One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on March 14, 2009, 09:30:21 PM
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With the preseason stuff done and dusted and the start of round 1 less than 12 days away, what's your mood and thoughts about the upcoming year?
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Geelong to win the flag.
Hoping we make the 8
and I am "hopeful" we can beat Carlton in round 1 to help push us along on that finals quest.
All I know come the end of the season is that we finish above Carltankcheat and Scumwood.
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Back in December I thought we could make the top four....now after the pre season and a reality check just to make the eight will make me happy.
Im looking forward to a season where apart from Geelong we have a realistic chance of winning every game.(atleast being highly competitive).
Im worried about the gap between our best and worst footy....and our inability to put sides away when we have them on toast.(bottom teams dont count)
Like most people Im excited about the addition of Cuz to our team.He certainly looks the goods at the moment.Proud of our club for rolling the dice and getting him -what ever happens.
Its going to be a FASCINATING year. :gotigers
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I hope Richmond finish top 8 and expect them to. Top 6 is possible.
I'm looking forward to seeing Browny and Cousins, two of the best footballers around linking up for the next copule of seasons and backboning our mid/forward division while JR, Lids, nahas. Cotchinand co continue to mature into a powerful unit.
I'm hoping that either Cleve of Schulz stand up and give us some presence alongside Brown up front.
It's dangerous to expect in sport - as every gambler among us knows - but I do think we are a better than evens chance against the Blues. I just think we are a better team.
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Glad this giggle fest called the "pre-season" comp is over.... NAB cup, NAB challenge who cares especially when you only get one opportunity to see your team in that 4 week period (apologies to interstaters who put up with that problem year round)
Looking forward to the season and expect finals as long as the majority of the list stays healthy... Harsh reality of footy (and this applies to the majority of clubs) lose some name players and it makes it tougher... not an excuse just a fact. Although having said that our depth does look much better
I am certainly worried about the type of footy that's going to be played and I'm not talking about Richmond. I am talking about the comp in general what we've seen for most game sin the pre-season has been utter crap.. Let's hope it disappears quickly because it isn't pretty and it isn't enjoyable
:gotigers
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I thought our preseason was a decent preparation apart from a couple of injuries. We've been improving and building up to round 1 rather than doing a Collingwood and making a fool of ourselves trying to be March premiers :lol. I reckon we are taking off from where we finished last year and I'm quietly confident about the season ahead although the first 3 rounds will be tough. If we are at least on par for wins midway through the year then we can use our string of MCG games in a row in the second half of the year to make out move. It's the second half of the year that sorts the contenders from the pretenders. If we get off to a flyer in the first month then I'll be even more confident of us playing in September. I might not even have to leave the state for us to make the finals either WP lol ;).
ps. Please RFC beat that 1-flag rabble down at Moorabbin Seaford or whereever they are based these days.
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I can't help but tread cautiously and am harnessing my excitement accordingly.
Like it or not, the Tigers have not performed over the years when there has been a weight of expectation and there's more weight this year than I can barely remember. The 'experts' are expecting we'll play finals. That worries me because I honestly believe we are one or two key injuries away from sliding back down the ladder. We will need a heck of a lot to go right again this year if we're to be there in September as there are a glut of teams battling for spots in the 8.
There are some extremely exciting kids coming on in Lids, Riewoldt and Cotchin but there are plenty more with question marks.
Time is running out for many at Tigerland..
Those IMO most under the pump this year will be Schulz, Tambling, McMahon, Hughes, Pettifer, Polo, King, Raines, Pattison, Coughlan & of course the coach who's probably under the most pressure of the lot. Much of our season will depend on the success or failure of those names. Unfortunately not many of them fill me with a great deal of confidence that they'll succeed. :-\
My guess is that we'll finish yet again just outside the finals after a couple of our vets who are expected to do well struggle for whatever reasons. Hope that I am wrong but I can't see where we are improving all that much yet, particularly at the pointy end despite Cuz's high profile arrival.
Going to be an interesting season whatever eventuates so strap yourselves in.
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I am cautiously optimistic of a good season.
I think a tough start to draw will mean a poor ladder result at the start of the season which will bring all the peanuts out in full force. There will be calls of sack TW, sack Jordy, sack Patto, sack Bling, sack all our old players (apart from Richo), sack all our recently traded for mature age draftees, sack our coaching assistants, sack blah blah blah.
With our young side gaining experience together as a unit a strong 2009 culminating in finals could be a reality, but it will be a tough road and one little pothole could derail the whole thing.
However two older guys could be what gets us home in the end, first Richo who I think will drag the whole side over the line on his shoulders if need be and second our wildcard Cousins.
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After the preseason I am less confident than in the months earlier. Perhaps this is a result of all the positive publicity we have obtained on the back of Cousins arrival and the accompanying praise for our list as a result but whatever the reason I began to start to lift my expectations higher than I now understand I should have.
I still think the eight is a strong possibility but I believe the advent of the zone and the adoption of the strategy may hurt our chances more than if they were out of the equation. We had success against the Hawks last year but unfortunately I think we played far above ourselves on that day and Hawthorn far below.
The fear I have is with our skill level. To run through the zone you need a combination of good decision making and a series of excellent desposals. Historically we have possessed neither. Our turnovers ahev continued to hurt us for years and I worry this has only improved maginally.
One positive I did take away from the Brisbane game and MTs most recent training report is that we are beginning to use the strategy to switch play, particularly in the backhalf, and go around the zone. This is a good ploy and makes us far less predictable if we are switching between the two 'zone breaker' strategies.
But my fear remains that we may loss otherwise winable games due to our turnovers when facing a zone which I believe will be used frequently upon us due to the speed of our list.
I expect Cousins will be a good contributor but not a match winner and Richo will slow down this year :'(
I expect Rance, Browne, Polo, to break into the team this year and Thomson and Nahas to find themselves playing more as the year progresses.
I believe Hawthorn will not be in the GF this year, Sydney/Saints/Collingwood will all drop out of the eight.
I hope TW is around next year to reap what he has sowed but I fear another coach may take all the credit in years to come.
Exiting year with a lot of expectation
Stripes
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Optimistically apprehensive :pray
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Nervous :pray
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More or less confirmed that we don't have a top 4 list yet.
Cotchin injury is tragic.
Still think we will make a step forwards this season and finish 6th to 8th.
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We're crap.
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We're crap.
LOL, as long as there are at least eight other teams more crap than us it should be OK
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We're crap.
LOL, as long as there are at least eight over teams more crap than us it should be OK
lol.
Sad but true :help
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I was looking froward to us having a really good start to the year by flogging and undermanned Carlton team. Now with Johnson, Cog's, Cotch, Floey and a few other injuries I am not so sure they are more undermenned than us. Not writing the season off but I thought we would have gone into round one stronger.
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The Blues won't have Stevens or Carrazzo and we didn't have Cotch, Cogs and Cousins last year in round 1 when we won.
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Yeah but Judd was only about 70% and we also had Petts and Johnson in and now with Floey maybe out it really evens up but more so in their favour for mine. Cuz will be great but not at 100% until about round 5 IMO.
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Yeah but Judd was only about 70% and we also had Petts and Johnson in and now with Floey maybe out it really evens up but more so in their favour for mine. Cuz will be great but not at 100% until about round 5 IMO.
That's true WAT and it is a 50/50 game but all I'm really trying to say is I hope we have more depth this year to cover injuries rather than the club using Foley's absence if he does miss as an excuse for a loss.
The Bookies sure have Carlton favourites - Richmond $2.25 to Carlton $1.60 :P.
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The bookies always start the tankers as favourites against us.
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The bookies always start the tankers as favourites against us.
Luxbet is meant to be on our side lol.
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I know he is just a kid ....but when Cotchin is back in the side I will feel a lot more confident about things.
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I feel locked and loaded
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A little nervous.
A lot of people expect us to make finals. I am one of them.
I would like to see us in round 18 or 19 be locked in the eight. I am sick of always waiting till last rounds and relying on other teams to do us a favour.
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I would like to see us in round 18 or 19 be locked in the eight. I am sick of always waiting till last rounds and relying on other teams to do us a favour.
I wonder if Richo will again kick 6 behinds straight before slotting the winning goal in the last minute and sealing our finals spot like in 2001 against North :lol.
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The Blues won't have Stevens or Carrazzo and we didn't have Cotch, Cogs and Cousins last year in round 1 when we won.
If Fevola plays good we're in trouble, if we hold him we win ... the injuries to both sides have ruled out any advantage. Itll simply come down to what the key forwards do on the day IMHO and Fevola is the best key forward of those playing, we have to stop him.
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If Fevola plays good we're in trouble, if we hold him we win ... the injuries to both sides have ruled out any advantage. Itll simply come down to what the key forwards do on the day IMHO and Fevola is the best key forward of those playing, we have to stop him.
Yep they go to Fev 75% of the time so they are predictable. If there's enough pressure on the delivery from their midfield and someone floating in the space in front of Fev then that should do it. The problem last year in the centenary game was we got spanked out of the centre after half-time and especially in the last quarter and the ball was coming down into our backline under no pressure. Oh and of course we need to kick straight when it's our go up forward :scream.
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I feel even if Fev kicks four or five the Scumbuckets can still get beaten.
Last year Fev kicked 4 in the Centennary Game with 3 coming in the last quarter well after the momentum and the match had slipped from our grasp. Until then Kel had done a good job on him and it was the Blues free running midfield that gave Fev the opportunity to kick 3 in the last quarter through no fault of Kel.
For me the midfield is the key. If we can stifle them in midfield we'll win. Our backline KPP'S are better than Carlton's and if we can get more of the footy we'll successfully expose this and put the Filth to the sword.
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Fev kicked 99 last year (4.5 goals a game) and they finished 11th.
He's going to need to average 9 goals a game for the Blues to challenge for a flag.
Like Tuckerbag said, the key is the midfield battle.