Our Development Into A Contender

[leighroy]

Following on from Bifrost, if this is about where we are now - then it's bottom three.

If its about where we can be going then it's much better. We have the youngest and lightest squad in the league, that means two things 1) we'll get beaten up by more experienced players of equal talent, and 2) we'll get bigger and more experienced. Our squad structure (talls, mids, kicking skills etc) is much better than it has been for a long time. I doubt anyone thinks we won't cull heavily again, I hope so. But the new guys will be coming into a team that is at least competitive and getting better. From here its all about building quality through drafting and development of players and the team side. This year most seem pretty happy with the development of individuals and how the team is shaping.

Trashing the squad as being among the worst is true right now, but for potential we are doing well. Yes, every team has good youngsters, but we have more and some are among our best players already. Teams like Adelaide, Sydney and even North face a problem of age. The Frawley years left us with a huge hole in a certain age bracket, that no other team faced. The Wallace/Miller years did little to fill that hole. It's now being filled by Lids etc coming through. No other team has this structure - which shows something about how poor the squad was built from around 10 years ago. The teams full of experienced bodies will drop, but they all have youngsters to fill that hole. For them it is how they blend the young and old - currently Adeleiade looks like having done it poorly, but I would never write Adelaide off. Brisbane has tried a mature list to win one now, and they look like having gone bust. We are an experiment in building a team from scratch, which no sane list manager would try to do. Even Gold Coast looks like having more mature bodies in their first year than we have had recently. The good bit is that we will have a group coming through together. If we can get some Sydney type attitude and some Geelong type skills then we might be a contender. But we won't know for at least two years how it is really going. When we have a mature squad then we'll know. Currently this debate is about conjectures about opinions about things that are yet to happen.

well said

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

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.

...
....I think its more than just about a new you beaut game plan....
....you beaut gameplans come and you beaut gameplans go...
....otherwise teams would still be playing the doggies you beaut gameplan of a monster flood that beat the best bomber side of recent years...because it won that particular game...so it must be a you beaut gameplan!...
....or the unsociable football that won the hawks their recent flag...or...or...or...whatever....
....you beaut gameplans are not the magic be all and end all that most people think they are...

....some one once said, i cant recall who, that you could give the opposition your best gameplan before a match cos it didnt mean diddly squat cos the players still had to go out on the field to play the game...and win ...i think a lot of our ongoing development as a finals contender can be sheeted down to a massive clean out of players and coaches...even richo god bless him...it was a bold gamble and had to be done for a variety of reasons....gws and gc on the horizon...stagnant footy side...corporate sponsership...tampered draft picks...growing media ridicule...just to name a few....all of it impacting on the teams onfield performance...
...and it was a gamble that has proved successful in rescuing other clubs from stagnant mediocraty as footy sides and administrations...eg...saints...hawks...now the demons and tigers...
....combine that with youth and enthusiasim...as well as smart young coaches who have had success with other more recent winning clubs...it is as you say as if a handbrake has come off...one can sense that by their increasingly successful onfield performance and witness the exuberant celebrations by them after a win...its ferocious!...the player faces glowing with pride and voices strong in team song...its a an announcement to the world at large that the tigers as a team are developing into a finals contender of some magnitude...a deep burning hunger and desire to succeed...a take no prisoner steely determination...witness the physical wreckage of the port players...
...somehow for whatever unfathonable reason dimma has this side wanting to prove to him, themselves and the rest of the football world at large that this is seriously a bloody good footy side in the making...we are priviliged to see the revival of a sleeping giant...and in years to come i think we will be able to say with pride i saw them grow...we witnessed it...we were there!!!....
....i think...dimma on top of everything else is the final piece of this footy enigma...of winning sides and winning culture...dimmas the icing on the cake...in reviving the success of the richmond football club...dimma is the real deal...no smoke and mirrors here or rampant egos fronting the media...a humble man with a humble attitude...that actions above all else speak louder than all the pretty smart words in the footy manual and this backed by his success on the field as a player and as an assistant coach...topped by a quiet no nonsense steely approach...no bullshite...that is why dimma is the living embodiment of a winning simple you beaut game plan...

 

[Reckoner Tiger]

i agree with almost everything said here.
what i would suggest is maybe a change to your predictions in your signature, SleepingGiant?
depending on how we finish off this year, finals may not be out of the question next year...and i'm thinking we should be quite likely in 2012!
looking to mount an attack on that flag by 2014 i'd say...

 

[Barnzy]

Clearly our list is one of the weakest in the league right now. Anyone thinking otherwise on the back of a few wins against bottom 4 sides is kidding themselves. I just hope we dont start racking up wins in the last half of the season against sides that have put the cue in the rack for 2010. moving up the ladder to 13th or 14th would not help us at all. Its a crap system that has fans questioning the value of the team winning more games this early in the year.

Yep.

A lot of people getting a head of themselves it seems. Reality will soon set in when we play some better teams who aren't injury depleted.

 

[_RT_]

Yep.

A lot of people getting a head of themselves it seems. Reality will soon set in when we play some better teams who aren't injury depleted.

We will see in the next month wont we.

Be interesting to see what you come up with if we happen to win 1-2 in that time as all the teams we are playing are fighting for a spot in the finals, therefore haven't put the cue in the rack and none are really struggling with injury.