How Richmond have embarrassed Dons, Pies and BluesBy Jake Niall
The Age
October 20, 2020 — 11.32amOn the same day that Richmond prevailed over Port Adelaide to enter a third grand in four seasons, Essendon's new president announced an investigation into all aspects of the football program.
Essendon's investigation had been sparked by the exit of Adam Saad, which the president Paul Brasher admitted had "blindsided" him. The Bombers had known that Joe Daniher, having sought a trade last year, was likely to leave, and that the lure of home for Irishman Conor McKenna and South Australian Orazio Fantasia could well see them depart.
"The club's first step is to build back respect as a formidable on-field opponent," Brasher told The Age and the Herald.
On the previous day, Thursday of last week, Collingwood had been not exactly blindsided, but still confronted with the legal force of a Supreme Court writ by former 2010 premiership player Heritier Lumumba – a situation the Magpies had at least been braced for, having announced their own investigation into Lumumba's allegations of racism at the club during the years of 2005 until 2014.
That investigation is being conducted by noted Indigenous academic Larissa Behrendt. It is unclear what impact, if any, Lumumba's lawsuit will have on Collingwood's internal probe, the Magpies having foreshadowed that a mea culpa was on the cards.
Lumumba had said he would not participate in the club's investigation.
Carlton, meanwhile, have completed yet another season without finals, while watching the coach the Blues brutally jettisoned in 2012, Brett Ratten, coax St Kilda into finals and put up a creditable effort in the semi-final against Richmond, who themselves enter this grand final week as the competition's nonpareil club. Only Geelong have claims to rivalling the Tigers for consistent performance.
Richmond's performances, on and off-field, over the past four seasons – even in a season marred by scandals – have embarrassed Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood.
Or they should have embarrassed those clubs, who have not kept pace with Richmond where it counts most: winning games, finals and premierships.
Essendon's failing is the most egregious compared with their yellow sash rivals, who have donated not only incoming coach Ben Rutten, his assistant Blake Caracella and football boss Daniel Richardson, but four decades ago, handed the then-mediocre Bombers the figure who would become the club's most towering figure since the second world war, Kevin Sheedy.
That Sheedy was enlisted on to the club board – having served as a paid ambassador over the past few years – was a measure of Essendon's need to pacify increasingly angry and despondent fans.
It was a political appointment at a highly political club, which has been lumbered with the legacy of the drug saga, just as the Blues spent a long time under the weight of the 2002 draft penalties for salary cap cheating.
Richmond, for so long a distant fourth and laughing stock among the "big four" – or what Brian Cook, Geelong's sage chief executive liked to call "The Beatles" – has out-performed Essendon, Carlton and, to a lesser extent, the Magpies on every football front: list management, coaching and conditioning.
The failings of the Dons, Blues and Pies compared with Richmond are not uniform, but a few are shared. One is that Richmond's coaching is well ahead.
The Tigers, third again in this home and away season, do not have an overpowering level of talent in the manner of Geelong of 2007-2011 or Hawthorn of 2012-2015, though their playing list has impressive depth.
Their finals-built game plan involves taking territory, pressure and embracing chaos, but is complex defensively. A third flag with this playing list – in which role players such as Kane Lambert are meshed with superstars – would arguably be the greatest achievement by an AFL senior coach and his panel yet.
The Bombers, most obviously, have sought to fuse Richmond elements into their game style, without Richmond's personnel, on-field leadership or resilience.
Collingwood emulated aspects of Richmond's "connection" between players and sped up their ball movement in 2018, only to fall back to a more indirect style that was possession-heavy compared with the Tigers' leaner method.
Collingwood's main failing, relative to the Tigers, has been in planning for key areas of list management, notably for a key forward, as symbolised by Tom Lynch, and in legacy contracts, such as that of Dayne Beams, that have seen the Pies become a bystander in free agency and with limited scope for trades.
The Lumumba situation can be contrasted with Richmond's success in the multicultural arena. Tellingly, the Tigers have had enormous success with Indigenous talent, while Collingwood, unless they find a player in this post-season, will not have one Indigenous player on the list next year after Travis Varcoe's retirement.
To be measured against Richmond is galling for the Magpies, given they've been tantalisingly close to the grail and are the only club to upend the Tigers in a cutthroat final since 2017; the inches that separate those clubs have turned into premiership miles.
The Blues haven't gone down a Richmond-esque path in coaching, but have imported two key figures with Richmond passports.
First was chief executive Cain Liddle, who presided over the Tigers' fan engagement and membership growth in 2017 and was hired, in part, to propell the same kind of groundswell within a long-dormant and often disillusioned Carlton fan base.
The second executive with a tinge of Tigerland was list manager Nick Austin, who had worked in recruiting at Richmond and then the Bulldogs. Austin had replaced Stephen Silvagni, the favourite son whom Liddle had forced out.
Carlton's aggression in acquiring Zac Williams and then seeking to trade in Saad confirmed that the club had moved past that ground zero rebuild of 2015. The Blues, if some distance away, at least have a direction.
Essendon's issues have been entirely football-based, since the club has brilliantly recovered financially, in no small measure due to the hard toil of Brasher and chief executive Xavier Campbell.
But, as that pair have discovered, fans give administrations little credit for fiscal recitude or recovery; they care only for the win-loss ledger.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/afl/how-richmond-have-embarrassed-dons-pies-and-blues-20201020-p566s9.html
