Tyrone Vickery a symbol of what bedevils RichmondMichael Gleeson
The Age
April 29, 2015Tyrone Vickery will most likely be picked to play for Richmond this week. He kicked four in the VFL last week and Ben Griffiths is out injured.
No player is more emblematic of what bedevils Richmond than Vickery. No other player is more symptomatic of the hand-wringing quandary the Richmond board now confronts. Like Richmond, Vickery has reached a certain level and stalled or gone backwards.
Vickery is the early pick who has not become the player the club thought he would. He is a tall player in a club crying out for a second ruck and a second or third tall forward but he is down the pecking order. He is a player of some physical presence in a team lacking that and yet he has been in the VFL.
Was he a bad choice at the draft or a player not properly brought on by the club that chose him?
Thus the board wonders not only about Vickery but about the list and the coach: is it a club whose problems now best reside with the talent of its players or the talent of its coach?
The coach and essentially the same players won 12 games last year and 15 the year before. They lost 10 of 13 last year then won nine. Does this year condemn them or do the other seasons save them?
They made finals but did not win them. Was that the high-water mark for this team? This list of players has plainly been good enough and coached well enough to get to finals and if things were to go right might even be able to do so again, but is the list good enough to go further? Is the coach good enough to take them further?
A side that will look eagerly to the return of Troy Chaplin and Chris Newman to right a faltering season is not a side to threaten Fremantle, Hawthorn or Port Adelaide. It was a side good enough to beat Sydney last year but would it be one to do so again if Sydney had something to play for?
Brett Deledio does and will make a difference. In fact, he makes too big a difference and the reliance upon him becomes more acute with every loss.
Richmond remains like an African safari park where the focus is all on the Big Five – Deledio, Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt and Rance – and the support acts lack interest. Lose one of the Big Five and they battle to cover. That might be true of other teams, but not other top teams. Hawthorn Sydney, Fremantle, Port can and do all lose key players, yet win.
In fact, other teams lose players in games and win. This week's sliding opponent Geelong as recently as a fortnight ago did it when their depleted team eclipsed the Suns. That was a Selwood-led win and Richmond has no Selwood even among their Big Five who will wins. Richmond was criticised for doing nothing in the last trade period, which is not entirely accurate. They were active; they just didn't complete deals.
Jack Trengove was over the line until a doctor's report halted the deal. Jason Winderlich toyed with changing sash and David Armitage was tempted, but Levi Greenwood was committed down Swan Street when the Tigers came calling.
They knew then what they know now – they need midfielders. They need new and more talented players to ensure they stop playing Shaun Grigg, Steven Morris and Nathan Gordon.
The Tigers admit they want a small forward. Actually they need a tall and a small forward. They also need a second ruck and at least one key back or even potentially two if Alex Rance decamps.
They still need run, pace and creativity. Is that a list problem or a coaching one? Have players with creativity lost their flair or was it never there?
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/landing-a-forward-no-small-task-for-tigers-20150428-1mv3e1.html
