Richo [merged]

[TigerLand]

Stripes you highlighted what I believe has been the biggest hole at Richmond since I've been alive.

"Richardson has no on field leadership" although this is correct it's incredibly unfair to blame the "bad" of Richmond because of this issue.

What has lacked at Richmond since I have been alive (1984  )as I have yet to see it at our football club any form of LEADERSHIP.

In any other of the 15 football clubs of the competition Richardson's on field "problems" whether it be lack of leadership, body language, attitude etc would have been remedied by the turn of the century. In all due respect to Matty Knights there has been no genuine leadership on or off the field. We've had more coaches than cold showers so no coach has had the ability to say "Matthew I've seen you for 3-4 seasons in a row now and you continue to do this, this, this.."

The last 2 years he hasn't set foot in the forward line so he's certainly not hindering the development now and before that we had nothing in the shed to hold back because of poor recruiting.

Matthew has been a great player and servant for this football club. They don't grow on trees and he should be looked after in the way we are doing so.

I think it's unfair to suggest that his bad habits reflect the "bad" of Richmond for the past 30 years. He was allowed to act the way he's acted from the word go, this is as much fault of the club that it is Matthews.

When you've run out of goats to slaughter, you don't go and shoot your horse.

[Hellenic Tiger]

In relation to Richo I cant help but think of David Parkin at the end of his first season as coach of Hawthorn (75?). He had the view that they would never win a flag with Hudson there. The next year Hudson was gone and the hawks won the flag.

I am NOT suggesting if Richo goes we will be premiers next year, but Parkin belived that they were too focused on hudson as a goalkicker, making it easier for the opposition to shut down their supply of goals. I know Richo has played further down the ground recently but still floats forward quite a bit. There was one game early in the year when he went off injured, young Jack stepped up and kicked a few. When Richo came back on, Jack went back into his shell.

Great post Al. Love the avatar too. Very early Simpsons. One of the classic episodes in the season 3 when Homer and Marge meet in high school lol.
Game you were referring to was against North in round 5 and Parkin's first year of coach was 1977 and yep Hudson despite kicking 100 that year was gone for 1978 and the Hawks one the flag.

[Smokey]

In relation to Richo I cant help but think of David Parkin at the end of his first season as coach of Hawthorn (75?). He had the view that they would never win a flag with Hudson there. The next year Hudson was gone and the hawks won the flag.

I am NOT suggesting if Richo goes we will be premiers next year, but Parkin belived that they were too focused on hudson as a goalkicker, making it easier for the opposition to shut down their supply of goals. I know Richo has played further down the ground recently but still floats forward quite a bit. There was one game early in the year when he went off injured, young Jack stepped up and kicked a few. When Richo came back on, Jack went back into his shell.

Great post Al. Love the avatar too. Very early Simpsons. One of the classic episodes in the season 3 when Homer and Marge meet in high school lol.
Game you were referring to was against North in round 5 and Parkin's first year of coach was 1977 and yep Hudson despite kicking 100 that year was gone for 1978 and the Hawks one the flag.

But they also won one with him in 1971.  I know because I was there - he needed to kick 4 to break Bob Pratt's season goal kicking record (150) and he got slammed early in the game (Saints player that escapes my memory).  Nearly lost his ear and was severely concussed.  He kicked 3 and missed a couple of very gettable chances late in the game including kicking a goal that was recalled because Bob Keddie infringed.  Hawthorn still won a great game by 7 points.  Standing room in the old Ponsford Stand - memories!!   

[Hellenic Tiger]

In relation to Richo I cant help but think of David Parkin at the end of his first season as coach of Hawthorn (75?). He had the view that they would never win a flag with Hudson there. The next year Hudson was gone and the hawks won the flag.

I am NOT suggesting if Richo goes we will be premiers next year, but Parkin belived that they were too focused on hudson as a goalkicker, making it easier for the opposition to shut down their supply of goals. I know Richo has played further down the ground recently but still floats forward quite a bit. There was one game early in the year when he went off injured, young Jack stepped up and kicked a few. When Richo came back on, Jack went back into his shell.

Great post Al. Love the avatar too. Very early Simpsons. One of the classic episodes in the season 3 when Homer and Marge meet in high school lol.
Game you were referring to was against North in round 5 and Parkin's first year of coach was 1977 and yep Hudson despite kicking 100 that year was gone for 1978 and the Hawks one the flag.

But they also won one with him in 1971.  I know because I was there - he needed to kick 4 to break Bob Pratt's season goal kicking record (150) and he got slammed early in the game (Saints player that escapes my memory).  Nearly lost his ear and was severely concussed.  He kicked 3 and missed a couple of very gettable chances late in the game including kicking a goal that was recalled because Bob Keddie infringed.  Hawthorn still won a great game by 7 points.  Standing room in the old Ponsford Stand - memories!!   

Kevin "Cowboy" Neale.

I guess when Hudson was kicking 150 a year or close to it he was a matchwinner yet when he was kicking just 100 he was just a good ordinary player. Dynamics of the side was different in 1971 and 1977. What can I say. Parkin was proved right he won the flag in 1978.

[Penelope]

The whole Richo debate really is an emotive one. I went something like 7 or 8 years without seeing him play live and became a merciless bagger of him. Then I got to see him play live and I saw him in a whole new light. I was amazed at how hard he worked on the field - you just dont pick those things up on TV. He definately didn't work that hard when he was younger.

He was allowed to act the way he's acted from the word go, this is as much fault of the club that it is Matthews.

I cant agree with that. IMHO it is mostly the clubs fault, for not pulling him into line when he was younger. Frawley in particular has a lot to answer for here, as well a having a game plane seemingly centered around 'kick it to richo' which i believe is why the forward line became 'his' so to speak. You just wonder how different things would been if he had the tutorledge of a Sheedy or Mathews at the crucial stage of his development.

He wears his heart on his sleeve and busts a gut for the club (most of the time) in a way that many others could take a leaf from. For better or for worse, it wont be the same when he does pull the pin.

I'm not concerned if he does continue or not next year, but if he does I would like to see the proviso that he rarely, if ever enters the forward 50 so the young KPFs can step out of his enormous shadow.

But they also won one with him in 1971.  I know because I was there - he needed to kick 4 to break Bob Pratt's season goal kicking record (150) and he got slammed early in the game (Saints player that escapes my memory).  Nearly lost his ear and was severely concussed.  He kicked 3 and missed a couple of very gettable chances late in the game including kicking a goal that was recalled because Bob Keddie infringed.  Hawthorn still won a great game by 7 points.  Standing room in the old Ponsford Stand - memories!!   Wink

I think they may have won two with him, under Kennedy, who built his team and game plan around Hudson kicking a swag of goals. Its just that eventually the opposition work out ways to put a stop to that and there is no back up. The longer you rely on one person, the less back up you tend to have. When such a huge focal point is no longer there the others around have to step up, provided they are capable of it, that is.

Kicking 150 goals in a season is phenominal and that is probably won them the flag. In Parkin's first season he kicked 50 less and they missed the finals

Cheers
Al

(Thanks Tucker  )

[Smokey]

In relation to Richo I cant help but think of David Parkin at the end of his first season as coach of Hawthorn (75?). He had the view that they would never win a flag with Hudson there. The next year Hudson was gone and the hawks won the flag.

I am NOT suggesting if Richo goes we will be premiers next year, but Parkin belived that they were too focused on hudson as a goalkicker, making it easier for the opposition to shut down their supply of goals. I know Richo has played further down the ground recently but still floats forward quite a bit. There was one game early in the year when he went off injured, young Jack stepped up and kicked a few. When Richo came back on, Jack went back into his shell.

Great post Al. Love the avatar too. Very early Simpsons. One of the classic episodes in the season 3 when Homer and Marge meet in high school lol.
Game you were referring to was against North in round 5 and Parkin's first year of coach was 1977 and yep Hudson despite kicking 100 that year was gone for 1978 and the Hawks one the flag.

But they also won one with him in 1971.  I know because I was there - he needed to kick 4 to break Bob Pratt's season goal kicking record (150) and he got slammed early in the game (Saints player that escapes my memory).  Nearly lost his ear and was severely concussed.  He kicked 3 and missed a couple of very gettable chances late in the game including kicking a goal that was recalled because Bob Keddie infringed.  Hawthorn still won a great game by 7 points.  Standing room in the old Ponsford Stand - memories!!   

Kevin "Cowboy" Neale.

I guess when Hudson was kicking 150 a year or close to it he was a matchwinner yet when he was kicking just 100 he was just a good ordinary player. Dynamics of the side was different in 1971 and 1977. What can I say. Parkin was proved right he won the flag in 1978.

Yeah Tucker, Cowboy it was!     Their side certainly changed between '71 and '77.  By '77 it had many of the core that would make up the power side of the '80's (Eade, Knights, Matthews, Moncrieff, Moore, Tuck).  And as for Hudson, he played 1 game in '72, 1 in '73, 2 in '74 and then gave it away because of stuffed knees until his comeback in '77 for 1 season at age 31 - he kicked 100 goals but they fell at the Preliminary Final.  Don't know if you can draw the long bow and say Parkin was right - Hudson was pretty well finished anyway and it was him who gave it away because his body was just stuffed.

[Hellenic Tiger]

Yeah I know Smokey it is a long bow he knew he was finished. Still kicking 100 goals no mean feat nonetheless.
I guess Parkin was just using psychology on the rest of the blokes in the forward line to step up in 1978 which it did. North did thrash them by 12 goals in the prelim in 77 which was amazing in itself which cast the dye for 1978 and their success.

[Mr Magic]

I'm not concerned if he does continue or not next year

Nor I.
We are in complete rebuild mode & sadly for Matty he won't likely see another finals campaign let alone a premiership.
I do wonder when face with that harsh reality, how much it would be playing on his mind.
Richo will be remembered as a champion Tiger whatever his decision is but I won't lose any sleep if he does pull the pin because it won't change my opinion of him one bit.

[1980]

Wallace wasnt the only one that wanted to trade Richo. So did Northey...... for Lockett.

Sums up the Richmond footy club over the pst 20 years. Always thinking with its heart or its ars, but never its head

[FooffooValve]

Our biggest problem over the past 15 years is that we have failed to understand that a fully functioning forwardline needs a minimum of 2 tall forwards of roughly equal ability, or a spread of talent across 4 or 5 fowards who demand roughly equal attention.. They don't need to be champions, they just need to be roughly comparable in ability. If you have that, you have unpredictability, you can work to divide and conquer a defence, and you don't have the same predictable "get out" play when under pressure.

We started to get something like it when Ottens was at the club, but we were trying to make him into a forward/part time ruckman and it didn't suit him. As Geelong have shown, he is a ruckman who can go forward.

When you have someone as talented as Richo, it is very difficult to find another tall forward that can attract the ball (and thus an opponent) on a regular basis.

If he plays on, it won't be as a regular forward, unless someone else steps up to match him.

[one-eyed]

Caro in today's Age....

Veteran Matthew Richardson remains on schedule to return to pre-season training, allowing himself a month before finally committing to the Tigers for next year.

Age link

[Judge Roughneck]

Would like to see Richo play out of the goal square this year

[FooffooValve]

Would like to see Richo play out of the goal square this year

Sure, he might kick 60+ goals but if we don't have a good option at CHF we won't have forwardline that can kick a winning score.

[Judge Roughneck]

CHF - Riewoldt, Post, Vickery, Bradshaw ??

[FooffooValve]

CHF - Riewoldt, Post, Vickery, Bradshaw ??

Not sold on Riewoldt as KPP. Post, maybe in a few years. Vickery is a ruckman. Bradshaw at CHF? - No.