Thanks for bringing this up, I was sorta hoping you would…And what about Richmond from 1983-2012.... Was under your control?
They were horrible in that time.
Up until Brendan Gale took the reins as CEO in 2010 we were an absolute mess.
Factions that didn’t tolerate failure. A board that sacked coaches on a whim. No money for the football department.
Brendans vision and the boards stability to help realise it, put the club in the position for sustained success.
Having a good CEO with a good strategic plan, a supportive board and a president that helped drive the culture backed the football department to do their thing. Finals for three years ina row into that term showed progress, then a minor step backwards.
In 2017 the belief of the football department and playing group on the back of this support delivered our first flag in 32 years. Then another in 2019. And another to go back to back in 2020.
So to answer your question.
A good club is a stable club.
It needs to have a ceo with a vision.
A board that believes in the vision but can challenge when appropriate. And a president to help ensure that the admin and football depts have everything they need to realise the vision.
When that occurs, teams are generally more successful on the field. Players want to come to the club. And success usually follows. Geelong are a fantastic example of this. So to Sydney. Brisbane have turned the corner from having a mass of players depart almost a decade ago now to being a place players want to be traded to.
So yes, the frustrating part of Richmond’s history from 1983-2010 is that our failure was due to those in control. 100% it was. And it was damn frustrating to watch from the stands.