Strategy Positive Direction

[Dominance]

I feel that we have all been criticising (including myself). Time for some positive spin.

Riewoldt - showed he still has it in the 2nd half
Cotchin - absolute gun
Thomas - doing what he was recruited to do
The season still has a long way to go.

The players and coaches need to sit in a room and be honest with themselves, write down 3 things each and everyone of them are doing right, doing wrong, and what they need to maintain. Then improve or face consequences.

Hardwicks is at the cross roads similar to bomber Thomson of 2007. Drop Newman, Astbury, king, Edwards, grigg, vickery, Stephenson, Petterd. Replace them with someone young and hungry. Give them hope, back them in for a few weeks and make the others hungry again. Brutally self asses yourself, all the staff, and they players. Good teams don't give these guys a game.

One thing you are doing wrong is playing a 3 tall set up when the game has become more endurance based with the interchange cap. Do you all have the courage to do this? Probably not.

 

[tigs2010]

Thomas keeps selling players into trouble because he can't kick. He's doing an excellent job winning the ball though.

Add Gordon as well. Great first up effort as the sub. Uses the ball well, he's super strong overhead which we haven't really seen yet and can kick a goal. We need more goalkicking mids like this. He actually wanted the ball in his hands when the game was on the line. Need more of them.

Jack and Cotch were both good.

Stephenson I thought as a 3rd string ruckman did his job. You don't want him playing much but I thought he was the least of our problems.

 

[jko'neal]

Thomas is doing what he was recruited to do, but in all honesty if he's getting 20+ touches we are in trouble. Should be used Crowley style only.

 

[Neen]

Add Griffiths to the positives for this year to date.

Thomas' was not recruited for his kicking ability, but his kick to dusty in the dying seconds last week under immense pressure was perfect. He would be almost leading our B&F with Cotch at this stage.

 

[aislegi]

Hardwick is at the cross roads similar to bomber Thomson of 2007

I can see where you're coming from with this, but Geelong of 2005 was pretty damn good. They were beaten by a kick in the second week of the finals by the eventual premiers. Then, after missing the finals in 2006, they picked up Joel Selwood. To borrow a Keatingism, that's what you call getting hit in the arse with a rainbow. I could see Cotchin playing Ablett. Deledio playing Bartel. Martin playing Chapman. Riewoldt playing Mooney. But after that I start to struggle.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Griffiths is the one constant bright light so far for me this season.

Thomas has been admirable sure, love the way he plays, but he's not crucial to where we want to go.

Vickery needs to remodel his game, get plugger down to help him lead and use his mongrel effectively and NOT LIKE A ****ING *******

 

[Bojangles17]

Tbh the greatest positive was jr8 return to form, prob best game from him in some time , albeit first half was shameful

 

[docko911]

I think the only positive will be if Hardwick wakes up and realises that the period in the second half where we stopped ****ing around with his stupid gameplan and took the game on and kicked to Jack and I saw Dusty in the middle (but we need him in there 50%+) we actually looked like a half decent football team. If he decides during the week that his revelations are more like poo then we may have a chance to redeem ourselves.

The real question is why did we play against the Bulldogs midfield like they were the team that had just played finals and we had finished 15th. We treated the Bulldogs like they were better than us by trying to tag almost every midfielder on the ground. In my opinion the likes of Ellis and Conca should be us in an attacking role not a tagging role because they are high draft picks with certain skills. But not playing Dusty in the middle is a kick in the guts for every Richmond supporter.

 

[TheProwler]

I think the only positive will be if Hardwick wakes up and realises that the period in the second half where we stopped ******* around with his stupid gameplan and took the game on and kicked to Jack and I saw Dusty in the middle (but we need him in there 50%+) we actually looked like a half decent football team. If he decides during the week that his revelations are more like poo then we may have a chance to redeem ourselves.

The real question is why did we play against the Bulldogs midfield like they were the team that had just played finals and we had finished 15th. We treated the Bulldogs like they were better than us by trying to tag almost every midfielder on the ground. In my opinion the likes of Ellis and Conca should be us in an attacking role not a tagging role because they are high draft picks with certain skills. But not playing Dusty in the middle is a kick in the guts for every Richmond supporter.

Good point but is he too stubborn to adapt or smart enough to identify a fault and fix it? Can't see the point of playing three tall forwards only to play indirect over possession footy.

We look dangerous and hardest to play against when we take the game on. We have done that for six quarters so far and looked world beaters. Unfortunately the other six quarters have been worse.

 

[thecotch]

Vickery in the ruck full time. Get him working his friggen arse off for a change. Griff as permanent CHF.

 

[tunksy]

whats been good about griff is not that he has dominated, but the fact that hes played consistently every game

 

[RunningBounce]

whats been good about griff is not that he has dominated, but the fact that hes played consistently every game

It's the most boring thing, consistency, but that is what we have not had this season.

I don't care which 22 we trot out this week, or where the coaches tell them to stand. What I want to see is each one of those 22 blokes competing to the same level in every quarter.

Time to do the simple things well. Like showing up for 4 quarters. We can worry about structures, lists and team selection

 

[Mellow]

I know the team should be switched on at the start of the game, but I do have sympathy for them. Sitting in the rafters on level 3 the atmosphere was dead and on a positive side I did get a good 20 minute power nap in during the 1st 1/4.
Big crowd this Friday will spur them on.

 

[NZ_Tiger]

Our list in decent shape. We've got a fair bit of talent coming through that could add valuable trade bait, if we need it. Come the end of the season we could put Vickery, Edwards, Batchelor, Griffiths, Houli, Conca up for trade and hope to get something in the way of solid draft picks or player swaps (obvioulsy to varying degrees, but all have had solid patches of football or are being played out of position).

 

[Dr Tigris]

To this little black duck the thing I've noticed this year is the inconsistency during each game. Some good, some crap. When we play well we have destroyed our opponents this year. Then we just switch off totally. Although this is obviously a coaching issue the can must be carried by the players. People are critising players and saying dump Vickery (8 goals in 3 games), Astbury sucks (but was very good against Carlton) etc etc. Right now our problem is across the team. Even people saying Cotch has been our best in all 3 games are talking crap. He was good for a half in round 2, then dissappeared.

This is about the professionalism, attitude and focus of the players. They just have to be on top of their game, and stay there. We could easily be 3-0, or 0-3. That's not good.

I'm unhappy and expect a poor year right now. But if we'd won against the dogs would I really be right to feel better? No, because we are playing inconsistent rubbish football. If we click we are finals bound -e asily. But the team is all over the place - for reasons I don't get. But if hardwick gets very angry and fires the buggers up then that's all good. He needs to make them realise that they have to be on every week, every quarter, every tiem they are on the field.

 

[tigertaskforce]

Our list in decent shape. We've got a fair bit of talent coming through that could add valuable trade bait, if we need it. Come the end of the season we could put Vickery, Edwards, Batchelor, Griffiths, Houli, Conca up for trade and hope to get something in the way of solid draft picks or player swaps (obvioulsy to varying degrees, but all have had solid patches of football or are being played out of position).

if Griffiths continues as hes going will not be trade bait that's for sure Edwards yep batch yep conca no houli needs to improve a bit but still best 22 so good trade or keep

 

[NZ_Tiger]

if Griffiths continues as hes going will not be trade bait that's for sure Edwards yep batch yep conca no houli needs to improve a bit but still best 22 so good trade or keep

All depends on what you hope to get, a top ten pick and we'd have to think about it very seriously. Allegedly West Coast were prepared to take Fevola and 3 for Judd but Fev was in the untouchables. No guarantees in anything relating to footy.

 

[tigertaskforce]

All depends on what you hope to get, a top ten pick and we'd have to think about it very seriously. Allegedly West Coast were prepared to take Fevola and 3 for Judd but Fev was in the untouchables. No guarantees in anything relating to footy.

well ok if someones going to pay overs fair enough BUT as long as he continues to play as well as he is wont be traded barring massive overs

 

[aislegi]

we are playing inconsistent rubbish football ... hardwick ... needs to make them realise that they have to be on every week, every quarter, every [time] they are on the field.

The inconsistency was a feature of the team in the Wallace era, too. I don't know why we can't ever seem to get a coach who can get them to play good football every week. I can't help thinking that a big part of it is skill-related. Once we make a few mistakes, confidence is lost and nobody knows what to do.

 

[dorianyates]

Fwd line not that bad. Jack, griff and vickery a good base to build from. Vickery must be persisted with, he has talent and we wpuld get unders if we traded him. Add to this dusty resting its actually good. Fa bring in 1 big, strong quality mid and use 1st pick on a fast o/s mid and keep developing grimes, astbury and hopefully elton as kpd. Tigers list could be very good next year

 

[RogerDean]

There's always a problem with emerging teams, such as ours...they suffer from defeats against lower ranked teams but also pull off convincing wins against more highly rated oppositions. When they gain consistency, all the flair and excitement fades away, so I'm not really worried- just yet. The next month will tell us all we need to know.