3 reasons why we'll rebound in 2022

Damo80

Premiership Player
Jul 11, 2011
3,494
5,009
Latrobe Valley
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Brisbane Lions
Alright, there's been a lot of negativity around our flatlining season, but here's just 3 simple reasons why I feel we can rebound strongly next year:

1. A fit list. This first one is obvious. We're missing way too many games from our experienced upper end players currently. We can lament how all the youth aren't up to it, but at the moment they're being expected to carry too much of the load, rather than being added into the mix gradually with good support around them. I think we'll miss the 8 from here, which adds an extra month to our of season to get our list healthy and reinvigorated.

2. Injection of talent. We have a strong draft hand, and a lower finish has the silver lining of improving that position. Whether we land a good trade target, or go all in on the draft, we should have some fresh new talent to add to our best 22 for 2022. Add to this some game time into our younger crew across the remainder of this year, and I think the short term pain will definitely be for the long term gain.

3. Soft cap increase. This one gets somewhat overlooked. We hear a bit about how tough clubs are doing with the cuts to soft cap. I think it was a Chris Fagan interview outlining some of the things within the club that you just wouldn't consider. Not enough staff to track GPS numbers at training. Assistant coaches having to play the role of sports scientist. Etc. PLUS we had an extra $100k cut compared to everyone else. That's equivalent to one additional role lost within the club. I believe we let go of a lot of coaching staff and prioritiesed recruiting staff. If this pays off with our draft hand, and we can add significantly to our coaching panel with an increased soft cap for 2022, I think this will have a really significant impact.

So that's just 3 simple reasons. Whether that means top 4 & challenge for flags again, who knows - it's a strong, even competition and premierships are hard to win. But I do think we'll rebound strongly next year with a few things going our way, and should be a competitive, finals winning team once again.

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Feb 23, 2009
32,142
45,745
Melbourne
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1. Yes - agree 100%. We haven't been able to cobble together a full defence, midfield or forward line for several critical games this year.

2. This is pretty wishful thinking (draft wise). It's unlikely and not really realistic to expect first year draftees to come in and have a tangible team changing impact. It's possible, but err on the side of caution that their impact is more likely 2-5 years away.

3. I haven't heard much about this, but I absolutely agree with all the soft cap we have (I'd even encourage going over it) we need to focus on assistant, development and line coaching support for Hardwick.
 

4tune8

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 31, 2017
6,551
13,753
AFL Club
Richmond
Alright, there's been a lot of negativity around our flatlining season, but here's just 3 simple reasons why I feel we can rebound strongly next year:

1. A fit list. This first one is obvious. We're missing way too many games from our experienced upper end players currently. We can lament how all the youth aren't up to it, but at the moment they're being expected to carry too much of the load, rather than being added into the mix gradually with good support around them. I think we'll miss the 8 from here, which adds an extra month to our of season to get our list healthy and reinvigorated.

2. Injection of talent. We have a strong draft hand, and a lower finish has the silver lining of improving that position. Whether we land a good trade target, or go all in on the draft, we should have some fresh new talent to add to our best 22 for 2022. Add to this some game time into our younger crew across the remainder of this year, and I think the short term pain will definitely be for the long term gain.

3. Soft cap increase. This one gets somewhat overlooked. We hear a bit about how tough clubs are doing with the cuts to soft cap. I think it was a Chris Fagan interview outlining some of the things within the club that you just wouldn't consider. Not enough staff to track GPS numbers at training. Assistant coaches having to play the role of sports scientist. Etc. PLUS we had an extra $100k cut compared to everyone else. That's equivalent to one additional role lost within the club. I believe we let go of a lot of coaching staff and prioritiesed recruiting staff. If this pays off with our draft hand, and we can add significantly to our coaching panel with an increased soft cap for 2022, I think this will have a really significant impact.

So that's just 3 simple reasons. Whether that means top 4 & challenge for flags again, who knows - it's a strong, even competition and premierships are hard to win. But I do think we'll rebound strongly next year with a few things going our way, and should be a competitive, finals winning team once again.

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4. Soft draw. A bottom 6 finish will see us with a much easier draw for 2022.
 

Damo80

Premiership Player
Jul 11, 2011
3,494
5,009
Latrobe Valley
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Brisbane Lions
2. This is pretty wishful thinking (draft wise). It's unlikely and not really realistic to expect first year draftees to come in and have a tangible team changing impact. It's possible, but err on the side of caution that their impact is more likely 2-5 years away.
I think there's potential to replace players 21 and 22 with a couple of more talented kids. This is especially the case if we trade for an established player. It's not about a "team changing" impact, but more an upgrade of talent to our 22. I think this is absolutely possible, particularly early in the season (kids can tend to lose steam early).


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RobsJourney

Premiership Player
Oct 13, 2010
4,724
12,708
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Benny Gale did say he thought that the changes would "bring us back to the pack". Obviously this wasn't just some throwaway comment in the end hey. Combined with all our injuries, losing key staff has really started to play a part.

I do think we can rebound in 2022 as well.

- Don't follow the Hawthorn path, keep the stars even if it just means sort of player/coach roles before they transition to coaching (hopefully with us). Don't keep topping up instead of drafting, but we can afford to top up a little just for now (I reckon CCJ for Ballard, trade a pick for a good midfielder, get Stringer via FA) and still take a good first-rounder or two to this year's draft.

- Get a fit team for god's sake, every week we lose someone else for multiple weeks, enough is enough.

- Restock the staff with the soft cap increase.

- Bring back the DNA. This is almost the most important one. We've lost our style and Essendon has possibly stolen it if not just copied it. We need to bring it back and show them how it's really done. If we don't, we're honestly looking at another long, long drought, because our current style is horrible and lacks anything you can describe, and there's nothing fun about it. Time to bring it back, even if just for the enjoyment of the players and fans. Even in 2019 I was still in awe at games, loving how we'd run and surge, despite having been watching it for 3 years by then. Sick of watching Essendon do it and use our terminology like "caring captain" and "celebrating each other", they can bugger off. It's Richmond's DNA and it's time to bring it again.
 
Feb 14, 2014
5,032
12,184
AFL Club
Richmond
Yeah, he drafted the 2022 draw on his last day.

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Watch as we play all the interstate teams back to back from round 2 as well as a block of West Coast, Brisbane, Freo, Gold Coast. Eagle Supporters will still claim that we got a ride in the fixturing.
 

SumTingWong

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 10, 2011
8,216
16,723
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Liverpool, NY Giants, NY Mets
Alright, there's been a lot of negativity around our flatlining season, but here's just 3 simple reasons why I feel we can rebound strongly next year:

1. A fit list. This first one is obvious. We're missing way too many games from our experienced upper end players currently. We can lament how all the youth aren't up to it, but at the moment they're being expected to carry too much of the load, rather than being added into the mix gradually with good support around them. I think we'll miss the 8 from here, which adds an extra month to our of season to get our list healthy and reinvigorated.

2. Injection of talent. We have a strong draft hand, and a lower finish has the silver lining of improving that position. Whether we land a good trade target, or go all in on the draft, we should have some fresh new talent to add to our best 22 for 2022. Add to this some game time into our younger crew across the remainder of this year, and I think the short term pain will definitely be for the long term gain.

3. Soft cap increase. This one gets somewhat overlooked. We hear a bit about how tough clubs are doing with the cuts to soft cap. I think it was a Chris Fagan interview outlining some of the things within the club that you just wouldn't consider. Not enough staff to track GPS numbers at training. Assistant coaches having to play the role of sports scientist. Etc. PLUS we had an extra $100k cut compared to everyone else. That's equivalent to one additional role lost within the club. I believe we let go of a lot of coaching staff and prioritiesed recruiting staff. If this pays off with our draft hand, and we can add significantly to our coaching panel with an increased soft cap for 2022, I think this will have a really significant impact.

So that's just 3 simple reasons. Whether that means top 4 & challenge for flags again, who knows - it's a strong, even competition and premierships are hard to win. But I do think we'll rebound strongly next year with a few things going our way, and should be a competitive, finals winning team once again.

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Is it true Tiger71 that we prioritised recruiting staff rather than coaching staff this year?
 

guruisatiger

Grand Poohbah of Ganymede
Oct 25, 2006
23,354
35,803
from the hinterlands of sri lanka and tibet
AFL Club
Richmond
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B.S.C youngboys.. Borussia Dortmund
1. Yes - agree 100%. We haven't been able to cobble together a full defence, midfield or forward line for several critical games this year.

2. This is pretty wishful thinking (draft wise). It's unlikely and not really realistic to expect first year draftees to come in and have a tangible team changing impact. It's possible, but err on the side of caution that their impact is more likely 2-5 years away.

3. I haven't heard much about this, but I absolutely agree with all the soft cap we have (I'd even encourage going over it) we need to focus on assistant, development and line coaching support for Hardwick.
Has any club actually gone over the soft cap ?? If so what was there penalty
 
Agree * 3.

Another big thing is that I think we will have spent a lot of time working out where our game plan can change to win more. This year honestly looks to me like we are changing things on the fly, and it hasn't worked. Give us time to work things through I reckon we can improve dramatically

If we can get Cerra and/or Green we'll improve the midfield.

RCD, Dow etc have seen what is required. E.g. RCD now knows the running power he needs to develop to really compete in the AFL. Hopefully will push them to work harder where needed. Could easily be a step up across the board in our team next year. I see our kids as something like a young developing squad within our experienced group. All the injuries might speed that development and strengthen us in 2022 and beyond.
 
A fit list is all down to luck


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I wouldn't say ALL luck, but goodly proportions of it helps. A lot of work goes into player body management at all Clubs, particularly our own.
 
Sep 13, 2015
18,683
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Hillary Step
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Richmond
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No doubt this is our most important off season since 2016-17, potentially even further. I think it's worth one more crack, and if we want to trade one of our first rounders for a youngish player (early 20s) (cough Cerra cough) that would be acceptable, but we should be using at least one first rounder in the draft, and preferably ours if its top 10.

I think we need to do a bit of a review of the football department, I'm not suggesting it needs wholesale changes but it is worth ensuring we are still using best practice everywhere so we don't fall behind.
 
Nov 11, 2010
2,851
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Punt Rd End
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Agree with everything said here. The easier draw will help as long as we don't have a situation like this year where some of the bottom 6 teams do a complete turn around it form. I think it will certainly assist our cause.

The healthy list is a huge factor imho. Part of it is a product of age - many of our best players are also our oldest and in previous years we have been able to cover injuries because they didn't all occur at once. A full preseason to get the operations out of the way and freshen up will definitely help.

The draft will help us in the future. The chances of bringing in an 18 year old superstar that makes an immediate impact is fairly slim. They are morelikely to have flashes of brilliance early on and gain consistency over time. I'm really torn on the whether to trade in a young mid or go for the draft. On one hand you know what you're getting by trading but on the other you're paying for it and could miss out on an even better star moving forward. I am edging toward the trade but as long as we don't sell the farm for it.

In the end though, its obviously a combination of all of these but we can't just ignore the coincidence of the introduction of the 'Premier-Breaker' rules this year and our form slide. Those rules were made directly to stop our defensive game style. Hocking even worked with Leppa to ensure it. Now, if you want to beat Richmond, just take them on through the middle and our defense will be swamped. We need to keep what has worked for us but tweaks need to be made.

Unless we can improve our team defense building into the preseason, don't expect anything to change regardless of the improvement in other areas. We need to recapture our turnover game to rise again. It's as simple as that.
 

This Is Anfield

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts Podcaster
Feb 25, 2014
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No doubt we’ll be far better in 2022 that we are at this precise moment simply because we should have most of the following available… Nankervis, Soldo (both massive improvements on what we had Sunday), Prestia, Lambert, Edwards, Broad, Balta.
We will have another pre season on RCD, Dow, Ralphsmith, Coleman-Jones, Maurice Jnr, Cumberland, Ryan and whoever I’ve missed.
The hunger should be back as well… they will hate watching on in September if we miss out!
PS: Sydney Stack will be so much better next year
 

No_Spoke

Team Captain
Nov 7, 2017
546
1,316
AFL Club
Richmond
Alright, there's been a lot of negativity around our flatlining season, but here's just 3 simple reasons why I feel we can rebound strongly next year:

1. A fit list. This first one is obvious. We're missing way too many games from our experienced upper end players currently. We can lament how all the youth aren't up to it, but at the moment they're being expected to carry too much of the load, rather than being added into the mix gradually with good support around them. I think we'll miss the 8 from here, which adds an extra month to our of season to get our list healthy and reinvigorated.

2. Injection of talent. We have a strong draft hand, and a lower finish has the silver lining of improving that position. Whether we land a good trade target, or go all in on the draft, we should have some fresh new talent to add to our best 22 for 2022. Add to this some game time into our younger crew across the remainder of this year, and I think the short term pain will definitely be for the long term gain.

3. Soft cap increase. This one gets somewhat overlooked. We hear a bit about how tough clubs are doing with the cuts to soft cap. I think it was a Chris Fagan interview outlining some of the things within the club that you just wouldn't consider. Not enough staff to track GPS numbers at training. Assistant coaches having to play the role of sports scientist. Etc. PLUS we had an extra $100k cut compared to everyone else. That's equivalent to one additional role lost within the club. I believe we let go of a lot of coaching staff and prioritiesed recruiting staff. If this pays off with our draft hand, and we can add significantly to our coaching panel with an increased soft cap for 2022, I think this will have a really significant impact.

So that's just 3 simple reasons. Whether that means top 4 & challenge for flags again, who knows - it's a strong, even competition and premierships are hard to win. But I do think we'll rebound strongly next year with a few things going our way, and should be a competitive, finals winning team once again.

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4. Shocking wont be making rule changes for 2022
 

French Tiger

Premiership Player
Oct 4, 2004
3,027
7,158
Albury
AFL Club
Richmond
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4. Soft draw. A bottom 6 finish will see us with a much easier draw for 2022.

Was just about to add this to the list until I saw your post !

I also reckon we can bounce back next year as well ! It might be the last chance with this current group but we can definitely challenge again next year.


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French Tiger

Premiership Player
Oct 4, 2004
3,027
7,158
Albury
AFL Club
Richmond
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Aston Villa ,Goldern State
Also a full pre season into the players & also the hunger will be back as well.

I know for me the feeling of being premier I never wanted to end so I wasn’t fussed over the summer if the footy never started again !

Now we are being kicked while we are down & i can’t wait to see the year out get into the trade/draft periods & get stuck into it again.


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