News External review for Richmond's AFLW program.

[Tortured Tiger]

now we have it officially................

View attachment 2491462

To be fair, he has a go at joining the dots, sometimes it works, sometimes not. He's a fan, he's allowed to.

Let’s all clog the thread with useless guesses then and now he is trying to justify what he said with more dribble.

 

[Phar Ace]

Let’s all clog the thread with useless guesses then and now he is trying to justify what he said with more dribble.

There are a lot of useful and useless guesses going on already - don't disagree with you, however we can all co-exist with our differences, is all I'm saying. He's not alone

 

[Tortured Tiger]

There are a lot of useful and useless guesses going on already - don't disagree with you, however we can all co-exist with our differences, is all I'm saying. He's not alone

Yes fair enough, I guess I am amused with how he posts his comments as if it is fact. If he admitted he was just guessing like the rest of us then all good. Cheers mate.

 

[Groupie_]

Harsh. Sheehan yes! Ferg took the team to finals in 2024, albeit an inglorious exit.

law of averages

 

[Phar Ace]

Yes fair enough, I guess I am amused with how he posts his comments as if it is fact. If he admitted he was just guessing like the rest of us then all good. Cheers mate.

Hear ya, we all have different styles

 

[Phar Ace]

law of averages

You should gamble then, you'd be rich

 

[SunshineBoy]

Richmond has finally admitted what the results, the exits and the supporter frustration had already made obvious: the problem was never Grace Egan. The problem was the coaching and leadership running the AFLW program into the ground.

The departures of Ryan Ferguson

Ryan Ferguson

Age

44

Ht

195cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.6

2star

K

4.3

2star

HB

4.2

3star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.0

3star

No current season stats available

D

4.8

1star

K

2.2

1star

HB

2.6

3star

M

1.4

2star

T

0.8

3star

and Kate Sheahan confirm everything people inside and outside the club have whispered for more than a year. When you lose your best intercept defender in Sheerin, fail to replace her, push out a prime age midfielder in Egan for nothing, fall to the bottom four and still hand the coach a contract extension, that is not misfortune. That is incompetence. That is a program without a plan.

And nothing sums it up more clearly than the way Egan was treated. She survived a life threatening illness, lost fourteen kilograms, clawed her way back onto the field and delivered two clear best on ground performances late in the season. Anyone with football eyes saw it. Yet she received only two votes. That is not coincidence. That is a coaching group that had already decided her fate regardless of performance. The review simply tore the lid off what was already happening.

This collapse did not happen in isolation. Look at the midfield. Monique Conti is gifted, no question. But leadership is not just brilliance with the ball. It is accountability without the ball. It is defensive work rate. It is sacrifice. Too often she left others to handle the defensive side of the game while collecting the touches that lead to more best and fairest medals. Seven already. But premiership teams are not built on collecting awards. They are built on role players who do the hard work with or without praise. The new coach will need the strength to shift Conti from award first to team first.

Then you look at leadership. Katie Brennan has been praised publicly for her captaincy, yet she has just stepped down after a season where her performance fell well short of a tier one player. Worse, the fractured relationships inside the group point to selective leadership, not inclusive leadership. Talking to some players while ignoring others is not a high performance environment. It is a clique. And when someone like Grace Egan is on the outside of that circle, you know something is broken.

You can see it in the results. You can see it in the exits. You can see it in the culture. This was a rudderless ship. And every football supporter knows where a rudderless ship ends: disaster.

But there is hope for Richmond. Strong hope, if the club stops running from the truth and starts building the structure it should have had years ago. The review outlines the path: a real performance strategy, a rebuilt high performance and medical team, recruiting priorities aligned to modern AFLW, full time operational leadership, and proper accountability.

If Richmond gets the next coaching appointment right, strong, demanding, culturally uncompromising, this program can rise again. Adelaide, Brisbane and North have shown what happens when structure, clarity and standards are the foundation. Richmond has the size, the member base and the resources to build something just as strong. But if the club goes soft again, if they pick an inexperienced coach who avoids conflict, if they let star players dictate the culture rather than buy into it, they will stay exactly where they are now, rebuilding every year with nothing to show for it.

Grace Egan leaving was never the sign of a player who failed. It was the sign of a program that failed her. Now Richmond has been forced to confront that reality. The next move determines whether they stay in the wilderness or finally become the club their supporters deserve.

More insights at Leftonthepine: facebook.com/Leftonthepine

#AFLW #richmondfc #graceegan #aflwnumbers #AFLWTrade #aflwdiscussion #footycommunity #tigers #richmondtigers #AFL #aflwanalysis #leftonthepine

 

[toenail63]

But there is hope for Richmond. Strong hope, if the club stops running from the truth and starts building the structure it should have had years ago. The review outlines the path: a real performance strategy, a rebuilt high performance and medical team, recruiting priorities aligned to modern AFLW, full time operational leadership, and proper accountability.

If Richmond gets the next coaching appointment right, strong, demanding, culturally uncompromising, this program can rise again. Adelaide, Brisbane and North have shown what happens when structure, clarity and standards are the foundation. Richmond has the size, the member base and the resources to build something just as strong. But if the club goes soft again, if they pick an inexperienced coach who avoids conflict, if they let star players dictate the culture rather than buy into it, they will stay exactly where they are now, rebuilding every year with nothing to show for it.

Grace Egan leaving was never the sign of a player who failed. It was the sign of a program that failed her. Now Richmond has been forced to confront that reality. The next move determines whether they stay in the wilderness or finally become the club their supporters deserve.

Well for one totally incorrect on Mon's on field stuff, couldn't be further from the truth, so cast doubt heavily on other comments attacking some personally. Considering the results haven't been great, players have stuck fat in comparison to some other clubs with issues, so is commendable to have had such high player retention.

Regarding hope coming from the review, and other comments above, we all want that. Grace Egan being on the list at this time is really about her not being in the right place at the right time, and does elicit the sad feels for her, however knowing that every disappointment opens up opportunity, a change for Grace will be a positive outcome for her. It all could have been handled much better, no doubt, and that's what change will rectify and bring to the Women's program. The changes won't sit comfortably for everybody, but what the club is doing is the right thing to do, and as it's a long game I expect to see both casualties and wins along the way, and I hope that filling the vacant job appointments, and the actions required in the short term, are undertaken professionally, just like it was with the review.