Where do the Tigers need the most improvement next season?

[one-eyed]

There's a new poll on the RFC site..

Where do the Tigers need the most improvement next season?

Defence
Midfield
Forward line
Ruck division

[torch]

Forward!

We need a 70 Goal+ per year goal kicker!

[Chuck17]

I will go forward line as well, but honestly think all areas need to improve to make finals this year.

[wayne]

I put down midfield, but it's really a problem that affects a lot of our players, it's disposal.

There were some games, St Kilda is one, where the first 5-6 goals the Saints kicked were all from really shocking turnovers. It happened it other games as well.

If we can tighten this up, we have the ability to score quick and heavy and it helps the defence out.

[Mr Magic]

Forward line.
Big seasons from Hughes, Schulz and Riewoldt would help enormously.

[Chuck17]

Wouldn't mind seeing a bit more controlled aggression from the boys either.

McGuane did a few good things in this regard this year which I was pleased to see.  Hope he can take St Nick out next season when we play the Ainter's like he did this year.

[Jacosh]

It has to be defence, not just in the backline but all over the ground. When we dont have the ball we dont work hard enough or tackle well enough.  When we get the ball into the 50 it rebounds out just as quick when it hits the deck, we need to lock it in better.  I know ive said this before but we are wasting time and resources doing tackling practise with the Melb Storm (League tackles are sloppy and loose much the way Richmonds are).  If they want to do something like that they would be better of going to one of the local union teams, I think it would have to cost them less while helping out a local club and they would learn much better technique.  One of my sons just played his first season of AFL in under 15's after 5 years of playing union and couldnt believe the lack of tackling practise when it is so prevelant in the game.

[Chuck17]

Have to agree there Jacosh, I think we are improving in that area with Mitch Morton being a good example of this.  His pressure in the forward line was good this year and I cant help but contrast him to Petts defence which consisted of slapping players in the head or impersonating windmills.

[Jacosh]

Have to agree there Jacosh, I think we are improving in that area with Mitch Morton being a good example of this.  His pressure in the forward line was good this year and I cant help but contrast him to Petts defence which consisted of slapping players in the head or impersonating windmills.

To be honest Chuck that doesnt really fill me with confidence, when the only player anyone can mention is a guy that has been at the club 1 season and couldnt break into the regular team when at westcoast. Dont get me wrong i think mitch is great but will he influence others around him or will the RFC culture have the opposite affect on him.

[Chuck17]

Jacosh
It was just an example of one forward line player that has come into our side and one forward line player that has gone out and the difference that player has made in the side for that position.
I could name a fair few others that I think have increased their defensive work rate this year.
In saying that we still have a fair way to go but I can see improvement, but if we don't get more improvement and success in 2009 I will be mighty peeved at the false messiah.
Have faith (for 2009 at least )

[bushranger]

I will say that this is the most obvious in our win/ lose ratio.
But I think in a forward's but let Richo play the same way he did this year.
I don't think there are many players that can keep up with him when he is on the run all game.
And that has to be a plus for us.
Looking forwards to next year.

[Stripes]

We need improvement everywhere really but the forwardline is the most glaring weakness. It is strange considering it is also the area that I believe we made the biggest positive change with in 2008. With Richo moving upfield we became far less predictable and started to form a forward team. We need to continue to develop all the forwards and spread the goals across the group rather than just develop a replacement for Richo.

We need all of our forwards working together to score. I don't want another star forward that dominates the other forwards and who we focus on almost exclusively to score for us. Using, arguably, the strongest forwardline in the competition as a model we need a spread of scorers. Even though Buddy is Hawthorn's standout forward, they have a strong unit who work together to generate scoreboard pressure, beneath him. When they became too Buddy conscious such as when they played us they were beaten. During the GF they played Buudy further up the ground as a decoy to allow the other forwards more space and licence to score. 

Riewoldt is the key here for us. He is the most unselfish forward we have who looks to bring the others into the game at every opportunity - basically he is our forward playmaker. Mitch is a bit more hungry for a goal but is very good at shepherding and providing dummy leads. Cleve hasn't played long enough to give me a good picture of how he helps create goals for the others but he does take a good defender every week and offers a main target to goal.

We desperately need a crumber and I don't think Browny is elusive or quick enough for this role any longer. Edwards may potentially be able to take this task but I am not convinced. I was hoping Collard would be the solution here but that bird has obviously flown. It remains a real issue for mine for our future.

On the same chain of thought our forwards also need to start to focus on opposition weaknesses in defence much like what other teams do to us. Both Bowden and Kingy were pinpointed as weaknesses for two very different reasons this year - Bowden because he runs off his opponent (or did) leaving them frequently open and Kingy was isolated one out with his direct opponent in the goalsquare where his height was exposed. We need to do a similiar thing to opposition defences but first we need to have faith in each forward in our forwardline to do the job.

So next year we desperately need all of our forwards to stand up individually but mostly as a cohesive unit. If Cleve can cement his position this will go a long way to giving us the forward stability and consistency to focus on each other and creating goals for the club.

Stripes

[Chuck17]

Good post Stripes, enjoyed that read.

Agree with your comment regarding a crumber and at the moment I am holding faith in Edwards for this role.  Although if we can spare Cotch from the middle I bet he could do it, and I was considering Dan Connors also.

[richmondrules]

We were consistently scoring 100+ points a game towards the end of the season. Our backline showed marked improvement but often leaked around 100 points due to the amount of attacks they had to repel. Personally I would like to see our midfield pumping the ball into the forward 50 more often and not allowing the ball into the defensive 50 as quite so much. I voted midfield.

[Stripes]

Very interesting the trade for Thomson. To me this reads that we are not confident that Cogs will return. Our Midfield has improved greatly over the last few years but we need to build depth. Foley, Lids and Tuck are the inside players with Cotch and Whitey hovering around the outside at the moment ready to run. Where we really need to see improvement is from players such as Thomson plus constancy(sp?) from Polo, Connors, Edwards, Collins and even King.

Raines and Cogs will be the wildcards of the Engine Room next year for mine. Raines has effectively lost his role as the running halfback with the inclusion of McMahon and now Tambling into that role. He will have to use his strength and fire around the packs and become an in-and-under type to find a place back in the team. I don't think he has the vision, skills or pace to be an outside type (I still have nightmares remembering all the times he was run down streaming out of defence in years gone by ) but time will tell. I think Cogs may find the competition for spots too tough. I speculate that he has lost his pace and we now have a number of in and under types that when he played was a rarity in the squad.

It's our 2nd ruck position next year I'm most concerned about. We need some strength and height in the position and at the moment Patto is merely holding his spot because there is noone on the list who can challenge him for it. We need Gus and Putt to at least apply some pressure next year for a spot or we are in dire straights in a few years when Patto will have to be competing with the likes of Sandilands and Cox when Simmo moves on.

Stripes