Summary
* Body is feeling very good. Probably the most consistent preseason he's ever had. Gives him confidence going into round 1. Hopefully we can start the year off well.
* He'll start the year in a similar role to last year in a lock-on role and see how we go. It'll depend on who we play and match-ups and alike. Some weeks offence and other weeks defence. We need others to stand up in that position. We need to get a few more players on there and start trusting a few more to play in that area.
* Mick Mcguane asked where will the improvement come from?
Sugar believes we'll be alot more even this year and not relying on the Richo's and Brown's. Expects we'll get a lot of improvement from Tambling, Foley, Howat and co. If we don't then he doesn't see how we can advance unless the younger guys improve.
* Michael Christian asked what are the expectations for this year. How many games are we aiming to win. Where realistically do we expect Richmond to be at season's end?
The leadership group and the coaches have discussed how we always want to improve. We won 11 games from 22 and finished 9th. Improvement would be to win 12,13,14 games to get into the top 8. That's what we are looking at. Anything below that will be a failure.
* Asked about Polak - where will he play, forward or back?
Over preseason played on Richo and did a real good job and lately we've pushed him forward to have a look at him as an option up there. Sugar believes Polak will be really good down back and at times during the year a foil for Richo in attack. We'll see him at both ends.
* Simmo missing is a blow. He was flying too before he broke his ankle. Back in round 3 or 4. Hopefully Knobel will be right for this week or round 2 and we'll be right with Patto or whoever comes in.
* Browny is back to his agile and skillful best. Kicked 4 goals and had 20 possies against the Pies in Mildura and was probably the difference between the two sides.
* Asked what is Krak's state of mind given the off-field stuff?
Krak's been fantastic. Probably in the best shape he's ever been in. A real credit to him given what has gone on. He's got stuck into it to make sure his footy didn't suffer and we've been really supportive of him. Hopefully he can have a big year as when he's playing well, Richmond plays well.
* Asked whether our first year players like Jack Riewoldt get any gametime early on in the year?
You'd hope not as that would mean our full side is out there but if it happens we do get a couple of injuriesand they do play then his confident the kids can do the job. We've got some good ones. In 12 months to 2 years we'll see them out there contributing to the side.
* Jake King is a real goer. Similar type to Steven Baker from the Saints. More nuggety and takes the small forwards and harrasses them and plays a real tight game. The leadership is keen to get him out there as he adds some grunt. Hopefully we'll see him out there this week or the week after.
* Not sure if King will play. We are still deciding on 4 boys to come in. Will depend on Wednesday (yesterday's) training and match-ups. Find out today or Friday.
* Richo and Patto are first up in the match committee innovation. Richo was picked because he's missed games and is reasonably fresh. It'll be interesting to see how it goes especially after the game which will test the boys out (laughs).
* Asked has our game structure/style changed coming into Plough's third year as coach or are we focussing in on getting the gameplan right in terms of execution?
We've tweaked it slightly over that time but we've got it to a point where we are pretty confident in it and it's just fine things we needed to tweak. Everyone now knows what their requirements are out on the field and how we want to play so we will see a big improvement this year.
