Richmond records decade of profits

[Equus]

Dimma, Choco, and a yearly trip to cairns

Where the **** is the rest of the money going?

Scarves for the supporters.

 

[_RT_]

Even if you don't remember that piece of common knowledge, just think back to what kind of money Matthews, Malthouse and Sheedy were on at the time. Wallace was universally regarded as being in the same top bracket of coaches, they were all getting around the $800K a year mark.

Getting Wallace for around $500K was a heavily discounted bargain and we all knew it. It's just wrong to then turn around years after the fact and say that paying his wage somehow held the club back financially. Realistically, we couldn't get anyone to coach us for much less.

Once again where is the link to this common knowledge, surely if it's that common there is a link to it somewhere. Perhaps the figure is rather convenient when one is praising him as being a saviour.

You've found him convenient to hate instead.

Incidentally, I'm sure you noticed that there are some very interesting parallels between your defence of Wallace above and what you've since written about Hardwick.

No hatred here, more a dislike that he failed to deliver what he said he would deliver when he took over. As a person I dislike anyone who fails to deliver on a promise.

 

[CHIMP MAGNET]

Alan Bond would be so proud

 

[Cevap_Roll]

Dimma, Choco, and a yearly trip to cairns

Where the **** is the rest of the money going?

RFC_Official

 

[nut]

Once again where is the link to this common knowledge, surely if it's that common there is a link to it somewhere. Perhaps the figure is rather convenient when one is praising him as being a saviour.




No hatred here, more a dislike that he failed to deliver what he said he would deliver when he took over. As a person I dislike anyone who fails to deliver on a promise.

Hardwick promised the jumper would never hit the floor.... I reckon on Tommy day it did.... and was dragged through the mud.

 

[This Is Anfield]

Can the OP change the title of the thread to "Wallace v Hardwick", as it is showing very little relevance to "A decade of profits".

 

[Rayzorwire]

Razor is back defending Wallet and we are about to take another plodder in the draft.

Some things never change

Good to have you back Razor

LMAO...cheers blaisee, good to see you still around.

So do we improve, bottom line no, we regressed on on field results BUT

I'd argue there wasn't a lot of BUT after being so thoroughly and comprehensively humiliated in the one game for the year that counted the most. The 'barnstorming' finish to the year had everything to do with games any finals bound side should win, plus the Sydney gifted game anomaly (unless someone wants to argue we beat Sydney on their full merits?).

To me what we found out about our list is that for years we've been watching decidedly unheralded players like Tuck and Jackson wrestle back the centre square with brute strength at those times in games where we're potentially facing a rout. Who do we have to play that vastly underestimated role now? I think the final from hell answered that question. 4/5ths of nobody and maybe Miles.

I think back to the many times King made chances out of not much with sheer G&D at times in a game where we were on the ropes. Who plays that role now? Who brings the G&D to any part of the ground (bar an ailing Maric)?

None of the above mentioned are Hardwick era players in terms of their development, they're remnants from an apparently forgotten era who Hardwick was lucky enough to inherit. Always go hard or go home right now players. I don't see much of that on our list, in actuality or in terms of future potential.

I see a well managed bunch of professional footballers playing for a club that has quite possibly completely lost its heart and soul along the way to becoming more 'professional.'

Throughout most of our ongoing two and a half decades of football misery, I long ago lost count of the times I'd watch us lose, then still walk away so proud of the way most of our players fought for the jumper. We were desperate for skill in those days, if we ever got enough skill in then injury conspired to cripple us. But we never lacked heart. Never. The older people here know the Richmond I speak of.

Hardwick most definitely has the skill at his disposal - nobody would argue two years ago that Port had a better list - and he's had the best run with injuries of any Richmond coach in the modern era.

People wonder why I keep railing at him, but in the end, it's because I've been watching him slowly but steadily build a side with no heart. If we moved the ball so brilliantly (the side he said he wanted to build when he took over) that heart became largely irrelevant beyond an ability to gut run, then fair enough, I'd be the first convert. But Hardwick never built that side.

He's built a side which relies very heavily on contested ball, which by my estimate, has a drastic shortage of genuine contested ball winners with the kind of football heart and body it takes to be successful relying on that side of the game.

We'll most definitely fail again this season because we have continually failed to understand these simple fundamentals throughout the Hardwick era.

As to Wallace. He had a dream run of picks, just go through the list. He failed in getting the right types to the club.

Miller handled the drafts and recruiting in the early days, he was there well before Wallace and Wallace was in no position to overrule him. Wallace did the best he could with what he had - and that was my point to you and others. That no other coach ever made any player who played under Wallace a better player.

As I've shown before, we went through 20+ players over four drafts trying to find one or two HBF who could properly rebound at AFL level. We had Newman and Bowden firmly entrenched in the backline (with Wallace so far up their arse to be the defenders he needed it ended up poisoning his tenure because both were better connected to the club than he), neither of them ever capable of being a genuine rebounder in the context of modern AFL football. Too slow, not penetrating enough kicks, completely lacking the courage to properly take the game on from defense.

Neither willing to get properly fit enough to play the running rebounder role. Both were touted in their junior years as future gun midfielders, but both were too lazy to even evolve to become genuine running defenders. Frawley was a dead-set genius to see that maybe the terminally lazy Joel Bowden is tall enough and proud enough when drawn into forced 1:1's, to get by as a CHB who hurts us far less there than he does as a HBF endlessly pretending to play a genuine running or rebounding role.

Shuffle it sideways to Campbell terminally camped on the boundary line in our defensive pocket (with his direct opponent laying down having a snooze in the centre square chuckling), he's there begging for yet another cheap stat, watch him mark and veeeerrrrryyyyy ssssllloooowwwllyyy attempt a 10m pass (back in the day) to any random nobody who bothered to run that far along the boundary for their 'captain', watch the opposition spoil while LTAO at us and then watch us endlessly defend from a 50m defensive arc we could never get out of.

For whole ******* quarters and halves and seasons at a time - anyone who was there screamed 'shoot us now and put us out of the misery of watching this s**t transpire.'

Within the Richmond context of the Wallace and Hardwick eras, I'd much rather us be in the same situation in the Wallace era - read Newman the riot act, banish Bowden to Coburg, gamble on the best available senior HBF we can get with a 2nd round pick, then try to fix a decade long gaping wound - than spend the same grade pick on Hampson, all the while assuming rebounders like Houli (who is a McMahon carbon copy defensively without the same reliable kicking) are taking us deep into finals.

If you'd stuck McMahon into Wallace's side in 2005, he'd have been just as useful as he was for the Dogs. If you'd stuck him in Hardwick's side in 2009, he'd be our best HBF over the journey. However, make him the poster child for intra-club Wallace hatred (no extended contract for precious Paddy Bowden to bludge on again) and use everything he does as a means to attack the coach he's inextricably tied to, then yeah, tough situation for a downhill skier to land in and prosper.

All sides have them. The best sides lift them up, protect them and help them evolve in all the things that don't come natural like being accountable and bleeding in the clinches.

That was not the environment McMahon landed in. I don't excuse him, never have, but I view his career with us in full context. Head-hunted for damn good reason by a chief who by that stage had no club and no power behind him, then hung with zero ceremony right beside him.

Once again where is the link to this common knowledge, surely if it's that common there is a link to it somewhere. Perhaps the figure is rather convenient when one is praising him as being a saviour.

Once again you're being a goose.

Rather than acknowledge that every single coach in the AFL has been paid $400K+ for a very long time, rather than remember your own thoughts on what a bargain we got, rather than provide a link from a the era which denies the well accepted reality, you (very briefly and hoping it gets buried) insist on me retrieving and directly linking you to articles from a decade ago that ceased to be archived by the media outlets which published them years ago.

If the links still existed and were put in front of you, you'd still warble off on some other irrelevant tangent as you have so many times before.

Funny thing is, Big Footy is far better at archiving past data than practically all media outlets (for obvious reasons), so my question to you is: once I find YOUR OWN WORDS about what a bargain we got when we employed Wallace, will you finally stop creating and propagating highly deceptive myths at your own convenience?

No hatred here, more a dislike that he failed to deliver what he said he would deliver when he took over. As a person I dislike anyone who fails to deliver on a promise.

Long ago Hardwick promised you a slick kicking, fast ball moving, built from a defense of iron side which would push deep into finals a year ago.

[Crickets]

 

[CHIMP MAGNET]

tldr

got that in gif form?

 

[Tiger71]

LMAO...cheers blaisee, good to see you still around.



I'd argue there wasn't a lot of BUT after being so thoroughly and comprehensively humiliated in the one game for the year that counted the most. The 'barnstorming' finish to the year had everything to do with games any finals bound side should win, plus the Sydney gifted game anomaly (unless someone wants to argue we beat Sydney on their full merits?).

To me what we found out about our list is that for years we've been watching decidedly unheralded players like Tuck and Jackson wrestle back the centre square with brute strength at those times in games where we're potentially facing a rout. Who do we have to play that vastly underestimated role now? I think the final from hell answered that question. 4/5ths of nobody and maybe Miles.

I think back to the many times King made chances out of not much with sheer G&D at times in a game where we were on the ropes. Who plays that role now? Who brings the G&D to any part of the ground (bar an ailing Maric)?

None of the above mentioned are Hardwick era players in terms of their development, they're remnants from an apparently forgotten era who Hardwick was lucky enough to inherit. Always go hard or go home right now players. I don't see much of that on our list, in actuality or in terms of future potential.

I see a well managed bunch of professional footballers playing for a club that has quite possibly completely lost its heart and soul along the way to becoming more 'professional.'

Throughout most of our ongoing two and a half decades of football misery, I long ago lost count of the times I'd watch us lose, then still walk away so proud of the way most of our players fought for the jumper. We were desperate for skill in those days, if we ever got enough skill in then injury conspired to cripple us. But we never lacked heart. Never. The older people here know the Richmond I speak of.

Hardwick most definitely has the skill at his disposal - nobody would argue two years ago that Port had a better list - and he's had the best run with injuries of any Richmond coach in the modern era.

People wonder why I keep railing at him, but in the end, it's because I've been watching him slowly but steadily build a side with no heart. If we moved the ball so brilliantly (the side he said he wanted to build when he took over) that heart became largely irrelevant beyond an ability to gut run, then fair enough, I'd be the first convert. But Hardwick never built that side.

He's built a side which relies very heavily on contested ball, which by my estimate, has a drastic shortage of genuine contested ball winners with the kind of football heart and body it takes to be successful relying on that side of the game.

We'll most definitely fail again this season because we have continually failed to understand these simple fundamentals throughout the Hardwick era.



Miller handled the drafts and recruiting in the early days, he was there well before Wallace and Wallace was in no position to overrule him. Wallace did the best he could with what he had - and that was my point to you and others. That no other coach ever made any player who played under Wallace a better player.

As I've shown before, we went through 20+ players over four drafts trying to find one or two HBF who could properly rebound at AFL level. We had Newman and Bowden firmly entrenched in the backline (with Wallace so far up their arse to be the defenders he needed it ended up poisoning his tenure because both were better connected to the club than he), neither of them ever capable of being a genuine rebounder in the context of modern AFL football. Too slow, not penetrating enough kicks, completely lacking the courage to properly take the game on from defense.

Neither willing to get properly fit enough to play the running rebounder role. Both were touted in their junior years as future gun midfielders, but both were too lazy to even evolve to become genuine running defenders. Frawley was a dead-set genius to see that maybe the terminally lazy Joel Bowden is tall enough and proud enough when drawn into forced 1:1's, to get by as a CHB who hurts us far less there than he does as a HBF endlessly pretending to play a genuine running or rebounding role.

Shuffle it sideways to Campbell terminally camped on the boundary line in our defensive pocket (with his direct opponent laying down having a snooze in the centre square chuckling), he's there begging for yet another cheap stat, watch him mark and veeeerrrrryyyyy ssssllloooowwwllyyy attempt a 10m pass (back in the day) to any random nobody who bothered to run that far along the boundary for their 'captain', watch the opposition spoil while LTAO at us and then watch us endlessly defend from a 50m defensive arc we could never get out of.

For whole ******* quarters and halves and seasons at a time - anyone who was there screamed 'shoot us now and put us out of the misery of watching this s**t transpire.'

Within the Richmond context of the Wallace and Hardwick eras, I'd much rather us be in the same situation in the Wallace era - read Newman the riot act, banish Bowden to Coburg, gamble on the best available senior HBF we can get with a 2nd round pick, then try to fix a decade long gaping wound - than spend the same grade pick on Hampson, all the while assuming rebounders like Houli (who is a McMahon carbon copy defensively without the same reliable kicking) are taking us deep into finals.

If you'd stuck McMahon into Wallace's side in 2005, he'd have been just as useful as he was for the Dogs. If you'd stuck him in Hardwick's side in 2009, he'd be our best HBF over the journey. However, make him the poster child for intra-club Wallace hatred (no extended contract for precious Paddy Bowden to bludge on again) and use everything he does as a means to attack the coach he's inextricably tied to, then yeah, tough situation for a downhill skier to land in and prosper.

All sides have them. The best sides lift them up, protect them and help them evolve in all the things that don't come natural like being accountable and bleeding in the clinches.

That was not the environment McMahon landed in. I don't excuse him, never have, but I view his career with us in full context. Head-hunted for damn good reason by a chief who by that stage had no club and no power behind him, then hung with zero ceremony right beside him.



Once again you're being a goose.

Rather than acknowledge that every single coach in the AFL has been paid $400K+ for a very long time, rather than remember your own thoughts on what a bargain we got, rather than provide a link from a the era which denies the well accepted reality, you (very briefly and hoping it gets buried) insist on me retrieving and directly linking you to articles from a decade ago that ceased to be archived by the media outlets which published them years ago.

If the links still existed and were put in front of you, you'd still warble off on some other irrelevant tangent as you have so many times before.

Funny thing is, Big Footy is far better at archiving past data than practically all media outlets (for obvious reasons), so my question to you is: once I find YOUR OWN WORDS about what a bargain we got when we employed Wallace, will you finally stop creating and propagating highly deceptive myths at your own convenience?



Long ago Hardwick promised you a slick kicking, fast ball moving, built from a defense of iron side which would push deep into finals a year ago.

[Crickets]

Razor, you see a post like this actually highlights the development in the club with, and ill use your term, Hardwick players.

People completely dismiss, not you though as you highlighted it, so thanks. They completely undervalue what a large hole and a test of depth missing Jackson, Tuck, and King had on the side this year, yet will still made finals . You mentioned who covered the loss of those 3 and it is really quite simple. You mentioned Miles, would Miles have had his opportunity to show us what he has got if Tuck was still in the system ? See it cuts both ways. We have supporters rubbishing Newman, having a go at the coaching department that Newman holds up the development but dont compute that Newman gets games because there is nobody YET ready to force him out.

I believe next year will be like this year ala Newman. My guess would be we will treat Newman like we did Tuck in his last year. When a lennon,McDonough,Batchelour have lifted to a starting 22 level that the coaches demand then Newman will be regulated to more a sub or in the side based on match ups only. They did it with Tuck so I can see them doing it again and that is why I believe Newman was re signed for just one more year. It is to allow time for these kids to get there the right way.

We speak about development, and its sad how the coaches we have get zero, zilch, nada credit for Miles. We have "experts" who truly believe that we just happened to just get lucky. Lets not forget that Miles was on the GWS list for 2 years! Went through 2 pre seasons at GWS and still could not crack in that side who was getting belted by over 20 goals more often then not, I ask you why ?

I strongly believe we now have a culture where you must earn the yellow and black jumper before you can put it on and play in the seniors. You mention Hardwicks promises and he was strong on that this year and Miles obviously responded to the challenge set and the rest is history. You speak of Hardwicks promise, ill highlight it below...

"Long ago Hardwick promised you a slick kicking, fast ball moving, built from a defense of iron side which would push deep into finals a year ago"

Lets look at the facts and we will use the above quote as the premise. We now have had now, and this is going on 3 season a top 4 defensive side. Dont believe me, go look. We are one of the best sides in stopping a run of goals kicked against us, a huge weakness in the Wallace years. Again dont believe me, go look. We have a top 4 defending team, yet to experts we are lazy, not fit enough and dont run both ways, again dont believe me, go look

We have the number 3 side in scoring from chain of possessions. David King highlighted it the other week and i checked it and he is right. We are number 1 in the League for scoring once we have possession, even if you factor in how bad we were in the first 12 games...we still finished the year ranked first. So when we click we are really, really bloody good.

Keep in mind Razor, Hardwick and his coaches are building to this promise. We are a elite effective disposal side, just go look at the data. We have improved immensely in defense, disposal, and that has translated to wins. The coaches and admin have managed that, while completely overhauling the Wallace list. People have to understand and remember that in Hardwicks first 2 years we turned over 30 plus players. The coaches have had really only 3 seasons with a fairly settled core group and in those 3 seasons they have managed to get us in 2 finals series! As Hardwick promised, he was going to build us a list who will consistently play in September and so far he has shown that.

Now we have failed to jump that final hurdle in winning a final. That does not mean our coaches, club, and playing list is s**t and a basket case. What it means is that we still have a way to go, and we do. The positive I got from this year is that Hardwick proved, again he learns from his mistakes and tries his best to correct it. He is not so stubborn for example to keep to a game plan that is not working unlike Wallace with this midget outside fascination he had for the WHOLE time he coached us.

Let me leave you with this. You mention how you rile against Hardwick and the coaches but I need to know why you defend Wallace when across ALL LEVELS he has not come close to the progress that Hardwick has? They both had the same tools to work with. One could not even make us into the finals.

 

[Final Siren]

Dimma, Choco, and a yearly trip to cairns

Where the **** is the rest of the money going?

Choco goes through a fair few meat pies.

 

[Stevi_Tigers]

We were an absolute basket case did we have our hands out begging for handouts no we rolled up our sleeves and made a difference sick of these minow clubs with Piss weak supporters asking for handouts get off your ass and do something about it

 

[Tiger2709]

We were an absolute basket case did we have our hands out begging for handouts no we rolled up our sleeves and made a difference sick of these minow clubs with Piss weak supporters asking for handouts get off your ass and do something about it

Lets not forget the help we got from other clubs and supporters at our worst time in our history during the SOS campaign, really some of thee clubs would basically have to get supporters of we bigger clubs to raise the funds needed to stay alive without assistance.

I can live with handouts in the cash to help clubs keep their heads above water not so sure about the assistance in paying for and paying off big name coaches etc for some clubs and of course the PP, we have taken years to build a team just able to scrape into the finals, I don't like the idea of other clubs getting so much assistance that they casually pass clubs that have battled hard and long to move up the ladder.

 

[Hot tigers]

LMAO...cheers blaisee, good to see you still around.



I'd argue there wasn't a lot of BUT after being so thoroughly and comprehensively humiliated in the one game for the year that counted the most. The 'barnstorming' finish to the year had everything to do with games any finals bound side should win, plus the Sydney gifted game anomaly (unless someone wants to argue we beat Sydney on their full merits?).

To me what we found out about our list is that for years we've been watching decidedly unheralded players like Tuck and Jackson wrestle back the centre square with brute strength at those times in games where we're potentially facing a rout. Who do we have to play that vastly underestimated role now? I think the final from hell answered that question. 4/5ths of nobody and maybe Miles.

I think back to the many times King made chances out of not much with sheer G&D at times in a game where we were on the ropes. Who plays that role now? Who brings the G&D to any part of the ground (bar an ailing Maric)?

None of the above mentioned are Hardwick era players in terms of their development, they're remnants from an apparently forgotten era who Hardwick was lucky enough to inherit. Always go hard or go home right now players. I don't see much of that on our list, in actuality or in terms of future potential.

I see a well managed bunch of professional footballers playing for a club that has quite possibly completely lost its heart and soul along the way to becoming more 'professional.'

Throughout most of our ongoing two and a half decades of football misery, I long ago lost count of the times I'd watch us lose, then still walk away so proud of the way most of our players fought for the jumper. We were desperate for skill in those days, if we ever got enough skill in then injury conspired to cripple us. But we never lacked heart. Never. The older people here know the Richmond I speak of.

Hardwick most definitely has the skill at his disposal - nobody would argue two years ago that Port had a better list - and he's had the best run with injuries of any Richmond coach in the modern era.

People wonder why I keep railing at him, but in the end, it's because I've been watching him slowly but steadily build a side with no heart. If we moved the ball so brilliantly (the side he said he wanted to build when he took over) that heart became largely irrelevant beyond an ability to gut run, then fair enough, I'd be the first convert. But Hardwick never built that side.

He's built a side which relies very heavily on contested ball, which by my estimate, has a drastic shortage of genuine contested ball winners with the kind of football heart and body it takes to be successful relying on that side of the game.

We'll most definitely fail again this season because we have continually failed to understand these simple fundamentals throughout the Hardwick era.



Miller handled the drafts and recruiting in the early days, he was there well before Wallace and Wallace was in no position to overrule him. Wallace did the best he could with what he had - and that was my point to you and others. That no other coach ever made any player who played under Wallace a better player.

As I've shown before, we went through 20+ players over four drafts trying to find one or two HBF who could properly rebound at AFL level. We had Newman and Bowden firmly entrenched in the backline (with Wallace so far up their arse to be the defenders he needed it ended up poisoning his tenure because both were better connected to the club than he), neither of them ever capable of being a genuine rebounder in the context of modern AFL football. Too slow, not penetrating enough kicks, completely lacking the courage to properly take the game on from defense.

Neither willing to get properly fit enough to play the running rebounder role. Both were touted in their junior years as future gun midfielders, but both were too lazy to even evolve to become genuine running defenders. Frawley was a dead-set genius to see that maybe the terminally lazy Joel Bowden is tall enough and proud enough when drawn into forced 1:1's, to get by as a CHB who hurts us far less there than he does as a HBF endlessly pretending to play a genuine running or rebounding role.

Shuffle it sideways to Campbell terminally camped on the boundary line in our defensive pocket (with his direct opponent laying down having a snooze in the centre square chuckling), he's there begging for yet another cheap stat, watch him mark and veeeerrrrryyyyy ssssllloooowwwllyyy attempt a 10m pass (back in the day) to any random nobody who bothered to run that far along the boundary for their 'captain', watch the opposition spoil while LTAO at us and then watch us endlessly defend from a 50m defensive arc we could never get out of.

For whole ******* quarters and halves and seasons at a time - anyone who was there screamed 'shoot us now and put us out of the misery of watching this s**t transpire.'

Within the Richmond context of the Wallace and Hardwick eras, I'd much rather us be in the same situation in the Wallace era - read Newman the riot act, banish Bowden to Coburg, gamble on the best available senior HBF we can get with a 2nd round pick, then try to fix a decade long gaping wound - than spend the same grade pick on Hampson, all the while assuming rebounders like Houli (who is a McMahon carbon copy defensively without the same reliable kicking) are taking us deep into finals.

If you'd stuck McMahon into Wallace's side in 2005, he'd have been just as useful as he was for the Dogs. If you'd stuck him in Hardwick's side in 2009, he'd be our best HBF over the journey. However, make him the poster child for intra-club Wallace hatred (no extended contract for precious Paddy Bowden to bludge on again) and use everything he does as a means to attack the coach he's inextricably tied to, then yeah, tough situation for a downhill skier to land in and prosper.

All sides have them. The best sides lift them up, protect them and help them evolve in all the things that don't come natural like being accountable and bleeding in the clinches.

That was not the environment McMahon landed in. I don't excuse him, never have, but I view his career with us in full context. Head-hunted for damn good reason by a chief who by that stage had no club and no power behind him, then hung with zero ceremony right beside him.



Once again you're being a goose.

Rather than acknowledge that every single coach in the AFL has been paid $400K+ for a very long time, rather than remember your own thoughts on what a bargain we got, rather than provide a link from a the era which denies the well accepted reality, you (very briefly and hoping it gets buried) insist on me retrieving and directly linking you to articles from a decade ago that ceased to be archived by the media outlets which published them years ago.

If the links still existed and were put in front of you, you'd still warble off on some other irrelevant tangent as you have so many times before.

Funny thing is, Big Footy is far better at archiving past data than practically all media outlets (for obvious reasons), so my question to you is: once I find YOUR OWN WORDS about what a bargain we got when we employed Wallace, will you finally stop creating and propagating highly deceptive myths at your own convenience?



Long ago Hardwick promised you a slick kicking, fast ball moving, built from a defense of iron side which would push deep into finals a year ago.

[Crickets]

Oh dear, wouldnt even know where to begin.... So I won't bother

 

[telsor]

Dimma, Choco, and a yearly trip to cairns

Where the **** is the rest of the money going?

It's called a financial report....

In total, we spent ~$1.5Million more than last year.

I dare say a lot would have had to do with the VFL team (you know, that new thing we had this year).

 

[CHIMP MAGNET]

It's called a financial report....

In total, we spent ~$1.5Million more than last year.

I dare say a lot would have had to do with the VFL team (you know, that new thing we had this year).

No it was spent on pies and Andrew McQualter, keep up

 

[telsor]

No it was spent on pies and Andrew McQualter, keep up

Hey, pies are important!

 

[Tiger2709]

LMAO...cheers blaisee, good to see you still around.



I'd argue there wasn't a lot of BUT after being so thoroughly and comprehensively humiliated in the one game for the year that counted the most. The 'barnstorming' finish to the year had everything to do with games any finals bound side should win, plus the Sydney gifted game anomaly (unless someone wants to argue we beat Sydney on their full merits?).

To me what we found out about our list is that for years we've been watching decidedly unheralded players like Tuck and Jackson wrestle back the centre square with brute strength at those times in games where we're potentially facing a rout. Who do we have to play that vastly underestimated role now? I think the final from hell answered that question. 4/5ths of nobody and maybe Miles.

I think back to the many times King made chances out of not much with sheer G&D at times in a game where we were on the ropes. Who plays that role now? Who brings the G&D to any part of the ground (bar an ailing Maric)?

None of the above mentioned are Hardwick era players in terms of their development, they're remnants from an apparently forgotten era who Hardwick was lucky enough to inherit. Always go hard or go home right now players. I don't see much of that on our list, in actuality or in terms of future potential.

I see a well managed bunch of professional footballers playing for a club that has quite possibly completely lost its heart and soul along the way to becoming more 'professional.'

Throughout most of our ongoing two and a half decades of football misery, I long ago lost count of the times I'd watch us lose, then still walk away so proud of the way most of our players fought for the jumper. We were desperate for skill in those days, if we ever got enough skill in then injury conspired to cripple us. But we never lacked heart. Never. The older people here know the Richmond I speak of.

Hardwick most definitely has the skill at his disposal - nobody would argue two years ago that Port had a better list - and he's had the best run with injuries of any Richmond coach in the modern era.

People wonder why I keep railing at him, but in the end, it's because I've been watching him slowly but steadily build a side with no heart. If we moved the ball so brilliantly (the side he said he wanted to build when he took over) that heart became largely irrelevant beyond an ability to gut run, then fair enough, I'd be the first convert. But Hardwick never built that side.

He's built a side which relies very heavily on contested ball, which by my estimate, has a drastic shortage of genuine contested ball winners with the kind of football heart and body it takes to be successful relying on that side of the game.

We'll most definitely fail again this season because we have continually failed to understand these simple fundamentals throughout the Hardwick era.



Miller handled the drafts and recruiting in the early days, he was there well before Wallace and Wallace was in no position to overrule him. Wallace did the best he could with what he had - and that was my point to you and others. That no other coach ever made any player who played under Wallace a better player.

As I've shown before, we went through 20+ players over four drafts trying to find one or two HBF who could properly rebound at AFL level. We had Newman and Bowden firmly entrenched in the backline (with Wallace so far up their arse to be the defenders he needed it ended up poisoning his tenure because both were better connected to the club than he), neither of them ever capable of being a genuine rebounder in the context of modern AFL football. Too slow, not penetrating enough kicks, completely lacking the courage to properly take the game on from defense.

Neither willing to get properly fit enough to play the running rebounder role. Both were touted in their junior years as future gun midfielders, but both were too lazy to even evolve to become genuine running defenders. Frawley was a dead-set genius to see that maybe the terminally lazy Joel Bowden is tall enough and proud enough when drawn into forced 1:1's, to get by as a CHB who hurts us far less there than he does as a HBF endlessly pretending to play a genuine running or rebounding role.

Shuffle it sideways to Campbell terminally camped on the boundary line in our defensive pocket (with his direct opponent laying down having a snooze in the centre square chuckling), he's there begging for yet another cheap stat, watch him mark and veeeerrrrryyyyy ssssllloooowwwllyyy attempt a 10m pass (back in the day) to any random nobody who bothered to run that far along the boundary for their 'captain', watch the opposition spoil while LTAO at us and then watch us endlessly defend from a 50m defensive arc we could never get out of.

For whole ******* quarters and halves and seasons at a time - anyone who was there screamed 'shoot us now and put us out of the misery of watching this s**t transpire.'

Within the Richmond context of the Wallace and Hardwick eras, I'd much rather us be in the same situation in the Wallace era - read Newman the riot act, banish Bowden to Coburg, gamble on the best available senior HBF we can get with a 2nd round pick, then try to fix a decade long gaping wound - than spend the same grade pick on Hampson, all the while assuming rebounders like Houli (who is a McMahon carbon copy defensively without the same reliable kicking) are taking us deep into finals.

If you'd stuck McMahon into Wallace's side in 2005, he'd have been just as useful as he was for the Dogs. If you'd stuck him in Hardwick's side in 2009, he'd be our best HBF over the journey. However, make him the poster child for intra-club Wallace hatred (no extended contract for precious Paddy Bowden to bludge on again) and use everything he does as a means to attack the coach he's inextricably tied to, then yeah, tough situation for a downhill skier to land in and prosper.

All sides have them. The best sides lift them up, protect them and help them evolve in all the things that don't come natural like being accountable and bleeding in the clinches.

That was not the environment McMahon landed in. I don't excuse him, never have, but I view his career with us in full context. Head-hunted for damn good reason by a chief who by that stage had no club and no power behind him, then hung with zero ceremony right beside him.



Once again you're being a goose.

Rather than acknowledge that every single coach in the AFL has been paid $400K+ for a very long time, rather than remember your own thoughts on what a bargain we got, rather than provide a link from a the era which denies the well accepted reality, you (very briefly and hoping it gets buried) insist on me retrieving and directly linking you to articles from a decade ago that ceased to be archived by the media outlets which published them years ago.

If the links still existed and were put in front of you, you'd still warble off on some other irrelevant tangent as you have so many times before.

Funny thing is, Big Footy is far better at archiving past data than practically all media outlets (for obvious reasons), so my question to you is: once I find YOUR OWN WORDS about what a bargain we got when we employed Wallace, will you finally stop creating and propagating highly deceptive myths at your own convenience?



Long ago Hardwick promised you a slick kicking, fast ball moving, built from a defense of iron side which would push deep into finals a year ago.

[Crickets]

What a depressing rant, gave up after you mentioned the anomaly against the Swans we are 4 wins 4 losses from the last 8 games against them so explain the anomaly, sometimes with some people you just cant make them happy