"Best team all year"

[bh90210fan]

Last year was an aberration that arguably benefited our draw this year, sure. And we were fortunate that we drew another Vic club week 1. Beyond that, we were simply good enough to take advantage of the run we earnt by finishing top 4.

Throwing around lines like "didn't earn it" or
"shouldn't have received" are pure sour grapes and frankly, in the case of "shouldn't have received", wrong.

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You played great footy on your home deck but doubt you would have got past Geelong on theirs. You did what you had to

 

[Damo80]

You played great footy on your home deck but doubt you would have got past Geelong on theirs. You did what you had to

It's a hypothetical we'll never know, I guess. But a point some are missing is that Geelong, as a rule, don't play their finals down there anyway, so it's really a moot point.

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[BK Eaglesfan]

Finished top in 2015? Don't remember that at all. Do remember flogging Hawthorn in a qualifying final at home though after finishing above them on the ladder then having to play them on their home deck to lose the granny

Apologies, 2nd...half a game off top....thanks to an easy draw. But you just stay focused on the GF miscarriage, suits your weak argument far better. Point remains, every year someone gets an easier draw than others and we have been benefitted from it ourselves. Still have to win the games.

Wouldn't have mattered where that GF was played. We didn't turn up.

 

[U2tigers]

Well the 2017 Richmond champion team, is a team of Champions to me.

 

[Tuco]

Picard's favourite tea is Earl Grey.

Picard is the winniniest meme on the interwebs

Checkmate.

 

[Hawkinspired]

Why do you say that?

Richmond have arguably the best defender ever to play the game, in Rance.

And he's played his best football this season, consistently. Including, an in particular in the Grand Final.

Think a bout that for a second. The best defender ever, playing his best foootball, for a whole season.


A dual-Coleman medallist taking the Most Marks Inside 50 and kicking over 50 goals for the season.


Then there's a freak like Martin, who wins the Brownlow, the MVP, the B&F and is BoG in the Grand Final!

And I haven't even mentioned Cotchin!


There's a lot of s**t spoken in footy, and the guff at the moment about Richmond being an average list is up there with the best of it. Behind Rance, Cotchin, Martin and Reiwoldt it's average - but I challenge you put those 4 - in career best form like they've all been in this season, in any team and them not to be Top 4 at least.


Every year, the MVP's team has a very, very good year on the back of their performances.


Michael Voss (2002, 2003) - Flags
Nick Riewoldt (2004 - Prelim
Ben Cousins (2005) - GF
Chris Judd (2006, 2011) - Flag, Semi Final
Dane Swan (2010) - Flag
Gary Ablett, Jr (2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013) - Flags
Nathan Fyfe (2014, 2015) - GF, Semi Final
Patrick Dangerfield (2016) - Prelim
Martin (2017) - Flag


Look at the Goal Kicking tally each year. At least 2-3 of the Top 5 in the goal kicking play finals every year. Reiwoldt kicked over 50 and finished 5th.
14 out of the top 15 in the Goal Kicking played finals!


Then there's the All Australian Captain. I think there's only been one All Australian Captain that hasn't led their team to less than the 2nd week of the finals (Murphy was the odd one out which was a strange decision anyway)!


The point is, when you have the All Australian Captain in your team, history says you have a good season.

When you have someone in the top on the Coleman Medal list, history says you have a good season.

When the have the league MVP, your team generally has a very good season.

Richmond had all 3 at the one time! And that's not even putting Cotchin and his amazing season into the equation.



So it's a myth that Richmond are a champion as opposed to a team of champions.

Exactly. You could make a fair argument it's the other way around. Adelaide have very few stars but have a more even quality team.

 

[bh90210fan]

Apologies, 2nd...half a game off top....thanks to an easy draw. But you just stay focused on the GF miscarriage, suits your weak argument far better. Point remains, every year someone gets an easier draw than others and we have been benefitted from it ourselves. Still have to win the games.

Wouldn't have mattered where that GF was played. We didn't turn up.

Bit easier to turn up in familiar surroundings, in front of your home crowd

 

[BK Eaglesfan]

Bit easier to turn up in familiar surroundings, in front of your home crowd

The same home crowd Hawthorn beat us in front of in Round 19 that year?

You want Richmond supporters to admit they had a soft draw this year (which I agree with - it was acknowledged by 'experts' before the season even started)? Fine.

Can you at least admit that our run to a GF in 2015 was also aided by a soft draw (also acknowledged and statistically demonstrated by the exact same experts). Without that soft draw, do we even make the GF? I wanted us to win that year and was shattered we didn't, primarily because when you aren't the best team and you get a chance to pinch one, you have to take it. We had a dream draw which got us two home finals. North shocked everyone and we got to avoid Sydney in the prelim, a game in which we got the rub of the green from the umpires. Our game plan caught people on the hop. But come GF day two things happened. Hawthorn were possessed from the way we beat them up in week one and took it out on Adelaide and Fremantle on route to us and some of our middle tier players froze on the big stage while our most important player structurally had far more important things on his mind than football.

 

[Bazzar]

Richmond were by far the best 'team'
Aside from Richmond fans there couldn't be anyone who would argue Richmonds bottom 6 isn't the the least credentialed since maybe the Eagles in 06. They have Richmond TOOC members in the top 4 players and then some really good B players who stepped up and then some frankly average battlers who played out of there skin.

On paper Adelaide had a better team IMO as do a few sides. But those 22 blokes desire to play for each other is as good as you will ever see in a single season. Congratulations tigers.

Sam Mitchell last week on fox footy said the Tiges had a better bottom 6 than the Crows, GWS and Cats.

Rioli, Jack Graham and Butler are in the bottom 6, Rioli is a gun, 5 game Graham showed how highly regarded he is with a 3 goal GF and shut down of Sloane, and Butler finished = 8th last night in the B&F.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Not taking anything away from a great season and a terrific result yesterday, but your ladder position last year did net you an easier draw than some of the other top teams this season.

They played teams that finished 3 4 9 14 and 17 the previous season. Pretty even spread across the board. Not their fault that the third placed team (Hawthorn) turned out to be easybeats or that 9 (StKilda) didnt improve.

Rumours of them having a soft draw are slightly exaggerated and motivated by hindsight

 

[BK Eaglesfan]

Honestly I would never barrack against my own team, but I almost hope Richmond finish 4th next year, play two finals outside Victoria, win their way into the Grand Final and beat one of Melbourne, Hawthorn or Collingwood. All while having played every other team in the 8 home and away, in a season where it became illegal to play with only one key forward as their mosquito fleet forward line was deemed bad for football and the Tyrone Vickery trade was over turned as being done in bad faith, with him returned to Punt Rd with a 'gauranteed to play every week' clause in his new contract.

Then can we acknowledge that as a deserving premiership FFS?

 

[BK Eaglesfan]

They played teams that finished 3 4 9 14 and 17 the previous season. Pretty even spread across the board. Not their fault that the third placed team (Hawthorn) turned out to be easybeats or that 9 (StKilda) didnt improve.

Rumours of them having a soft draw are slightly exaggerated and motivated by hindsight

Correct. Richmond finished 13th so deserved one of the easier draws and as you rightly point out, the softness of their draw is being overplayed based on this year's finishing order, not off last year's finishing positions that the draw was built on.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Correct. Richmond finished 13th so deserved one of the easier draws and as you rightly point out, the softness of their draw is being overplayed based on this year's finishing order, not off last year's finishing positions that the draw was built on.

For comparison if Collingwood (this years 13th) got the exact same draw as Richmond we would be playing Richmond, GWS, Melbourne,Gold Coast and Fremantle twice next year. Doesnt look exactly easy but until you see what the formline is in 2018 you dont really know.

 

[Topkent]

Sam Mitchell last week on fox footy said the Tiges had a better bottom 6 than the Crows, GWS and Cats.

Rioli, Jack Graham and Butler are in the bottom 6, Rioli is a gun, 5 game Graham showed how highly regarded he is with a 3 goal GF and shut down of Sloane, and Butler finished = 8th last night in the B&F.

Grant Thomas said its the worst side on paper ever. Their opinions aren't any better than ours

 

[Bazzar]

Grant Thomas said its the worst side on paper ever. Their opinions aren't any better than ours

Grant Thomas? That's a laugh.
Mitchell recently retired so he would have played against them, and also a highly regarded coach in waiting would have a far greater valid opinion of the Richmond list than the salty campaigner Thomas

 

[bh90210fan]

The same home crowd Hawthorn beat us in front of in Round 19 that year?

You want Richmond supporters to admit they had a soft draw this year (which I agree with - it was acknowledged by 'experts' before the season even started)? Fine.

Can you at least admit that our run to a GF in 2015 was also aided by a soft draw (also acknowledged and statistically demonstrated by the exact same experts). Without that soft draw, do we even make the GF? I wanted us to win that year and was shattered we didn't, primarily because when you aren't the best team and you get a chance to pinch one, you have to take it. We had a dream draw which got us two home finals. North shocked everyone and we got to avoid Sydney in the prelim, a game in which we got the rub of the green from the umpires. Our game plan caught people on the hop. But come GF day two things happened. Hawthorn were possessed from the way we beat them up in week one and took it out on Adelaide and Fremantle on route to us and some of our middle tier players froze on the big stage while our most important player structurally had far more important things on his mind than football.

Hawthorn weren't possessed in the QF. Doubt it.
Fremantle were cooked by the end of 2015 and just scraped by Sydney before meeting Hawthorn

 

[loki04]

Not really...

Adelaide are a champion team just as much really, they don't have THAT much more talent on paper than we do... Like us, they are just very well drilled/structured.

A team of champions is a team packed with talent..GWS would be a team of champions for instance.

Last years granny proved it more as Sydney are more of a "teamof champions" than Adelaide are.

Adelaide didn't have 1 top 10 pick, Richmond have how many again?

Martin (Pick 3), Cotchin (Pick 2), Vlaustin (pick 9), Prestia (pick 9) and add the rest of the first rounders to then have Reiwoldt (pick 13), Rance (pick 18), Rioli (pick 15) and Ellis (pick 18).

So it's not as if Richmond are a money ball team, in fact the crows fit that more.

 

[Sector 7G]

Most dominant finals series since Geelong 2007 says it all.

Geelong nearly lost the prelim in 2007 (won by 5pts). Average winning margin is a bad measure due to the port GF.
As much as it pains me Tigers had a more dominant finals series.

Probably need to go back to the Bombers in 2000.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Could have quite easily finished with a better record too, given how some of the games panned out.

Yeah losing to Freo and GWS were a bit of a setback. Next year we should be able to win these type of games. Could have been 17-5. Next year 15 wins is very gettable. No game in Geelong next year. Probably a game in Sydney and Adelaide against those 2 teams. So we'll have 1 tougher game next year I think

 

[Bazzar]

Tiges finished the H&A 3rd and convincingly beat 2nd, 4th and 1st in three finals with a finals average of 100.6pts For, and 55.6pts Against, and a percentage of 180%
That's very impressive in anyones language.

 

[Topkent]

Grant Thomas? That's a laugh.
Mitchell recently retired so he would have played against them, and also a highly regarded coach in waiting would have a far greater valid opinion of the Richmond list than the salty campaigner Thomas

Yeah this isn't really a discussion so I'm tapping out I don't need to waste any more time.

 

[Wojcinski]

Geelong nearly lost the prelim in 2007 (won by 5pts). Average winning margin is a bad measure due to the port GF.
As much as it pains me Tigers had a more dominant finals series.

Probably need to go back to the Bombers in 2000.

Geelong in 2011 was a similar finals series to the Tigers winning by 31, 48 and 38.
Collingwood in 2010 won by 62, 41 and 56 but of course the drawn GF kinda throws that out.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Grant Thomas said its the worst side on paper ever. Their opinions aren't any better than ours

His teams were some of the better teams on paper. In reality he’s just admitting he was a s**t coach.

 

[NZ_Tiger]

What champions do Adelaide have?

Richmond have the reigning Brownlow medallist...

Yeah, I'm struggling to see all this talent oozing across every line. They are as much a system team as Richmond.

For what it's worth we could well be the worst team to win a flag of all time but it's in the book and I don't feel any less happy because a bunch of Cats, Adeladians and meth heads from the west are all salty as *. If anything it only makes me smile more.

 

[cannot]

Tiges finished the H&A 3rd and convincingly beat 2nd, 4th and 1st in three finals with a finals average of 100.6pts For, and 55.6pts Against, and a percentage of 180%
That's very impressive in anyones language.

weak year but