Frawley dirty on Tigers' rule-breakers

[mightytiges]

Frawley dirty on Tigers' rule-breakers
09 August 2004   
Herald Sun
Mark Stevens

RICHMOND has lost 11 in a row within a season for the first time in its history.
 Cats' midfield shines

The losing streak will equal a record 14 if the Tigers can't manage a win again this season.

And coach Danny Frawley is fed up with fighting performances without reward.

"We've had a gutful of good efforts. We want to win a game of football," Frawley said.

Frawley, with just three games remaining at the helm, praised the endeavour of his players yesterday but took a swipe at poor skill level and dubious team ethic.

"The team aspect of why we play the game today was a little bit disappointing at times," Frawley said.

Although he refused to single out individuals, he clearly was talking about several instances of players taking shots at goal rather than centering the ball to teammates.

The Tigers dominated the final 12 minutes of the third term, but managed just 1.6.

"Good sides would've kicked five or six . . . we kicked 1.6," Frawley said.

"Probably a couple of those were due to not playing team footy, which is really disappointing."

But Frawley took heart from another dominant performance from Joel Bowden in his new role across half-back.

"His form since his little sojourn down to the VFL has been sensational," Frawley said.

"We're all wiser in hindsight, but I wish I'd done it about three years ago – we might be in a different position now. He's such a clever player. He's just born to play behind the ball."

Chris Newman could miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious kidney injury.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10385018%255E19742,00.html

[mightytiges]

I find it strange he would finally lambast the side publicly with only 3 game left of his tenure as coach. Why has it taken all these years when there's only so little you can remain positive about. Our skill level and team ethic has been below AFL standard for 3 years (more like 20). Similarly his decisions to play the kids and the dropping of Bowden to the reserves came when it was all too late for Danny. No point claiming hindsight when Richmond supporters have been screaming out for these decisions to be made for a long time now.

Although he refused to single out individuals, he clearly was talking about several instances of players taking shots at goal rather than centering the ball to teammates.

Just on this I would claim that centering the ball costs us more goals than we lose. When inside 50 we always try to pass (mainly in Richo's direction) when a open goal is beckoning. The idea of the game is to kick the footy between the two big sticks. Running long goals from midfielders are hard to defend against as the opposition's defence needs to spread their zone beyond 50 to stop the long shots. Once you spread the zone then it's much easier to find a teammate. We have at least 3 long (50+) kickers in our side - Fiora, Tivs and Bowden but we don't use them in this way.

Fiora's long goal today was a prime example. I turned to the people I sit next to and said he'll get dragged for that because it was against team rules. We all laughed but now I realise I wasn't far off the mark with that comment  .

As for our misses today. Many of them should be sitters for AFL standard footballers.

[WilliamPowell]

"We're all wiser in hindsight, but I wish I'd done it about three years ago – we might be in a different position now. He's such a clever player. He's just born to play behind the ball."

Don't we all

[Ox]

What a fool Danny is.

[Tiger Spirit]

Just on this I would claim that centering the ball costs us more goals than we lose. When inside 50 we always try to pass…

Have to agree there MT.  It’s really frustrating watching players looking to pass, instead of going for goal.  The way we’re going at the moment, the best way to go about it is to go direct to goal, regardless of the outcome.  That probably sounds dumb, but the chances of us setting up someone in a better position, versus going for goal are about the same.  Because the more the ball is handled the more likely we, or any team, are to mess it up.

If the opposition is going to take the ball away anyway, might as well put them under pressure first, rather than ourselves, by trying to set up the “perfect” option.

I would rather see us take the “riskier” option, which generally turns out to be the best option anyway.  Playing “safe” footy kills the natural flow of any game and is unnatural.  I wouldn’t know, but it doesn’t seem that’s how the game is meant to be played.

I couldn’t believe Joel yesterday when he was outside 50 and passed to Johnson about 10 metres away.  Why he insists on short passes and hand balling, instead of kicking long defies logic.

[Rodgerramjet]

Look, it's pretty safe do just ignore everything he says, maybe he might snag the right comment from time to time but 99% of his comments are wrong which is exactly why he is in the position he is in, probably the worst coach we have ever had. Three weeks to go hellaluya.