Always something to play for
7:23 PM Fri 3 August, 2007
By Catherine Murphy
richmondfc.com.au
ASSISTANT Tigers coach David King says players adopting “self-preservation” mode at this stage of the season is the biggest danger for Richmond going into the final five rounds.
“We can’t afford to have that happen,” King says.
“We need to keep on working together. It’s about the future. This year’s gone collectively for us, but there’s a lot to be gained for individuals.
"There are players trying to keep themselves on a list, there’s players trying to show they’re the future, there’s players already on the team that are maybe not sure where they’re placed.
"There’s a lot of challenges certainly for these guys. There’s a lot of individual accolades at the end of the year, be it All-Australians or best and fairest, so there’s always something to play for as individuals and as a team.”
King believes that, of the playing group demographic, the younger squad members can be most tempted to push for individual rather than team goals.
“When you’re a young player you’re always thinking about yourself, making sure you get a kick, not necessarily about the team, but as you get older you learn that it’s more important that the team goes well than you individually. There’s not too many changes made on winning teams, so if you’re part of a winning team your chances of surviving are a lot greater,” King says.
“It’s hard to show younger players that, but the senior players really need to appreciate that and need to make sure they drive that. If everyone’s trying to be best on ground, it doesn’t quite jell.”
With such focus on youth development at the club, King admits that there is always the fear that the more senior players on the team will start to wonder what’s in it for them.
“Self-motivation’s a huge part of this game. You’ve got to get yourself to a level [at which] you can perform mentally. It’s a real challenge.
"It’s more important for senior players to make it work, because they’re probably the first to go. The motivation for them is that they need to show that we’re going in the right direction and this is the path we need to take, so that they’re here next year.
"Secondly, they need to be making sure that they’re getting the best out of the younger players. It’s not all about the coaches driving it. At the best clubs it’s the senior clubs who are driving it.”
Having just hung up his boots at the Kangaroos last year, King is all too aware that at this time of year the older players on the squad will inevitably start to weigh up their own playing futures.
“That’s natural, but once you cross the line at the weekend you’ve got to make sure you’re at your best. You can’t get worked up and caught up in the emotion. You’ve got to be better than that.”
However, King says it’s not an easy task to mentally prepare a playing group that has only one-and-a-half wins under its belt for tough assignments like Geelong, which is looking for its 13th victory in a row.
“It is difficult. But they understand. They’re professionals, and they have to prepare every week and try their best. Whether that’s a winning performance or not is irrelevant to us, As long as we play somewhere near our maximum output, we’re happy with that.
“We never talk in terms of wins and losses, which is probably handy at one-and-a-half wins. We speak about getting all our structures in order and getting our players to play their best… We just want to see our players improving, especially the younger ones.
“We need to see our leaders take control of the game if it’s at all possible.”
http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=48574
