Roast The Chronicles of Alan Richardson - Part II - Richo Resigns (16/07)

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it's just staggering. one elite inside mid in 20 years. i mean thats beyond appalling. even state league sides find more than that at their level. there's something seriously broken. either we don't rate midfielders more particularly inside mids or we just don't know how to do it. it would have to be the worst hit rate in the league.

hopefully that changes.


Well Stuv is probably the other in that time, Armo went close for a year.
 

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it's just staggering. one elite inside mid in 20 years. i mean thats beyond appalling. even state league sides find more than that at their level. there's something seriously broken. either we don't rate midfielders more particularly inside mids or we just don't know how to do it. it would have to be the worst hit rate in the league.

hopefully that changes.
We are hoping , remember we still have a few kids who might get there yet.

Hunter - Clark is a work in progress , he has now shown he is above VFL grade and now just has to pick up the pace in the seniors,the 2nd last game he played he got off to a good start picking up 7 disposals in the first quarter but around the 20min mark got flattened and we didn't see to much of him after that.(remember we just played the Pies on Sunday and Hunter had Sier and Wells to contend with)

Gresham is still a chance to become a elite mid and patience will have to be taken.

Coffield is getting there and the way he plays he could develop like a Del Santo type.

Bytel , the forgotten one , another who suffered a bad injury in his draft year and if he had not of been injured many saw him as a high draft pick - yet to hit the track , but not worried because it will let him grow and develop and strengthen his back.

Mean while if we can get Hannebery and Steven back into the fold it will help us tremendously.

We all know now we blew the number 1 on McCartin and we have now secured King however he will be a few years away be he can dominate anything same goes with Clavarino.

The club has finally got the network to lure a few good players with the addition of Allen and the new coaches so hopefully we can take advantage of our salary cap space and get a A grade mid while our kids develop.

We are so close now to being in that top bracket of teams , we just need a good midfielder who will get us first use of the ball.

We now have a young squad and we have found some very good ones
Marshall is developing into a top line ruck.
Battle after a few games looks like he will be a very good CHB
Wilkie ready made defender
Paton skilled footballer with a level head
McKenzie genuine defender who I feel could also play in the midfield if given a run with role.

Don't forget about Marsh - any guy that can pick up 26 possessions in the back line is more than a handy player and he was a recognized defender at the Magpies - he big , fast and can take a good mark.

And the way White played on the weekend he could be a smokie - remember to Varcoe and Wells where running around the backline.

We are getting there - but I tell you the injuries hurt.
 

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I think it helps that you have points of contact inside the club so you can see what works and what doesn't. To people like me and St C, we are having to trust that this time things are different. It's like a cheating girlfriend telling you next time she'll be loyal to you. There are some serious trust issues developed over a long period. I feel better this time but I'm very reluctant to jump on to a new messiah. It feels safer expecting the worst and hoping for the best. I'm personally happy so far but would do anything for a pro recruiter.
I think it's fine to be critical of the club when it's warranted. Blaming the current administration for the fact we haven't played finals in 9 years is wrong. Majority of them took over in 2014 and most of it was spent on rebuilding the brand and getting the business side of the club back up to scratch - and we've seen what they've done - we were able to leverage $12m into a $50m world class facility at Moorabbin. We have broken our membership record three straight years. We are better positioned to service our debt. All things that would've gone nowhere under previous administration. If it weren't for Finnis and the rest of them we would still be training out of Seaford - a place that all the players disliked. Would we have got Carlisle if we stayed in Seaford? Would we have got Steele? Carlisle lives in the north western suburbs, as if he would've wanted to travel to far south east every day. These are all things people need to take into consideration when they have a go at the club.

Now that we've realised that the business off-field is running smoothly, we put our attention towards improving on field. I will say this probably should've been done the other way around, but it is what it is. After six months since our focus on football narrative became public, we strengthened our coaching group, hired experienced legends like Billy Slater & Dermott Brereton, and brought in Graeme Allan who is a massive get for a club like ours and will have a big say in future trades with other clubs for talented players.

I just find it silly to keep criticisng the club, especially this year since we sit 4-4 and everyone who has watched us play knows we have improved greatly, and the fact that the new people that have been brought in by the club haven't even had a chance to prove to us that they are a good appointment - yet we want to criticise them anyway. Lets see what happens in the trade and draft period, where most of these appointments will be graded (Allan & Gallagher). As for on the field, the only thing I can fault is entry and scoring - something Brett Ratten was brought in for. If we can get this fixed we are a top four side. It's not as bad as people like to think it is.
 
We are hoping , remember we still have a few kids who might get there yet.

Hunter - Clark is a work in progress , he has now shown he is above VFL grade and now just has to pick up the pace in the seniors,the 2nd last game he played he got off to a good start picking up 7 disposals in the first quarter but around the 20min mark got flattened and we didn't see to much of him after that.(remember we just played the Pies on Sunday and Hunter had Sier and Wells to contend with)

Gresham is still a chance to become a elite mid and patience will have to be taken.

Coffield is getting there and the way he plays he could develop like a Del Santo type.

Bytel , the forgotten one , another who suffered a bad injury in his draft year and if he had not of been injured many saw him as a high draft pick - yet to hit the track , but not worried because it will let him grow and develop and strengthen his back.

Mean while if we can get Hannebery and Steven back into the fold it will help us tremendously.

We all know now we blew the number 1 on McCartin and we have now secured King however he will be a few years away be he can dominate anything same goes with Clavarino.

The club has finally got the network to lure a few good players with the addition of Allen and the new coaches so hopefully we can take advantage of our salary cap space and get a A grade mid while our kids develop.

We are so close now to being in that top bracket of teams , we just need a good midfielder who will get us first use of the ball.

We now have a young squad and we have found some very good ones
Marshall is developing into a top line ruck.
Battle after a few games looks like he will be a very good CHB
Wilkie ready made defender
Paton skilled footballer with a level head
McKenzie genuine defender who I feel could also play in the midfield if given a run with role.

Don't forget about Marsh - any guy that can pick up 26 possessions in the back line is more than a handy player and he was a recognized defender at the Magpies - he big , fast and can take a good mark.

And the way White played on the weekend he could be a smokie - remember to Varcoe and Wells where running around the backline.

We are getting there - but I tell you the injuries hurt.

fair call, you are correct, there is every chance Hunter, Gresham, Coffield and Bytel will all get there with Billings. but all we can go on now is the knowns. the actual output
 

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I just find it silly to keep criticisng the club, especially this year since we sit 4-4 and everyone who has watched us play knows we have improved greatly
The club has done some good things off field recently, but I'm not sure you should keep pointing to 4-4 as a huge sign of improvement… we fell over the line against a couple of very ordinary sides, have had a couple of decent wins with a little bit of luck with injuries during games to our opponents.

I'll say it again, last year was as bad as any spoon year I have witnessed, slight improvements on that shouldn't be celebrated.

The Seaford move seemed like a terrible idea to everyone at the time, embarrassing that we had to correct that decision… but kudos to those who got it done.
 
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The club has done some good things off field recently, but I'm not sure you should keep pointing to 4-4 as a huge sign of improvement… we fell over the line against a couple of very ordinary sides, have had a couple of decent wins with a little bit of luck with injuries during games to our opponents.

I'll say it again, last year was as bad as any spoon year I have witnessed, slight improvements on that shouldn't be celebrated.

The Seaford move seemed like a terrible idea to everyone at the time, embarrassing that we had to correct that decision… but kudos to those who got it done.
How is 4-4 at rd 8 not a huge improvement considering we only won 4 games last year?
 
The club has done some good things off field recently, but I'm not sure you should keep pointing to 4-4 as a huge sign of improvement… we fell over the line against a couple of very ordinary sides, have had a couple of decent wins with a little bit of luck with injuries during games to our opponents.

I'll say it again, last year was as bad as any spoon year I have witnessed, slight improvements on that shouldn't be celebrated.

The Seaford move seemed like a terrible idea to everyone at the time, embarrassing that we had to correct that decision… but kudos to those who got it done.
It's always some excuse. Can never give the coaches and players any credit for any of their wins without an asterisk. You know that we have injuries to key players too right?

4-4, coupled with the way we've played, is a huge sign of improvement. We're on track for 12 or so wins, which would be 8 more than the year before. If that's not huge improvement I don't know what is.
 

kernelT

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How is 4-4 at rd 8 not a huge improvement considering we only won 4 games last year?
Like you said about the ladder last week, it's far too early to say who has really improved this early in the season.

We have 9 more games against sides who didn't play finals last year… these are the sides we have to be beating to really suggest we are improving.

With our draw this year, if we can't manage 8 wins it means we haven't really improved against our bottom 4 buddies IMO.
 
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Like you said about the ladder last week, it's far too early to say who has really improved this early in the season.

We have 9 more games against sides who didn't play finals last year… these are the sides we have to be beating to really suggest we are improving.

With our draw this year, if we can't manage 8 wins it means we haven't really improved against our bottom 4 buddies IMO.
We need to keep improving as the season goes on as you said, but you can't possibly sit there right now and say we haven't improved as a club from last year.

Even without comparing wins to last season or our performances to other sides, it is obvious in the way we are playing that our system is more competitive and individual players have improved. There are definitely things we need to work on and players who should be player better, but we have taken a big step forward from the crap we served in 2018.

It will be extremely disappointing if we don't see more development as the season goes on, but right now it cant be denied that we have improved.
 

kernelT

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It's always some excuse. Can never give the coaches and players any credit for any of their wins without an asterisk. You know that we have injuries to key players too right?

4-4, coupled with the way we've played, is a huge sign of improvement. We're on track for 12 or so wins, which would be 8 more than the year before. If that's not huge improvement I don't know what is.
I think you are dreaming with 12 or more wins.

We have recruited 8 mature players this year a new forward line with Bruce, Kent and Parker… yet our ability to score hasn't really improved in line with our awful f50 entries.

Our work rate and fitness was impressive in the first few rounds, but that only takes you so far… good teams can absorb and work through pressure as we've seen the past few weeks.

Most sides have injuries to key players, sick of hearing that TBH - Collingwood currently missing 6 first choice players, Melbourne have 14 unavailable.
 
It's always some excuse. Can never give the coaches and players any credit for any of their wins without an asterisk. You know that we have injuries to key players too right?

4-4, coupled with the way we've played, is a huge sign of improvement. We're on track for 12 or so wins, which would be 8 more than the year before. If that's not huge improvement I don't know what is.


At the end of the day, no one wants to go back and dole out apportioned blame in appropriate doses. We just want to be winning consistently. When we were top of the ladder and beating Melbourne and Essendon you couldn't find a critic and even Richo was getting love. It's purely frustration at feeling like we are back in 2018 form. We all want success and the first people who will get the wraps if we make finals are Richo, Finnis and Lethers. It's not all their fault and some none of their fault, but as representatives of the club they will be targets in the bad times and heroes in the good times. It sucks but that's life. Everyones job has good and bad bits. The highs for them are higher than the highs most of us will get from our jobs, careers or business interests, the down side is they wear more pressure than lots of others would,
 
We need to keep improving as the season goes on as you said, but you can't possibly sit there right now and say we haven't improved as a club from last year.

Even without comparing wins to last season or our performances to other sides, it is obvious in the way we are playing that our system is more competitive and individual players have improved. There are definitely things we need to work on and players who should be player better, but we have taken a big step forward from the crap we served in 2018.

It will be extremely disappointing if we don't see more development as the season goes on, but right now it cant be denied that we have improved.


To me we are better drilled and have improved some of the playing stocks and some drop offs.

Improved
Battle, Newnes, Billings, Bruce, Marshall, Savage, Lonie, Paton

Worse
Gresh, Membrey, Steven, Coffield, Clark, Longer, White, Webster, Long, Steele

Same same
Seb, Sincs, Mc Kenzie, Acres, Dunstan, Geary, Brown

New best 22
Parker, Kent, Wilkie

Injured excused
Robbo, Mc Cartin, Carlisle, Hanners, Lonie, Stuv
 

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To me we are better drilled and have improved some of the playing stocks and some drop offs.

Improved
Battle, Newnes, Billings, Bruce, Marshall, Savage, Lonie, Paton

Worse
Gresh, Membrey, Steven, Coffield, Clark, Longer, White, Webster, Long, Steele

Same same
Seb, Sincs, Mc Kenzie, Acres, Dunstan, Geary, Brown

New best 22
Parker, Kent, Wilkie

Injured excused
Robbo, Mc Cartin, Carlisle, Hanners, Lonie, Stuv
Probably unfair to put Steven in the worse category. Didn't really get a go at it at the start of the season so would have him in with the injury excused group.
But I'd agree on the rest.

I'd love Steele to take that next step in being consistently damaging like he was at the end of last season. Lade mentioned recently that he doesn't want Steele to tag for the whole season because he knows he can be a fantastic midfielder in his own right. Probably time to release him and let him show how good he actually is. It would give a huge boost to the rest of the midfield as well with Steven out.
 

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I think it's fine to be critical of the club when it's warranted. Blaming the current administration for the fact we haven't played finals in 9 years is wrong. Majority of them took over in 2014 and most of it was spent on rebuilding the brand and getting the business side of the club back up to scratch - and we've seen what they've done - we were able to leverage $12m into a $50m world class facility at Moorabbin. We have broken our membership record three straight years. We are better positioned to service our debt. All things that would've gone nowhere under previous administration. If it weren't for Finnis and the rest of them we would still be training out of Seaford - a place that all the players disliked. Would we have got Carlisle if we stayed in Seaford? Would we have got Steele? Carlisle lives in the north western suburbs, as if he would've wanted to travel to far south east every day. These are all things people need to take into consideration when they have a go at the club.

Now that we've realised that the business off-field is running smoothly, we put our attention towards improving on field. I will say this probably should've been done the other way around, but it is what it is. After six months since our focus on football narrative became public, we strengthened our coaching group, hired experienced legends like Billy Slater & Dermott Brereton, and brought in Graeme Allan who is a massive get for a club like ours and will have a big say in future trades with other clubs for talented players.

I just find it silly to keep criticisng the club, especially this year since we sit 4-4 and everyone who has watched us play knows we have improved greatly, and the fact that the new people that have been brought in by the club haven't even had a chance to prove to us that they are a good appointment - yet we want to criticise them anyway. Lets see what happens in the trade and draft period, where most of these appointments will be graded (Allan & Gallagher). As for on the field, the only thing I can fault is entry and scoring - something Brett Ratten was brought in for. If we can get this fixed we are a top four side. It's not as bad as people like to think it is.


Happy to agree on some points George .....disagree on the big one


Had to get off field in order before on field , rapt with the effort of Admin for that one .

With RSEA Park will be recognised as a life time achievement made the club relevant and sustainable.
 
Probably unfair to put Steven in the worse category. Didn't really get a go at it at the start of the season so would have him in with the injury excused group.
But I'd agree on the rest.

I'd love Steele to take that next step in being consistently damaging like he was at the end of last season. Lade mentioned recently that he doesn't want Steele to tag for the whole season because he knows he can be a fantastic midfielder in his own right. Probably time to release him and let him show how good he actually is. It would give a huge boost to the rest of the midfield as well with Steven out.


Had him in both, more as a demonstration of his importance to the side. He's our best player and a big reason we are worse off. If someone had told you we were losing him for a game last year, we would have expected to lose to just about every other side.

Steele has dropped away from where he was in 2018, his tagging was elite and he did a job on a heap of guns. He always looks better with a job to me. He used to get lost and play a kick behind the play early on. Getting him to follow the best mids takes him to the action. When there he's damaging and clean.
 
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Had him in both, more as a demonstration of his importance to the side. He's our best player and a big reason we are worse off. If someone had told you we were losing him for a game last year, we would have expected to lose to just about every other side.

Steele has dropped away from where he was in 2018, his tagging was elite and he did a job on a heap of guns. He always looks better with a job to me. He used to get lost and play a kick behind the play early on. Getting him to follow the best mids takes him to the action. When there he's damaging and clean.
His tagging has still been very good but he isn't getting as much of it himself which makes a big impact. Surely he has tagged enough to have developed that side of his game? Or we could release him slightly and have him more of a head-to-head player than the tighter lock down role he is currently doing.
 
I think you are dreaming with 12 or more wins.

We have recruited 8 mature players this year a new forward line with Bruce, Kent and Parker… yet our ability to score hasn't really improved in line with our awful f50 entries.

Our work rate and fitness was impressive in the first few rounds, but that only takes you so far… good teams can absorb and work through pressure as we've seen the past few weeks.

Most sides have injuries to key players, sick of hearing that TBH - Collingwood currently missing 6 first choice players, Melbourne have 14 unavailable.
I don't think I am...I think 8 more wins is achievable given the soft back half of the fixture.

I agree with you on entry and score - it's my main concern too. I think if we get that right (or much better) we will easily play finals.

You're sick of hearing about our injuries but it's a valid point. You mention Collingwood missing 6 players - well they have much better depth than us and just came off a Grand Final. Collingwood losing 6 players doesn't hurt them the same way it does us. Melbourne have 14 unavailable and look at where they are on the ladder. To be 4-4 with our injuries is a great effort.

At the end of the day, no one wants to go back and dole out apportioned blame in appropriate doses. We just want to be winning consistently. When we were top of the ladder and beating Melbourne and Essendon you couldn't find a critic and even Richo was getting love. It's purely frustration at feeling like we are back in 2018 form. We all want success and the first people who will get the wraps if we make finals are Richo, Finnis and Lethers. It's not all their fault and some none of their fault, but as representatives of the club they will be targets in the bad times and heroes in the good times. It sucks but that's life. Everyones job has good and bad bits. The highs for them are higher than the highs most of us will get from our jobs, careers or business interests, the down side is they wear more pressure than lots of others would,
It's just rubbish mate. Who expected us to beat Adelaide, GWS or West Coast. I felt like we could've beaten the Eagles but I wasn't surprised that we didn't - they are the reigning premiers. And if you didn't expect us to beat those three sides at the start of the year then you probably didn't expect us to beat Melbourne Essendon or Hawthorn at the start of the year either but we did. We are fine. Even if we lose on Saturday we are still fine. What matters to us is beating sides below us and getting a few scalps against sides above us. So far we have done one and we will see on the other.
 
I don't think I am...I think 8 more wins is achievable given the soft back half of the fixture.

I agree with you on entry and score - it's my main concern too. I think if we get that right (or much better) we will easily play finals.

You're sick of hearing about our injuries but it's a valid point. You mention Collingwood missing 6 players - well they have much better depth than us and just came off a Grand Final. Collingwood losing 6 players doesn't hurt them the same way it does us. Melbourne have 14 unavailable and look at where they are on the ladder. To be 4-4 with our injuries is a great effort.


It's just rubbish mate. Who expected us to beat Adelaide, GWS or West Coast. I felt like we could've beaten the Eagles but I wasn't surprised that we didn't - they are the reigning premiers. And if you didn't expect us to beat those three sides at the start of the year then you probably didn't expect us to beat Melbourne Essendon or Hawthorn at the start of the year either but we did. We are fine. Even if we lose on Saturday we are still fine. What matters to us is beating sides below us and getting a few scalps against sides above us. So far we have done one and we will see on the other.


No one said it's rational, we were in a position to win both GWS and WC, but there is something about losing even when you are better than you were 12 month ago that still just feels like having salt rubbed into wounds. The Eagles were pretty s**t as well. I just feel frustrated after such a good start thatit's all starting to look like possibly a short lived jump. I just want wins, I don't care how we do it. I haven't given up on finals even, I still don't think our list is good and I think we could easily do a North Melbourne with a harder draw next year. I just like to unload when the frustration builds up though is probably the shorter response.
 
No one said it's rational, we were in a position to win both GWS and WC, but there is something about losing even when you are better than you were 12 month ago that still just feels like having salt rubbed into wounds. The Eagles were pretty **** as well. I just feel frustrated after such a good start thatit's all starting to look like possibly a short lived jump. I just want wins, I don't care how we do it. I haven't given up on finals even, I still don't think our list is good and I think we could easily do a North Melbourne with a harder draw next year. I just like to unload when the frustration builds up though is probably the shorter response.
Fair enough. I will stick to the view that we aren't only good and we aren't only bad, we are somewhere in between with a list capable of playing finals. Might just be me but I don't get worked up over games we lose that we were expected to lose.
 
Fair enough. I will stick to the view that we aren't only good and we aren't only bad, we are somewhere in between with a list capable of playing finals. Might just be me but I don't get worked up over games we lose that we were expected to lose.


That makes you a more rational human being George, that's why you're a moderator and we are the feral hordes.
 

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Fair enough. I will stick to the view that we aren't only good and we aren't only bad, we are somewhere in between with a list capable of playing finals. Might just be me but I don't get worked up over games we lose that we were expected to lose.
Hope the playing list and the club in general do not share this view!
" I don't get worked up over games that we were expected to lose"
 
Hope the playing list and the club in general do not share this view!
" I don't get worked up over games that we were expected to lose"
Ok
 
I reckon he will give it away...

My gut feeling says the same VDS66.

I feel Jack will give the game away....he'll never leave us and go to another club.

He loves the Saints too much and would want to be a one team player.
 
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