So let me get this straight- our list when TW took over was "no good" so he got rid of alot of them, drafted SOME kids and because of this he has done a good job! Like i said before you don't have to be Einsteine to work out that had to be done. Simple stuff really. I just don't get what you see he has done so great for our club, i really cannot!
As for the ages of players and age brackets, it's all crap! You say we don't have good leaders BUT again TW has had control over this for the last 5 years. I know what you will say about that but should we keep these guys on our list if they are no good only because of there ages?
Finally are we at where you thought we would be 4 and a bit years after TW took over? If not then maybe just maybe Terry has failed.
Firstly MT - great post and bojangles and camboon you make a lot of sense too!
Bigtone - I don't think I have a hope in hell of changing your opinion of TW or our coaching situation in general...but that won't stop me trying!
I think TW has done the job he said he would regarding rebuilding our list. The proof is in the percentage of players that are now on the list compared to who was on the list before. He has built us a list founded with youth to build from. Now you can argue the strength and development of those players but we still have a basis of a good team which is in its infancy now.
MT has done a brilliant explaining what TW hoped would play out compared to what actually occurred but in essence our older players inconsistent form and leadership, injured to key players (Simmonds, Cogs etc) and high draft picks underperforming (JON, Meyer, Bling, Hughes, Casserly, etc) have been his downfall.
I think if anything our players have let down the club more so than the coach and in particular our senior players. You can not expect a coach to demand immediate success from raw new recruits, it is from the older and experienced leaders than drive on field success. The reality is when just don't have leaders of the type of caliber you require to create finals success at our club at the moment and you can't blame the current coach or recruiters for that. In fact TW pointed out our lack of voice and spirit when he first arrived and bringing in players such as Riewoldt and Cotchin were an attempt to correct this problem in the future. You can't create good leaders out of thin air.
You're right I will say that you can't get rid of all the senior players when the rest of the list is 18-19 year olds. There was so much deadwood on our list that the senior players we have left are the best of a bad bunch. You can't get rid of everyone without having replacements ready and look at the outcry there has been at Tigerland with even the suggestion Richo could be asked to retire. Many supporters would react in similar ways if players such as Bowden and Brown were asked to retire too. Now is the time to move them on but TW didn't have that opportunity until now.
As for what else he has done well TW was the right coach for the time plain and simple. One of his strengths is he is media savvy. He was able to 'keep the wolves at bay' so to speak and give the club the space and time to attempt to rebuild. Our coaches over the last 27 years have been too scared to even attempt to rebuild. They were in self preservation mode from day one of their contracts knowing that the supporters and administration demanded immediate success and if they didn't give it too them they were gone. This is why we have traded away so many of our high draft picks to get other clubs rehashed has-beens. It is why we have never had a team of any worth and why no coach of any worth has wanted to work at Richmond.
TW sold a message, a plan and a goal and that allowed the club to at least TRY to rebuild. Any other coach would have lost the natives and we would have been traveling down the same path of self destruction once again.
So you ask me whether I thought we would be where we are now - yes I did. Did I hope we would be further advanced - bloody oath I did, but reality and hope are two completely different things. Before you cast TW aside realize that our problem at Tigerland is not of his making and that at least he attempted to fix it. For too long our coaches have been the scapegoat for our failure as a club but we need to start pinpointing the real issues and target them instead.
Stripes
