Tigers should relive past glories, says Jewell Jon Pierik
The Age
April 30, 2014 Richmond's last premiership coach Tony Jewell has urged the Tigers to revisit footage of last year's major wins to snap them out of their funk.
Jewell said he had noticed the "urgency" had returned to the Tigers on Sunday despite an 11-goal crunching from Hawthorn, but says the players need to watch the exciting, quick style of last year when they regularly played on after a mark to help them prepare for a crucial clash against Geelong on Sunday.
The Tigers are one of five teams with two wins but, according to club great Matthew Richardson, can still make the finals, for he believes as few as 11 wins will secure a berth in September.
Jewell, the Tigers' 1980 premiership coach, said Hardwick, contracted until the end of 2016, would be feeling the strain after an indifferent start, having enjoyed 15 wins last season.
"You do feel it. They have increased his contract but you would be feeling it. No one likes losing and the press start putting heat on you," he said.
"You certainly as a coach can't get down, you have to be positive but I really do think they will turn it around.
"If it was me, I would be showing them a few clips of the good games of last year. If they went back and had a look at how they played last year in the good wins, go and watch those and take something out if it. You don't lose that overnight. You can lose confidence but you don't lose ability.
"Whether they just felt they were going to turn up this year, and it was all going to happen, so they got a bit complacent, I don't know. You have to be there to know."
Jewell said he backed Hardwick but does not agree with the club's recycled recruiting philosophy. The Tigers have a league-high 13 players from other clubs on their list.
"His record is good. Every year we have improved but I don't like the idea of having 13 blokes who have been at another club and haven't made it there and have to come to us. But they have explained that by saying the draft choices have been thin because of the two new sides," he said.
Hardwick's post-match comments on Sunday, where he pointed to the absence of injured trio Brett Deledio, Alex Rance and Ivan Maric as a reason for the team's struggles, were criticised by Melbourne great Garry Lyon, who labelled the Tigers a "confused footy club".
"It's making excuses for poor performance. I think it's a disappointing page to turn to, to be perfectly honest," Lyon said on Footy Classified.
"Your footy club has got to bat deeper than that, it has got to bat deeper than those three players. In the end, it looked like it [Hardwick's comments] was a concession that we are only as good as those three players. I thought it was a sign of the pressure that is building at Richmond."
Tigers chief executive Brendon Gale has said finals remain an ambition, a point Richardson agrees with.
"Obviously, the season hasn’t started the way Richmond would have liked but, given the even nature of the competition, with every team having at least one win on the board, and no-one undefeated after six rounds, there’s still sufficient time for the Tigers to turn their situation around," Richardson said.
"I reckon 11 wins could well get you into the final eight this year, so it’s just a matter of Richmond regaining a bit of confidence, gathering some momentum and stringing a few wins together on-the-trot."
To do that, the Tigers need to regain their dash from half-back, hit targets and also need to kick more than seven goals, as was the problem on Sunday.
"When you watch the game, under pressure, rather than running from defence where they can run and create and have some ball use, they just kicked under pressure," Lyon said.
"Against Hawthorn, you are playing into their hands. Whether they have got the tools to do that, Deledio off half-back is always a bonus, but it doesn't appear to me that they have got either the pace, the skill or the personnel out of the back half."
The expected return of Deledio, the playmaking half-back, from injury will help generate run, while Rance, the key defender, is also set to return. Ben Lennon, the talented utility taken with the club's first pick in last year's draft, 12th overall, will be "close" to a senior debut, according to Hardwick.
In a critique on the Tigers' website, Richardson pointed to North Melbourne's transformation in 2012 as a reason why the team should remain optimistic.
"It’s worth remembering that back in 2012, North Melbourne was obliterated by Hawthorn [by 115 points] at Launceston and looked gone for all money, with just four wins after 10 rounds," he said.
"The Roos, however, recovered to win nine of their next 10 games and make the finals. Against Hawthorn last Sunday, I thought the Tigers at least tried to get the ball moving more quickly, which was a positive. The effort was there - they just need to put together a strong, four-quarter performance. Who knows what could then happen from there."
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