading off to train. Geelong is a unique club. It still has the regional community aspect. Its scouting reach extends to all the local leagues that extends to Colac, Camperdown, etc.

[Francois Jackson]

location has absolutely nothing to do with how they have pulled off what they did. Melbourne clubs offer the come home factor, playing at the g etc

the recruiting and Bending over the suns was a thing of beauty, and what they eventually paid for Cameron was incredible.

Just on the hawks there is a good article on how they are tracking. Some of their best players Worpel, Lewis were not even top 20 players. Will day perhaps was but not much else. If we are comparing then our gws players is giving us the same output as what mitchell and omeara did.

we need more quality or we are going down the same path. We really need to beef up our recruiting because its been woeful lately.