Crouching Tigers take slow but steady path Rohan Connolly
The Age
July 11, 2011 NOT a Richmond defeat goes by without a stream of radio talkback callers venting their spleen, the audible anguish crackling the airwaves again after the Tigers' loss to Essendon on Saturday night.
You can understand it, particularly from the considerable band of Richmond fans aged in their 40s. They grew up following a powerhouse. Three decades of subsequent failure is a stark contrast. And the regular, unfulfilled promises of improvement have been a shocking tease.
But as another year for Richmond goes belly-up, it's not only the Tigers who need to take stock, but the faithful who follow them.
While one win from the past six games is some downturn considering Richmond sat outside the eight on percentage only after nine rounds, the baldest win-loss statistics tell only part of the story.
Here are the headlines. Richmond is a young side, clearly starting to struggle with the physical workload of a long season. The Tigers have a list still in the bottom half of the AFL purely for talent. They have glaring structural holes in the ruck and in defence. But all three issues can, and will, be addressed.
That's because Richmond now has solid foundations, as a team being built around a core of prodigiously talented midfielders who'll be there for the long haul. As will its coach. And its overseen by an administration that understands this is no quick fix.
Take the big-picture view and there's comfort to be drawn from the current malaise. Richmond isn't winning, but the thumping at the hands of Carlton last weekend and the rounds three and four losses to Collingwood and Hawthorn remain the only times all season the Tigers have been blown away - the average margin of the remaining seven losses just 24 points.
The key indicators in which Richmond was shining earlier this season haven't fallen away much, either. The Tigers are still ranked No. 2 for percentage of effective disposals, still ranked No. 3 for percentage of effective kicks, and have slipped only a little for other major statistical categories.
But a still-developing side doesn't need much to go wrong for its plans to be thrown out of whack and, in Richmond's case, not even necessarily involving the biggest names.
Dylan Grimes had very quickly made the Tigers' defence a far more organised and reliable proposition before ripping his hamstring from the bone in a desperate lunge as they beat Essendon first time around.
It looks pretty threadbare at the moment; Alex Rance having come on but Luke McGuane and Will Thursfield just marking time. Put a key defender on coach Damien Hardwick's post-season shopping list.
Not before a ruckman, though. That Richmond is desperate for one is patently obvious, the dominance of Essendon's Paddy Ryder in the second half a big factor in the Tigers' demise on Saturday night, the Tigers' apparent interest in North Melbourne's Hamish McIntosh only logical.
Angus Graham has gone backwards at a rate of knots. That Hardwick failed to select him for Saturday night in the current climate, even with Andrew Browne out injured, wasn't a ringing endorsement of his future prospects at Punt Road.
The ruck issue might go to the heart of some midfield problems, too. With the ground-level talent at its disposal, Richmond should be doing better around the stoppages. Instead, it's a comfortable last for clearance differentials.
But there'll be some ruckman available at the of this season. McIntosh could be one. Geelong's Mark Blake seems an obvious candidate, too. Defenders aren't falling out of trees, but David Astbury - out with a knee injury - appears a keeper and Grimes could be the defensive equivalent of a Dustin Martin or Trent Cotchin.
They're not massive changes to a list that still requires plenty of work but, for the first time in decades, doesn't require a complete overhaul.
It's about whether you choose to see the glass as half-full or half-empty, even in the face of a 100-point plus defeat, followed by a loss when your side has conceded the final 10 goals of the game.
Richmond has tried before to slap a quick coat of paint over a house built on dodgy stumping and paid a price. This is a slower build but using better materials and in time, even impatient supporters will be grateful for the extra care and time taken.
It's already been a 30-odd-year wait for Richmond. And a couple more for a result far more satisfying and that lasts a lot longer won't kill it.
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