Gone Backwards !

[TigerGar]

Basic skill errors are now a constant in our games !
Once we start causing turnovers, especially from kick-ins, our skill level goes down, and it upsets the whole team, we've got no confidence in terms of running off and getting numbers to the ball and this compounds the errors. Tigers played slow- motion reactive football. Ragged disposal, hesitant with the ball and without it, by getting in each other's way.


Richmond used to play with a boldness that worried its opponents. The Tigers took risks, played on quickly, used the useable option. There was no second guessing. This year they have dropped off doing the hustle and bustle and the bash and crash. Too many are standing out wide waiting for an easy receive. They are turning into a bottom-of-the-ladder team when things go wrong, a rabble.

For all the game plans and variations and tricks that are put in place in preparation for a game, they are worthless if you don't have the ball or use it effectively. Richmond is hanging in, with injuries to key players and waiting for younger players to step up. Until then, we will be vulnerable.

"The more I coach, the more I realise that you have to get back to basics," says Frawley.

Change the "BASICS" or turf them Because,
Players are getting a game on reputation not performance.
Rookies are kept in cotton wool for most of the game.
Players are being played out of position.
Erractic Disposal mainly out of defence.
Mid-field that can't match it physically.

A tough environment and only the strong will survive.
You learn more about people when they are under pressure than when things are going OK and you can be sure that this is when you are at your most vulnerable.

It is up to the coach to know his territory and remain positive
and understand the direction he is trying to take his club as there
is no place for second guessing. Now and not later is when the HARD decisions need to be made, DO NOT Delay the Enivitable !
Prepare, Plan and Play for a successful Season 2003!

 

[CJH]

The root cause of all this is an inexplicable drop in confidence! Last year it was dismissed as a post-Essendon hangover. This year we bounced back and played well against Melbourne but since then have been atrocious.

We really need something to spark us back up before it all goes pear-shaped! I guess this is why most of us are screaming for the kids to be given a decent run in the middle.

 

[TheFoxhat]

If i have to tear out any more hair i will look like K.B- Geeze i hate bloody colonial.

 

[nut]

I'm happy to go backwards if it means we are building for the future.Playing Ednie in the middle was a very good start. Playing Rodan as a small forward for most of the day was not. Couglan doesn't look ready to me and I think we have built to much hope on him. The three midfielders in the centre bounces should be a combination of in and under and Tagger. Two players of 171 cm want work so Rodan and ednie will have to share.

 

[oh_my_hat]

It is very easy to say so in hindsight but why didn’t they just plonk Richo in the goalsquare yesterday in his first game back ala Tony Lockett and tell him not to run too much, leave the leading to Ottens et al. If they wanted him out there so badly, and who wouldn’t then surely a more cautious approach would have been better than having him charging up the ground full steam. What a terrible week it was for the league losing elite players like Richo, Hird and Lloyd.

By Mark Stevens in today’s Herald Sun:

Even the silky Bowden coughed it up twice….

It is blatantly obvious that this guy either doesn’t see Richmond play that often or when he does he isn’t paying attention. If Bowden ONLY coughed it up twice a game I would be rapt. I think, especially over the next 3 or 4 weeks while Richo is out, that Bowden should play as a floating forward and see what he can do for us. Get rid of Hudson and give Krakouer a run and even if he is not getting much of it at least he is getting game time to fastrack his development. If not Krakouer then Poyas. What would have been wrong with Poyas playing alongside Richo and leading from the goalsquare this week allowing Richo to stay at home. At least with Poyas on the lead it would have given the Adelaide defense a different look even if we did bomb it in to Richo 70% of the time. They still would have had to honour Poyas’s leading.

They said during yesterday’s telecast that Stafford is due back next week. That sounds a little bit early to me as it was originally going to be a six week recovery period from his hip surgery. Anyone else hear that?

While I’m having a whinge, the decision not to pick up Jason Cloke under the Father/Son rule look to have been an inspired choice.

A good article in todays Age about our strange decision to trade our 1st rnd pick last year for Stafford. Trent Knobel is mentioned here and I was really hoping that we would have a look at him rather than an injury prone 27(?) year old player like Stafford who, to be fair, can be a good player on his day.

Adelaide midfield exposes Richmond's draft failings

By Stephen Rielly

When the tale of Richmond's 2002 is written, a decision that may well prove critical for seasons to come must be explained.

The story within the story will be why the Tigers, held back in 2001 by a midfield lacking explosive speed and the presence of a single warrior, traded away their first-round selection in a national draft that brought together what is widely considered to be the finest collection of young on-ballers ever.

Any answer that has it that Greg Stafford was required to replace Brendan Gale will not do. Nor will the salary cap problem that required Nick Daffy's departure to Sydney.

Firstly, someone such as Trent Knobel might have been acquired cheaply from Brisbane to replace Gale, and secondly, Ben Holland - courted so heavily by Adelaide that for a time he wanted out of Punt Road - could, and probably should have been exchanged, if not for a classy midfielder such as Kane Johnson, then for the Crows' first-round pick and a substantial decrease in player payments.

The relevance of all of this is that yesterday Adelaide did what it did to the Tigers the last time these teams met, and what it did to them the time before that, and what Essendon and Brisbane did to them last September, which was to confirm their fraudulent claim to being a flag contender with the current midfield corps.

Not that a first-year player will right all that is wrong with Richmond's centre square, or could have made much of a difference in a game such as yesterday's, but a solution to a long-standing and difficult problem has been lost and another is, in the least, 12 months further away than it otherwise might have been.

Led by Andrew McLeod, in such devastating form as to suggest that his one match suspension can only be the source of further Brownlow Medal anguish in five months' time, the Crows routed Richmond between the arcs like few sides to have ever won by the rather modest margin of 32 points.

McLeod was ... well, McLeod. Swerving, powerful, explosive, creative, smart. He took home three Brownlow votes against the Tigers in 2001 and the case for an overhaul of the medal will be unarguable if he did not claim three more yesterday.

Clinton King was torched by him in the first half and Jason Torney scorched by the Adelaide champion's vapor trail in the second.

In fact, Richmond offered meek resistance to the hard running and thirst for the contest that Simon Goodwin, Mark Bickley, Mark Ricciuto, Tyson Stenglein, Michael Doughty and Brett Burton brought to Adelaide's game.

Goodwin did to Wayne Campbell what Damien Peverill did to the Richmond captain in round two, and within minutes of the second term starting, Campbell was looking on from a forward pocket. By the half, Goodwin had collected 19 possessions and Campbell eight. By then it was only Adelaide's appalling inaccuracy sparing Richmond from annihilation.

The Crows added 2.12 in the second term, of which only one behind was rushed. Instead of establishing an insurmountable lead of perhaps 10 goals, Adelaide carried a 26-point break into the third term.

Still, as McLeod continued to blaze in the second half and Nigel Smart, Graham Johncock and Tyson Edwards kept the Richmond attack, which lost Matthew Richardson to another hamstring injury in the third quarter, under reasonable control, there was little doubt about the result.

 

[Richmondfan#1]

You know what's annoying me?

That CJH's and oh_my_hat's avatars are the same , I'll make one of ya a different one if you please, but someone change it .

 

[damnfine]

Originally posted by oh_my_hat

A good article in todays Age about our strange decision to trade our 1st rnd pick last year for Stafford. Trent Knobel is mentioned here and I was really hoping that we would have a look at him rather than an injury prone 27(?) year old player like Stafford who, to be fair, can be a good player on his day.

I guess we have made the same mistake many teams have made over the years , finish top 4 and think we only need a couple of good senior players to win a flag. Still its hard to understand after losing two finals by about 140 points and having 7 or 8 players 28 or over why they thought stafford and hudson would make much of a dent..

I just hope we have learnt our lesson..

 

[CJH]

O'Reilly's argument loses a bit of steam when you consider that we did pick up a player in the draft that:

• Has explosive pace
• Is excellent 'inside'
• Holds part of the answer to our midfield woes
• Is widely regarded as being an excellent draft choice.
  

I guess we will never know the real reason why we had to get Stafford but I get the feeling that it was more important for the club to get rid of Daffy than it was getting Stafford.

 

[mellowyellow]

originally posted by CJH

The root cause of all this is an inexplicable drop in confidence! Last year it was dismissed as a post-Essendon hangover. This year we bounced back and played well against Melbourne but since then have been atrocious.

The term 'confidence' that all teams use is the result of tangible qualities.It implies certainty not brashness,faith in you're own abilities and trusting in others .It also breeds assurance, which negates doubt and uncertainty, etc, etc, etc . Sadly this seems to be a team of individuals(and a team collectively) lacking many of these elements at the moment. THE GRASSHOPPER IS NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[oh_my_hat]

Originally posted by Richmondfan#1
You know what's annoying me?

That CJH's and oh_my_hat's avatars are the same , I'll make one of ya a different one if you please, but someone change it .

I know I pinched CJH's avatar. I started doing the same thing by shrinking the emblem down to 50x50 (which is too small most sites have 100x100 pixels) and I noticed CJH had already done it. I will change it back to my original or my Dallas Cowboy one if it helps.

 

[CJH]

Originally posted by oh_my_hat
I know I pinched CJH's avatar. I started doing the same thing by shrinking the emblem down to 50x50 (which is too small most sites have 100x100 pixels) and I noticed CJH had already done it. I will change it back to my original or my Dallas Cowboy one if it helps.

I'm not fussed either way!

 

[Dean3]

Stafford

Heard Trevor Poole on Club Corner last night. He said Stafford may be ahead of schedule and is a chance to play in Round 8, if not then definitely Round 9. On the downside he said that Hilton was still in a sling and was "a long way off."
Alan Richardson was also on and said that D Kellaway, Rogers and Krakoeur were all very good for Coburg and may win senior spots this week. Also suggested De Pasquale was not far away from senior selection.

 

[CJH]

That would mean that De Pasquale would have to be promoted from the rookie list!

 

[roowatch]

Apologies for sticking my nose in here, but in relation to Daffy/Stafford, I think it was very much a salary cap issue.
Once Holland signed, salary cap was an issue. The powers that be decided that Stafford could partly cover Gale, and that the first round pick that went north with Daffy was the price to pay for relief in the cap.

BTW, congrats on getting Rodan. Many Clubs deliberately ignored him because he was "too small". Bollocks! The guy was in the best at every level U.18, Vic, Aust. I hope he develops into a sensation and the list of ignorant drafters can be published next to his name evry year!

 

[Dean3]

Maybe Hilton is worse than expected - come to think of it Alan Richardson did say something about moving someone on to the long term injury list - perhaps for De Pasquale.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Well the club's got a few to pick from, Holland, Dragicevic et al..