Our Development Into A Contender

[SleepingGiant]

It has come as a suprise but we are going to be better than most people think. I was expecting us to win only 2 games this year, and about 4 next year. I thought that we were the worst list in the competition, how wrong was I.

The simple fact of the matter is we are much better than what we were in the 1st half of the season due to the fact we embraced a new gameplan. This involved totally simplifying the way we play and forcing our players to do the 1%'s and little things we have not seen in a while. It was taking a step backwards to go forwards. Only now are we starting to see how good we can be in the future. It's as if we have put on the handbrake and are now removing it as our players learn and master the gameplan.

What makes me most happy right now is that we are better now than teams like Brisbane, West Coast, Port, and Adelaide yet we are sitting 16th on the ladder in line to recieve pick 4. We are winning games now yet we still remain last.

Personally i'm looking for the balance between developing youth and tanking. This involves being able to win a few games yet still finish say 15th and get pick 6, we get the best of both worlds.

 

[Mario Speedwagon]

Yes we are better than most people thought, but most people thought we were as bad as,if not worse, than Fitzroy's last side...things are definitely on the up..but we are still a long way away...thankfully I believe the coaching staff, football & recruiting department realises this and will continue to act accordingly...

 

[mcuzzy]

i just love thinking back to over a month ago when people were at the TAB putting hundreds on us having a winless season

 

[coke_zero]

We are only going to get better at the end of the season with players like Post, Foley and Webberley comming back in.

 

[SleepingGiant]

We are only going to get better at the end of the season with players like Post, Foley and Webberley comming back in.

While on the surface it appears players like Morton and Post have gone backwards, this is not the case. They are going forward. The only reason they are in the reserves is because they need to work on deficiencies in their games. Once these are solved we will have a couple gems in our hands.

 

[tugga]

i just love thinking back to over a month ago when people were at the TAB putting hundreds on us having a winless season

Some betting agencies have already paid out to the punters who backed us for the spoon.

 

[santa claws]

i havent seen this game as yet so cant comment on player performances.

imo i think we have one of the worst lists in the comp. thats not to say we dont have promising players coming thru we do and we may even have more than i think. but these kids need to develop. this takes time.

now i dont want this to become a bag fest of the team or a criticism after a win. bloody good on em a few wins wont hurt em.

but we have been here every yr for the past 5 yrs.
a couple of wins and all must be well at the club and with the list.

the reality is we won a game against a side that was injury riddled has won just five games and lost their last 7 or 8 games in a row.

we beat wce quite convincingly in a game where most actually would have picked us to win. how many have the coasters won since 07 15 of what 70 odd games.

the other win against port where are they how many in a row have they lost 8 or so. good sides dont lose that many games in a row.

like i said im not having a go at em all you can do is go out and win against what the opposition put up. but to see threads like this where we are a contender well its plain ridiculous.

i can understand the optimism this time around. unlike previous yrs we have had a couple of wins primarily on the back of some promising kids. but sheesh perspective is something that is totally lacking with our supporters.

by all means enjoy the wins when they come, god knows they have been far and few between. but lets not lose sight of the amount of work that still has to be done we are nowhere near being a contender.

in fact we are a bottom 4 side who has taken some baby steps in the right direction.
rather than sitting back on what we have done thus far we need to build and significantly improve on many of the players on the list.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Most people either didn't really know our list or they were just typically negative Richmond supporters I was laughed at when i said we are close to putting it together about 2 months ago and wins were not far off. You don't need a brain to see we had a very good young side in the making. We would have had another win or 2 if Astbury and Griffiths were ready Round 1. We were always going to struggle with only Reiwoldt as the tall forward and once Astbury and Griffiths came in we'd play better but would have to wait another month until those 2 became comfortable in the team. Same with Nason and Webberley. They needed a month before they would be competitive. Cotchin and Martin have improved every week as they get their fitness up. Foley and Cousins missed games too. Graham should have played since Round 1 too. It's all coming together now and we'll win about 8 games. Next year we should expect to win at least half our games

 

[Madtiger2006]

While on the surface it appears players like Morton and Post have gone backwards, this is not the case. They are going forward. The only reason they are in the reserves is because they need to work on deficiencies in their games. Once these are solved we will have a couple gems in our hands.

Agree. Morton and Post will come out better players next year

 

[nugget_12]

Yeh i see where your coming from Santa but you have completely ruled out the performance against Hawthorn, Essendon and St Kilda.

All 3 while we lost were up in it to our eye balls and unlucky not to snare the points out of the Hawks game.

This isn't being based purely on the wins we've had because reality shows we should've won those games and we did, its the overall performance and improvement through out the season and competitiveness (spl?) that clearly shows we're abit further along than everyone thought and that Dimma's game plan is starting to come together nicely!

 

[_RT_]

Quite simply the next 3 weeks will give everyone a real idea as to where we are at. The kids will get a week off to freshen up and the have 3 straight home games against teams that are thereabouts for the finals. Win 1-2 and it would prove what some here believe. Win 1 with a couple of real honest efforts and it will show that there is still a bit of work to do before we're real contenders. Get blown away in all 3 and the pro tankers will be proven right.

 

[TheProwler]

Well done Santa........... someone who can see beyond this millisecond of success against some very poor opposition. From the video available on the crappy AFL site I watched the first half this afternoon and must say our skills were pretty poor. In our favour was the fact that Brisbane were as poor.

To suggest we are a contender or will be in the near future is wishfull thinking that will only end in tears again when we go through our next winless period be it this year or next.

We totally lack depth except for kids who are waitng to get their run in the big time. I mean no discredit to Post, Morton, Webberley, Nahas etc but they aren't exactly bubbling with talent.

 

[Mr Magic]

Santa is partially right.

We have a great team of talent with many players that could be all australians in the future.

But we are not near being a contender yet.

Bear in mind there wouldn't be four clubs that would be contenders this year.

So we are not losers but we are not scoreboard champions either yet but we are champions in the way we go about it which is all we want.

We still need some good draft picks to take on the likes of Geelong!!

 

[Bazzar]

i havent seen this game as yet so cant comment on player performances...

...imo i think we have one of the worst lists in the comp.

Reading this makes me wonder if you have seen any of our games at all. Especially the last 6-7 weeks. We have at least half a dozen that will go, but they havnt really been prominent in our recent form anyway. To say we have one of the worst lists in the comp is a joke.

 

[Spluff]

Reading this makes me wonder if you have seen any of our games at all. Especially the last 6-7 weeks. We have at least half a dozen that will go, but they havnt really been prominent in our recent form anyway. To say we have one of the worst lists in the comp is a joke.

How is it a joke? I'm as optimistic as anybody, but right now we are down the bottom in terms of list quality. The only list we are clearly better than is West Coast, and you could make an argument either way about us having a better list than North, Adelaide, and Melbourne.

 

[TigerTime88]

The thing is as well as someone like Matt White is playing, he is not the answer to a premiership side of even a decent finals side. The earlier we get Morton, Taylor, Webberley ect in ahead of Whitey and King the better. Probably same goes for Gourdis aka in for THursfield.

I think we should trade Alex Rance for Beau Dolwer who may have his critics but when he had a chance to own the forward 50 without buddy and roughy he has looked very good. Rance is a limited footballer who fits in no where and should be traded while he has currency. I think Griff, Astbury and Post all look good but I would like to throw Dowler in the mix as well so that we are well and truly stocked up KPF wise. There is a reason the kid went at 5 and he would have gone lower if not for a car accident pre draft.

We also need to use the first 2 picks this year to add to midfield. We lack a Ballantye/Milne small forward who can kick 5+ in a game. We also lack outside mids and just depth generally.

Need to recruit a few project ruckman so we have 3 decent rucks and a project player on our list. Browne is currently that project player.

 

[Bazzar]

How is it a joke? I'm as optimistic as anybody, but right now we are down the bottom in terms of list quality. The only list we are clearly better than is West Coast, and you could make an argument either way about us having a better list than North, Adelaide, and Melbourne.

One of the worst list? If that’s the case another 20 should go then so we can rectify that, right? So who are they going to be

 

[T4P]

While on the surface it appears players like Morton and Post have gone backwards, this is not the case. They are going forward. The only reason they are in the reserves is because they need to work on deficiencies in their games. Once these are solved we will have a couple gems in our hands.

I'm tipping Post to burst out of the blocks and show that he is a star soon. Last year he was showing great signs that he would develop into a great player. I noticed this year that he's lost a lot of the speed that he had last year, he looked slow this year. But he has bulked up. He's bulked up to a good size for a KPP and once his body gets used to it and he regains that speed/pace, he will be a weapon.
Can't wait.

 

[Matthew2708]

I think we are far, far, far from it.

Geelong beat Brisbane Lions by 71 points at the GABBA last month.
We could only manage to beat them by 19 points.
52 point difference.
Jonathon Brown and Simon Black were out. (Fevola had one of his worst nights).

"AN ANGRY Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss has labeled his team’s 19-point loss against Richmond at the Gabba on Saturday night “unacceptable”."

"Voss spoke to his troops behind closed doors for 20 minutes after the match and did not mince words in his press conference, saying his team had lost the ferocity that marked its winning first month.

Imagine if Brisbane *had* played well.
We could only manage to beat a *embarrassing* Brisbane by 19 points. They almost beat us also near the end, to make matters worst.
If we had managed to beat Brisbane, when they played well- It would have been a lot better win. Most teams would have beaten Brisbane by more then 19 points at the GABBA. (Most likely).

 

[TOOs_Finest]

No doubt we still have quite a few changes to be made to the list. We have been pretty lucky with injuries so far this year, with Foley the only key player to have been out for an extended period. Compared say to Brisbane.

But what we do have, is a core of 10-15 which in 12-24 months time will likely be better than half the comp. After this year's drafting, I think a lot of Brisbane supporters will be cringing at what they will likely have.

It's how we recruit and develop the next 10-15 players which will determine our fate. Some of those will come from within, most will likely come from the drafts.

What we are now producing is a team culture which will naturally help breed good players.

 

[Rustof]

They did get 3-4 goals gifted to them from free kicks, so we could've ended up beating them by 40+, but I agree, we are still very far away from beating and competing with the top teams.

 

[T Dog]

Imagine if Brisbane *had* played well.
We could only manage to beat a *embarrassing* Brisbane by 19 points. They almost beat us also near the end, to make matters worst.
If we had managed to beat Brisbane, when they played well- It would have been a lot better win. Most teams would have beaten Brisbane by more then 19 points at the GABBA. (Most likely).[/quote]


The media are hardly going to describe a loss to the the 16th placed club as anything but embarrassing. Imagine this "16th placed Richmond beat an awesome, disciplined Brisbane Lions unit on their home turf - whilst they had a finals spot on the line it was a really good effort".

Doesn't quite sound right does it!

 

[Matthew2708]

The media are hardly going to describe a loss to the the 16th placed club as anything but embarrassing. Imagine this "16th placed Richmond beat an awesome, disciplined Brisbane Lions unit on their home turf - whilst they had a finals spot on the line it was a really good effort".

Doesn't quite sound right does it!

Yeah, that is true. Didn't think it about it, that way.

 

[sante]

The thing is as well as someone like Matt White is playing, he is not the answer to a premiership side of even a decent finals side. The earlier we get Morton, Taylor, Webberley ect in ahead of Whitey and King the better. Probably same goes for Gourdis aka in for THursfield.

LMAO, that is ridiculous. Especially Gourdis in for Thursfield. Where is all the love for Gourdis coming from? Why does everyone think he is a level above? Thursfield is miles better than Gourdis.

Santa claws' post was good but this thread wasn't made to say we are contenders, it was more to discuss our development to become one, well thats what I got from the title anyway.

We are obviously behind many other teams, but things change quickly, look at Freo, Adelaide and Sydney, etc. They've all had seasons no one could have predicted.

 

[mickctiger]

we shouldnt be getting a head of our selves. Hopefully we should win another 4 or so matches, if things go well for us. It does appear that we are moving in the right direction though. We are starting to developed a talanted playing list and if not next year, with studious recruitment , then the next year definately we could be a genuine contender