The rebuilding is NOT taking long.

[Judge Roughneck]

For months Ive been saying that the list only has the ability to reach the bottom rungs of the 8 consisitently. I believe that some people at Richmond also believe that to be the case and thats one of the reasons for the review and for the changes.

Richmond cant just be happy to make the 8. Football clubs do not exist to make the 8. Football clubs like Richmond should exist so that it can win Premierships. We dont have a good enough list, the problem will also be excasserbated when Richo and Browny retire.

The football department and recruiting area needed to put in place a strategy that would see 2 clear waves of younger players coming through, unfortunately that is not the case, we only have 1 wave of younger players and a group of senior players that will be leaving the game shortly. Richmond needs to fill some holes that have been left open and we need to find another group of 5 or 6 young players to create a 2nd wave. Thats why change needs to happen, because if we get it wrong, we wont ever get past 7th or 8th place.

Richmond still has plenty of rebuilding to do.

I am intersting in the list dynamics - have you reached this conclusion?

[Stripes]

I think we have at least two 'waves' but besides the ruck division I can't see an area in the team where we are obviously lacking and will struggle to compensate for when a senior player moves on.

We longer have any senior players who are irreplacable in fact the absence of many of them from their traditional roles have been the making of many of our developing younger players and the revitalisation of the senior players too.

We are developing great depth and competition for spots which is half the battle alone and we delisting players is becoming more difficult with each passing year. These are all great signs of a rapidly improving list.

There is very few clubs in the competition that have a list with as many quality young players who are all developing together about.

I think our team will surprize many of the next few years

Stripes

[Ramps]

Ramps, you are concerned about replacing the older players. I say you have nothing to fear. 

I also believe we have the two 'waves' you refer to. The '04 draft (Lids, Bling, Meyer, Polo and Patto) coupled with White, Foley, McGuane and Thursfield who were also taken around the same time plus the '07 draft (Cotchin, Rance, Putt and Gourdis) coupled with Morton and Collard is the two waves you are after. Add to this players of similiar age such as Riewoldt, Moore, Schulz, Edwards who are all playing in the first plus players such as King, Meyer, Polo, Raines, Cogs, Connors, Collins, Hughes, JON, Casserly and Gus who are all developing and pushing for selection.

I think our list is looking very good and with some extra draft and trades over the next few years we are no where near finished developing. The future is looking bright and I think time in the top 4 playing off for the flag is fast becoming a reality.

Stripes

I have highlighted the players that need to show that they can play to a higher level, all of these players for one reason or another have question marks, thats why I suggest that we need to get another wave coming through.

[Stripes]

Ramps, the players you have highlighted are currently there for depth. If any of them step up, which I'm sure a good percentage of them will, we will have an incredible amount of quality young players all coming through at the same time. If you throw in the players drafted last year who have not even played a game yet - Rance, Gourdis, Putt and Collard - then we are looking very strong.

I don't think we need to bottom out again to get through quality players. At the moment we just need to top up with good draft choices to continue to add depth to our developing list and we are in for an extremely enjoyable ride over the next decade.

Stripes

[Judge Roughneck]

By the last game of the season our best XXII could look something like this:

McMahon Thursfeild McGaune
Moore Schultz Newman
Richo Cotchin Tuck
Tambling Reiwoldt Connors
Morton Brown White
Simmonds Deledio Foley
Cogs Bowden Johnson Patto

Polo, Edwards, Rance, Meyer, JON, Hughes, Raines, Jackson, King should be knocking on the door at coburg at the start of next season - its good to have young promising players on fringe of best 22. And then there is the 2nd wave of youth: Gourdis, Casserly, Collins, Graham. All pretty much kids.