Autopsy AFL news: Richmond dynasty under coach Damien Hardwick over after 2021 season

[Sir_Loin]

You can think about it the other way, we weren’t very far off it in the first half of the year and if WCE/Port fall our way and I think the boys would be up for it.

But I reckon getting every sides best effort, more covid bubbles and the loss to WCE virtually ending our top 4 hopes eroded the mental fight in the senior boys and they put the cue in the rack a bit and that’s all it takes at AFL level for the opposition to come hard.

9 six day breaks on top of the non sanctioned rules changes. AFL really wanted to * us this year

 

[Bojangles17]

I'm not completely convinced that the chaos era is over. When we really turned it on this year, such as games against the Dogs & Lions, it still seemed to work pretty well. We just never had that intensity at all for most of the year. Even in games where we were getting beaten fairly handily, we still had windows where you could see our game for moments, but just never consistently.

Possibly the only case for is we lacked a strong enough line up to really test it , so was it the game style that was DEAD or was our inexperienced line up flawed , bit of both I think

 

[Football Tragic]

Having a fit ruck division will certainly help clearances too. Soldo is a bigger out than many suspect and Nank has been struggling with injuries. Despite that, the impact he made when he returned should give us hope that our midfielders output will grow on the back of two strong rucks.

I do think we need help in the middle. Our clearance numbers have always been poor but we have been able to absorb the damage and rebound from it due to the organisation and collective talent of our backline. With the dip in skill and organisation of our backline and midfield, the opposition clearances were far cleaner and less pressured plus our backline unable to support each other due to the speed of delivery. Another strong midfielder injected in the center is a must though I'm undecided whether that should be from a trade or the draft.

 

[tiger_tough]

I reckon we saw a clear shift to a much higher uncontested marking game style in the middle of the year that was going pretty well until we lost half our side to injury and didn't have the composure or experience to pull off a brand new game plan on the run and reverted back to old faithful which is not as effective with the new rules.

Practice keeping hold of the footy over pre season as well as focus on on winning clearance or at the very least defending centre clearance better plus better connection going inside 50 and 2022 we'll have be right back up there.

 

[biaseddustyfan]

I'm not completely convinced that the chaos era is over. When we really turned it on this year, such as games against the Dogs & Lions, it still seemed to work pretty well. We just never had that intensity at all for most of the year. Even in games where we were getting beaten fairly handily, we still had windows where you could see our game for moments, but just never consistently.

That's coz whenever we got the momentum umps would strategically call 5 frees in a row against us including one 100m off the ball in front of the oppos goals plus a 50 or 2 in there for some random reasons. This would kill all momentum and get the oppo from 2-3 behind to 2-3 in front and turn the game

 

[Infamy]

That's coz whenever we got the momentum umps would strategically call 5 frees in a row against us including one 100m off the ball in front of the oppos goals plus a 50 or 2 in there for some random reasons. This would kill all momentum and get the oppo from 2-3 behind to 2-3 in front and turn the game

They've always done that though and we'd just keep going.
This year it seemed to cause us to lose all momentum and never get that intensity back again

 

[prodigy1311]

I'm not completely convinced that the chaos era is over. When we really turned it on this year, such as games against the Dogs & Lions, it still seemed to work pretty well. We just never had that intensity at all for most of the year. Even in games where we were getting beaten fairly handily, we still had windows where you could see our game for moments, but just never consistently.

The chaos ball requires relentless pressure for 4 qtrs. Our core is 30+ and are getting slower. The young at this stage are very raw and can't do the bulk of the work. Opposition teams (except geelong) are younger, faster and fitter. They can withstand our pressure and beat us in our own game. Our game plan now needs to be more about skill and not chaos.

The few games we won this season was a mix of things falling in place for us and opposition having a bad day. For majority of our games, we looked slow, lacked pressure and intensity. I understand injuries and form are major part but we must not ignore the age of our stars. They are getting slower and its only natural.

 

[HTT]

The chaos ball requires relentless pressure for 4 qtrs. Our core is 30+ and are getting slower. The young at this stage are very raw and can't do the bulk of the work. Opposition teams (except geelong) are younger, faster and fitter. They can withstand our pressure and beat us in our own game. Our game plan now needs to be more about skill and not chaos.

The few games we won this season was a mix of things falling in place for us and opposition having a bad day. For majority of our games, we looked slow, lacked pressure and intensity. I understand injuries and form are major part but we must not ignore the age of our stars. They are getting slower and its only natural.

On the other side of the same coin, our injuries ravaged the mature players that aren't old. We were left with a bunch of kids and oldies, neither of which can be expected to do bulk running.

 

[prodigy1311]

On the other side of the same coin, our injuries ravaged the mature players that aren't old. We were left with a bunch of kids and oldies, neither of which can be expected to do bulk running.

Agreed. That's another problem we face every season.
I can put money that prestia, Lambo, Nank, cotch & sheds will miss some game next season due to injury
Soldo is coming off an extended break - unknown
dusty will be back - how will his injury impact is also unknown
Grimes - he's been solid but if he gets injured, we are really cooked
Jack - he has lost speed and will prob be his last season

so the likes of bolton, baker, stack , rcd, ross, JG & balta are required to plug the gap for a stretched period. It is really difficult when you are still learning, growing and not at the peak of your career

 

[Calcium Man]

The chaos ball requires relentless pressure for 4 qtrs. Our core is 30+ and are getting slower. The young at this stage are very raw and can't do the bulk of the work. Opposition teams (except geelong) are younger, faster and fitter. They can withstand our pressure and beat us in our own game. Our game plan now needs to be more about skill and not chaos.

The few games we won this season was a mix of things falling in place for us and opposition having a bad day. For majority of our games, we looked slow, lacked pressure and intensity. I understand injuries and form are major part but we must not ignore the age of our stars. They are getting slower and its only natural.

Our stars might be 30+ but endurance doesn’t decline until the back half of your 30s (speed goes a bit earlier) but also our chaos gameplay was as much implemented by our middle group of Lambert, Prestia, Bolton, KMac, Short, Baker, Castagna, Rioli, nank, Vlastuin, Pickett, Broad, Aarts and Graham. That’s basically 2/3rds our best 22 last few seasons.

we lose lambert, Nank, Prestia, KMac, Vlastuin for significant chunks of the season, Castagna and Rioli well out of form on top of Lynch, Cotch,edwards, astbury missing long stretches of games meant we couldn’t keep going.

I have no doubt our style is taxxing, it’s why we look terrible to great during 19 and 20 home and away but absolutely dominate during finals.

the boys are exhausted but I wouldn’t throwing out the game plan just yet because of a year with injuries, covid and 4 years of exhausting finals runs. You can’t stay up forever and not surprised the hunger disappeared after the WCE loss

 

[tora tora tora]

WE were wooden spooners after the last nine games. We need a miracle next year just to be competitive. Caracella was a massive loss and it's hurting me seeing Essendon on the rise with him lurking in the background.

We managed to win another flag after carracella departed. Maybe the loss of leppitsch is more significant. I'd like to get him back. Our Coaching needs a lot of attention. Cutbacks, covid fine, dimma off his game a bit. All contributed. Our football looked horrible this year. Our inability to score. Although I saw us twice. Vs Giants at Marvel and lions at Metricon and we looked good.
I'm glad with the list changes so far.
Dimmas had a year to think about the gameplan. Be interested to see what he come up with.

 

[prodigy1311]

Our stars might be 30+ but endurance doesn’t decline until the back half of your 30s (speed goes a bit earlier) but also our chaos gameplay was as much implemented by our middle group of Lambert, Prestia, Bolton, KMac, Short, Baker, Castagna, Rioli, nank, Vlastuin, Pickett, Broad, Aarts and Graham. That’s basically 2/3rds our best 22 last few seasons.

we lose lambert, Nank, Prestia, KMac, Vlastuin for significant chunks of the season, Castagna and Rioli well out of form on top of Lynch, Cotch,edwards, astbury missing long stretches of games meant we couldn’t keep going.

I have no doubt our style is taxxing, it’s why we look terrible to great during 19 and 20 but absolutely dominate during finals.

the boys are exhausted but I wouldn’t throwing out the game plan just yet because of a year with injuries, covid and 4 years of exhausting finals runs. You can’t stay up forever and not surprised the hunger disappeared after the WCE loss

That's the point - You can't stay up forever and must adapt to the constantly evolving game.
Chaos worked for us from 17-20 That's 4 good years. we had injuries in 19 & 20 but we found a way to come through it simply on the back of our core players.

Injuries will happen next year. FACT
We rely on our skillful players to lead as any team. The role players are there to follow
But if we have injuries to prestia, nank, titch, cotch and lambert (all more likely than not) we cannot expect the role players to fill the gap.
we then look at our younger skillful players such as bolton, balta, stack rcd etc. They are not ready to take on the whole thing yet.

If we are to push back up next year, we need a new less taxing game plan, blood some talent new & experienced, help for Dimma in the box.
Imo this is the only way we get back into the 8 and contend. Happy to be wrong tho.

 

[Calcium Man]

That's the point - You can't stay up forever and must adapt to the constantly evolving game.
Chaos worked for us from 17-20 That's 4 good years. we had injuries in 19 & 20 but we found a way to come through it simply on the back of our core players.

Injuries will happen next year. FACT
We rely on our skillful players to lead as any team. The role players are there to follow
But if we have injuries to prestia, nank, titch, cotch and lambert (all more likely than not) we cannot expect the role players to fill the gap.
we then look at our younger skillful players such as bolton, balta, stack rcd etc. They are not ready to take on the whole thing yet.

If we are to push back up next year, we need a new less taxing game plan, blood some talent new & experienced, help for Dimma in the box.
Imo this is the only way we get back into the 8 and contend. Happy to be wrong tho.

I disagree, this year didn’t prove chaos no longer works, just that we were undermanned.

I don’t think you can blame chaos not working cos our best players are 30+, instead that our injuries to our middle core who are in that 24-30 age group stopped us from getting it up and running consistently. And I’m not sure that you can blame those injuries on game style when Vlas was a knee, Nank was a knee, Dusty was a kidney, Shedda and Prestia were ankles and knees, Bolton was a night club etc…

We do need to make tweaks especially to our centre clearances, but no Soldo and little Nank also had a detrimental effect on our centre clearances ability, and our forward entries. But overall finals football is tough, pressure football which we thrive in and I’m not convinced the uncontested marking game will be as dominate like it has during the home and away season.

 

[prodigy1311]

I disagree, this year didn’t prove chaos no longer works, just that we were undermanned.

I don’t think you can blame chaos not working cos our best players are 30+, instead that our injuries to our middle core who are in that 24-30 age group stopped us from getting it up and running consistently. And I’m not sure that you can blame those injuries on game style when Vlas was a knee, Nank was a knee, Dusty was a kidney, Shedda and Prestia were ankles and knees, Bolton was a night club etc…

We do need to make tweaks especially to our centre clearances, but no Soldo and little Nank also had a detrimental effect on our centre clearances ability, and our forward entries. But overall finals football is tough, pressure football which we thrive in and I’m not convinced the uncontested marking game will be as dominate like it has during the home and away season.

I'll be happy surprised if we reach the top without tweaking our game plan and/or personnel
Guess time will tell

 

[Calcium Man]

I'll be happy surprised if we reach the top without tweaking our game plan and/or personnel
Guess time will tell

100% we need tweaks. RCD or if we’re super fortunate Hopper/Green and Soldo into our centre needs to happen and we need to adjust our forward entries and sort our small forwards.

But pressure for mine can’t be rule changed away, no matter how much the other team dominates with uncontested possession because all it takes is one mistake and the pressure is on when we’re at our best, and in finals and big games that pressure is already there just from the occasion, we just add to it. You’ve got to be all but perfect to beat us when we’re on. I especially look at the dogs game, who have the best midfield and one of the best abilities to retain possession and we destroyed them with pressure.

This year as the mental drop off we had to have because you just can’t stay that mentally on indefinitely, add in injuries and I think more covid bubbles after the effort they put in last season explains the drop off in effort that’s been consistent during the 2nd half of the year. I also think geelongs ability to stay up is because they haven’t won it all and that hunger is still driving then.

Our team was considered done at some point every season over the last 4 years. They’re getting older and close to the end but I won’t believe they’re done until they fail to make finals next year.

 

[TigerImposter]

We managed to win another flag after carracella departed. Maybe the loss of leppitsch is more significant. I'd like to get him back. Our Coaching needs a lot of attention. Cutbacks, covid fine, dimma off his game a bit. All contributed. Our football looked horrible this year. Our inability to score. Although I saw us twice. Vs Giants at Marvel and lions at Metricon and we looked good.
I'm glad with the list changes so far.
Dimmas had a year to think about the gameplan. Be interested to see what he come up with.

Agree, but it was the same game plan with pretty well the same list

 

[prodigy1311]

100% we need tweaks. RCD or if we’re super fortunate Hopper/Green and Soldo into our centre needs to happen and we need to adjust our forward entries and sort our small forwards.

But pressure for mine can’t be rule changed away, no matter how much the other team dominates with uncontested possession because all it takes is one mistake and the pressure is on when we’re at our best, and in finals and big games that pressure is already there just from the occasion, we just add to it. You’ve got to be all but perfect to beat us when we’re on. I especially look at the dogs game, who have the best midfield and one of the best abilities to retain possession and we destroyed them with pressure.

This year as the mental drop off we had to have because you just can’t stay that mentally on indefinitely, add in injuries and I think more covid bubbles after the effort they put in last season explains the drop off in effort that’s been consistent during the 2nd half of the year. I also think geelongs ability to stay up is because they haven’t won it all and that hunger is still driving then.

Our team was considered done at some point every season over the last 4 years. They’re getting older and close to the end but I won’t believe they’re done until they fail to make finals next year.

Totally understand your sentiment. For me, 2021 was always the last year of our era but we fell off spectacularly due to various reasons.
Hunger is a big thing, perhaps the down year helps the boys mentally. I would love to see the current group get back on top but i just don't see it.

imo we may have to wait till the next elite core of bolton, balta stack etc reach there peak in 3-4 years time

 

[Bojangles17]

The chaos ball requires relentless pressure for 4 qtrs. Our core is 30+ and are getting slower. The young at this stage are very raw and can't do the bulk of the work. Opposition teams (except geelong) are younger, faster and fitter. They can withstand our pressure and beat us in our own game. Our game plan now needs to be more about skill and not chaos.

The few games we won this season was a mix of things falling in place for us and opposition having a bad day. For majority of our games, we looked slow, lacked pressure and intensity. I understand injuries and form are major part but we must not ignore the age of our stars. They are getting slower and its only natural.

the rule changes fundamentally dismantled KEY parts of the defensive structures, has already been well documented its made several roles in the side redundant, in view of these rules remaining , we MUST adapt our game plan

 

[Bojangles17]

Agree, but it was the same game plan with pretty well the same list

wasn't exactly the same , has evolved over time , 2017 was more pure chaotic football, lazy media continued on with that tag however we became more measured in our I50 last 1-2y with scoring on the higher side of the ledger. On eve of finals last years campaign we corrected a recurring contested/clearance deficit that really runs the gauntlet when facing quality opposition.
At the end of the day , a teams ability to execute any game style largely comes back to the available cattle,,,no better example than clarko unless anyone believes he can't coach

 

[Bojangles17]

Totally understand your sentiment. For me, 2021 was always the last year of our era but we fell off spectacularly due to various reasons.
Hunger is a big thing, perhaps the down year helps the boys mentally. I would love to see the current group get back on top but i just don't see it.

imo we may have to wait till the next elite core of bolton, balta stack etc reach there peak in 3-4 years time

I always think hunger can be a bit of a cop out myself , tbh I wish it was that easy but I’m a little more pragmatic than that , the gap between incoming and outgoing is a cavernous one . Some may think the newbs are at triple premiership std already and it’s only hunger , I beg to differ. The performance level of several of our stars has began to diminish , some say hunger , I say it’s no surprises as they approach 30yo and beyond. Our game plan was pulled apart in r3 , some say hunger , I say it was more fundamental than that.
Ultimately a finals miss should benefit us in short to medium term as the club will now be under No illusions where we re at and plan accordingly

 

[prodigy1311]

I always think hunger can be a bit of a cop out myself , tbh I wish it was that easy but I’m a little more pragmatic than that , the gap between incoming and outgoing is a cavernous one . Some may think the newbs are at triple premiership std already and it’s only hunger , I beg to differ. The performance level of several of our stars has began to diminish , some say hunger , I say it’s no surprises as they approach 30yo and beyond. Our game plan was pulled apart in r3 , some say hunger , I say it was more fundamental than that.
Ultimately a finals miss should benefit us in short to medium term as the club will now be under No illusions where we re at and plan accordingly

Agree. It's always a combination of reasons. age, injuries, hunger & game plan. Yes, premiership player is loosely used around here and media alike as if it is some badge of honor for an individual's performance. The likes of Bolton & balta have got the taste and know what it takes to get back there so have a lot of work to do. A down year is good for motivation, lets hope the club's footy department is refreshed and tweaked for 2022

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Agree. The chaos ball era is definitely over and if we try to bring that next year, we may not go too far. The game has evolved and RFC needs to evolve with it.
I keep faith in Dimma, hope he comes up with a new plan and succeeds.

I disagree...the 'chaos ball' game got stymied by the AFL unheralded rule changes...got compounded by our growing injury list...and lack of crowd support to influence the maggotts free kick bull shite due to Covid lockdown...AFL difficult selling of TV sustainability in times of Covid panicked them into designer rules that equated to goals equal TV ad breaks appeasing commercial intere$t$......the soft cap fine reducing our assistant coaches influence...we effectively got hit by a perfect storm of salt!
The game has not evolved naturally...it is a genetically modified hybrid...with the AFL drip feeding it concessions to keep the spindly fecking thing alive..
I maintain that the Covid issue has removed the crowd influence in contested games now and has effectively made all teams 'minnows' in game day crowd support...its the maggotts under the AFL thumb that have the major influence in how games are played out now...not big team crowds...or game strategy...
Covis has even introduced the trial of GF played in various Capital Cities by stealth...next will be the Night Time GF...
The AFL can now covid-pick-and-choose the side they want to win the GF...by paid and unpaid weirdly interpreted free kicks, by weird player suspension decisions, Ground playing choice...short/long game breaks between matches...
Covid is both a hassle and a god send for the machinations of the AFL...

 

[prodigy1311]

I disagree...the 'chaos ball' game got stymied by the AFL unheralded rule changes...got compounded by our growing injury list...and lack of crowd support to influence the maggotts free kick bull sh*te due to Covid lockdown...AFL difficult selling of TV sustainability in times of Covid panicked them into designer rules that equated to goals equal TV ad breaks appeasing commercial intere$t$......the soft cap fine reducing our assistant coaches influence...we effectively got hit by a perfect storm of salt!
The game has not evolved naturally...it is a genetically modified hybrid...with the AFL drip feeding it concessions to keep the spindly fecking thing alive..
I maintain that the Covid issue has removed the crowd influence in contested games now and has effectively made all teams 'minnows' in game day crowd support...its the maggotts under the AFL thumb that have the major influence in how games are played out now...not big team crowds...or game strategy...
Covis has even introduced the trial of GF played in various Capital Cities by stealth...next will be the Night Time GF...
The AFL can now covid-pick-and-choose the side they want to win the GF...by paid and unpaid weirdly interpreted free kicks, by weird player suspension decisions, Ground playing choice...short/long game breaks between matches...
Covid is both a hassle and a god send for the machinations of the AFL...

You may have valid points but i for one don't delve into conspiracy theories. if we are good enough, we win the flag regardless of the circumstances.
Whether the change in game is natural or forced, it has occurred and we need to adapt. It's the only way forward. No point sulking about AFL changing rules cause its here to stay

 

[SunshineBoy]

Very good, considered, thorough article. Pretty rare these days.

I like it. Doesn’t explain selecting RCD, though, does it? Perhaps this is a new policy.

If the AFL want to save face, rather than admit the rule change achieved nothing they could say it is too hard to adjudicate when players move off their line quickly, which puts the defending team at a big disadvantage.

This has been the most frustrating part for me. A player on the mark, rooted to the ground, with arms raised in a questioning (wtf) manner, helplessly looking at the ump while the guy with the ball is off and running.

You know umpire, you’re supposed to call “play on”.

If the umps can’t get that part right, then it must be scrapped.

You need to have a face to save it

 

[Livonski]

You may have valid points but i for one don't delve into conspiracy theories. if we are good enough, we win the flag regardless of the circumstances.
Whether the change in game is natural or forced, it has occurred and we need to adapt. It's the only way forward. No point sulking about AFL changing rules cause its here to stay

I agree. We have to change and adapt to the landscape put in front of us. There were some clear examples of where we did and it worked. Crows game for example, Bombers. We needed to maintain possession and creep it forward because under this disgraceful stand rule oppos would just fold back into our forward line, or a kick ahead of the ball. It meant that the chaos ball invariably went to an outnumber and the turnover then hurts on the way back.
I hope and pray a 50m penalty gets paid at a crucial time in a final when the guy on the mark moves his toe nail. It's an out and out disgrace and hopefully someone other than us gets pinged badly and whinges appropriately.
It's horrible to watch. Tell me it doesn't look like soccer where they pass backwards and sideways because the oppo is all in the attacking half of the ground.
Will kill footy. But it will be a long slow death because we are all rusted on tribes and support no matter what. Wait til the ratings for non big clubs fall to zero because the neutrals refuse to watch.