Our backline is stuffed.

[itsintheblood]

A lot of great signs to come out of friday nites game but our backline is obviously our biggest problem this year. Gaspar is a shadow of his former self and there really isnt another key position player who looks like being able to step up and take on the big forwards.

Its a real worry.

 

[P1mP_Ju1c3]

I rekon our back line was good, if the umpires wouldnt of given them 3 goals then we wouldve won, dont blame the backline, gasper isnt back to his old self, he showed some on friday night.

 

[Croat tiger]

A lot of great signs to come out of friday nites game but our backline is obviously our biggest problem this year. Gaspar is a shadow of his former self and there really isnt another key position player who looks like being able to step up and take on the big forwards.

Its a real worry.

if gaspar plays the way he did last year he'll be shown the door i have no doubt about that.the backline is a definate worry
i can see a lot big scores kicked against this year,we recruited poorly in this department.

 

[Weaver]

Only conceeded 9 goals to the combination of Rocca, Tarrant, C.Cloke, Walker and Fraser. That is not too bad. You are never going to keep that group under 6-7.

In the end we only kicked 14 goals. You kick 14 goals and you only a 50/50 chance to win a match.

 

[Colonel]

in this years draft we really to draft some big young kpp blokes, because for us to be a genuine premiership threat in a few years we need some real good big guys! Hopefully we can manage to snare a riewoldt type and a young justin leppitsch for chb

 

[Bentleigh]

Only conceeded 9 goals to the combination of Rocca, Tarrant, C.Cloke, Walker and Fraser. That is not too bad. You are never going to keep that group under 6-7.

In the end we only kicked 14 goals. You kick 14 goals and you only a 50/50 chance to win a match.

They could have kicked half a dozen more goals.

18 behinds for the game I think.

in this years draft we really to draft some big young kpp blokes, because for us to be a genuine premiership threat in a few years we need some real good big guys! Hopefully we can manage to snare a riewoldt type and a young justin leppitsch for chb

Hope your right mate.

We only have Limbach & McGuane at 190cm odd, Thursfield which is only a backline option and a rookie at that, Archibald who is 19 and doesnt look near AFL ready, Pattison & Schulz.

 

[Weaver]

in this years draft we really to draft some big young kpp blokes, because for us to be a genuine premiership threat in a few years we need some real good big guys! Hopefully we can manage to snare a riewoldt type and a young justin leppitsch for chb

The Richmond brainstrust know they will be on the bottom again this year and will have an early pick (maybe another concession).

With this in mind they passed on the key position players at the last draft because they were only ho-hum. Roughead and Franklin will be no better than Andy Kellaway or Shane Wakelin.

They have taken a 2-year approach. There are 3 kids in next year's draft (Drum, Clark and Dowler) who are all genuine key position gems. If they were in last year's draft they would have gone at picks 2,3 and 4 (after Deledio and before the rest).

If it pays off it will rank as absolute genius.

You reckon finishing last paid dividends in 04, then you ain't seen nothin' yet.

 

[Colonel]

geez weaver mate u have made me very excited there is movement in my pants! can you provide us with some more information on these 3 big blokes such as playing style etc? it would be very much appreciated.
This would be absolutely tremendous if we can get a hold of at least 1 of these blokes because it is definately what we need!
in saying that though i don't mean i want us to come near the bottom far from it, but there is a good chance we will and therefore have the opportunity to grab 1 of these guys!

 

[Bentleigh]

geez weaver mate u have made me very excited there is movement in my pants! can you provide us with some more information on these 3 big blokes such as playing style etc? it would be very much appreciated.
This would be absolutely tremendous if we can get a hold of at least 1 of these blokes because it is definately what we need!
in saying that though i don't mean i want us to come near the bottom far from it, but there is a good chance we will and therefore have the opportunity to grab 1 of these guys!

Great post wasnt it

Ive also heard the whispers next years KPP crop will be very exciting.
To be honest I havent heard of Drum or Clark but from all accounts Dowler is sposed to be a out and out gun.
Is he playing for Oakleigh?

You dont want us comming near the bottem, of course but realsiticly we are a bottem 4 side.

Marcus Drum sounds mint.

 

[Weaver]

Marcus Drum is a genuine CHB who has been in the Vic Country squad for the last 2 years and will be back for his 3rd year. He could have asked to be included in the draft but chose not too. Tall, strong, athletic, mobile, skilled. He is probably the best player, but being a defender won't be as sort-after as the other two.

Mitchell Clark is a true CHF who missed the under-18 championships with injury. Huge reputation coming out of WA where he wins all the medals. Clark has genuine size at 198cm and could be a ruckman-forward by draft day. The WA clubs allready want to sell the farm to get it him.

Dowler is a FF. Good on the lead, can take a pack mark, great below his knees and one of the best set-shots you will ever see.

IF we have a bad year and get picks 1 and 4 again we can probably hope to take Clark/Dowler at 1 and still get Drum at 4.

 

[jezza]

The Richmond brainstrust know they will be on the bottom again this year and will have an early pick (maybe another concession).

With this in mind they passed on the key position players at the last draft because they were only ho-hum. Roughead and Franklin will be no better than Andy Kellaway or Shane Wakelin.

They have taken a 2-year approach. There are 3 kids in next year's draft (Drum, Clark and Dowler) who are all genuine key position gems. If they were in last year's draft they would have gone at picks 2,3 and 4 (after Deledio and before the rest).

If it pays off it will rank as absolute genius.

You reckon finishing last paid dividends in 04, then you ain't seen nothin' yet.

I agree Weaver, we don't have enough senior players so a lot of kids are going to get a lot of games, we're not going to win a lot of matches that way. There are plenty of blokes playing for their career so no doubt we'll have another half-dozen kids coming in the next draft.

We have a large number of senior guys who are coming off very poor years and if they don't improve significantly this year, I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure to retire (Campbell, Stafford, Graham, Kellaway). There is another large group who will be traded if they don't improve (Chaffey, Tivendale, Pettifer, Hall) and others who will simply be delisted (Morrison, Hilton). Basically we won't have a problem finding room in the list for another crop of kids.

IMO a team rebuilding needs a minimum of 3 strong crops of kids through the draft to really start moving forward. We now have 2 with the 2003 and 2004 drafts (2003 draftees are less likely to be stars, but we will end up with a good group of team players out of it)

I also agree with the comments regarding KPPs in the previous draft, with the best picks in the land we simply had to pick the best available. We can then use the next draft to target specific positions.

In the end, it's very unlikely that we won't finish in the bottom few, we need to be patient and understand it takes years to get back up, not just one draft.

 

[cairo tiger]

hello it was always goin gto be a problem. Gasper is gone at the end of the year.

 

[Big Punt]

Whilst another couple of top 4 draft picks would be great.

Not sure if i can take another year of less than 5 wins.

 

[Colonel]

Thanks a lot for the info weaver mate, tremendous as always!

if we could snare Clarke and Drum we could be well on the way to premiership glory. But as Big Punt says another year of less than five wins is something i would find very very difficult to stomach and pray that it does not eventuate.

 

[cairo tiger]

weaver you are well informed but to say we stand a good chance of getting these blokes smacks on us not playing with total loyalty to winning, this is not the wallace approach mate. We go out to win, we play to that formula and then we see what happens....we dont play to get draft picks!

 

[lucas_hsv]

not playing with total loyalty to winning, this is not the wallace approach mate.

Not just that, but this should never be the way of Richmond.

 

[jezza]

I have no doubt the team will be going out to win every single match, but that doesn't make up for a general lack of talent compared to other sides, especially when we are forced to play so many 18 year olds.

 

[Punt_Road_Roar]

weaver you are well informed but to say we stand a good chance of getting these blokes smacks on us not playing with total loyalty to winning, this is not the wallace approach mate. We go out to win, we play to that formula and then we see what happens....we dont play to get draft picks!

NEWSFLASH Cairo

our team isnt that good!!

we will still be trying all year and finish bottom 4, let the kids develop FFS

our kids are good but are not good enough yet to bring home the points every week.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Im sure TW will have the boys fired up each week and expects them to win.However it will take time for the kids to mature and as shown in the last qtr friday night a few of the more senior players went back to their old habits when the pressure was applied.
TW was signed up for 5 yrs for a very good reason.It takes time.

cheers!

 

[Darth_Tiger]

i am not expecting to win lots of games this year and to be honest i dont really care that much, of course i would love the team to win, i hate losing, but this year is more about development i think than winning lots of games. play the kids and get 50 games into them as quickly as possible.

 

[tigermania]

To all those who want Richmond to lose........******** OFF.

 

[Tambo]

To all those who want Richmond to lose........******** OFF.

i dont think they want us to loose, just dont hold high hopes,

also schults is out for 3 months, ill find the article.

 

[Tambo]

RICHMOND key defender Jay Schulz will have surgery today on a broken ankle that could sideline him for the next three months.

After consulting a specialist today, surgery will likely pin the right ankle that Schulz hurt in Richmond's seven-point Wizard Cup loss to Collingwood on Friday night at Telstra Dome.

"He's fractured the bone inside the right ankle," Richmond football manager Paul Armstrong said yesterday. "He's a bit stiff. It's just one of those unfortunate ones."

Moved to defence for this season, 19-year-old Schulz will wear a surgical boot for the first six weeks of his recovery.

It is expected he will need another six weeks of rehabilitation before being able to play again. Schulz was one of the most unlucky players when it came to injuries during the opening weekend of the Wizard Cup, given most clubs did not report any significant problems.

Joining Schulz on the sidelines was West Coast big man Dean Cox, who suffered a fractured cheekbone in the Eagles' seven-point win against Fremantle in the pre-season derby at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.

Cox is expected to miss the next four weeks.

One of the luckier players was Fremantle goalsneak Paul Medhurst, who landed awkwardly on his neck during the game against the Eagles. But the mercurial forward, who kicked one goal, complained of nothing more than a sore neck.

"He's been cleared by the medical staff," Dockers media manager Mark White said yesterday.

"He's expected to play on the weekend."

Hawthorn's Josh Thurgood and the Kangaroos' Michael Firrito both were reported to have suffered concussion

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,12319385%255E20322,00.html

 

[jezza]

To all those who want Richmond to lose........******** OFF.

Nobody wants to see us lose, but we have to be realistic about what we can achieve with the players we have and the short amount of time Wallace has had to work with them.

 

[cairo tiger]

Newsflash PRR. I know we aint that good but we have kids playing and Wallace will be insisting we have a game plan and approach to win every game we play. We dont play to get draft picks. thats all i am saying. I am looking fwd to seeing the kids develop and we all must give them time.