The also-rans (AFL.com)

[Capitano_Cotch]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/109709/default.aspx

Whilst i respect Leigh Matthews highly as a player and coach, the last line of this article really annoys me.
Last year we played some great footy and were competitive towards the end of the season. Not only that, but we also got valuable game-time into some young players.
Why can't we improve?

 

[docko911]

I read that earlier today and thought "why didn't you mention Brisbane ********?".

....We can and will improve.

 

[Capitano_Cotch]

hope you're right mate.
he's just so cold in that last line, it really angers me.
i understand that 11 wins is pushing it, but we should improve to some extent.
i certainly hope so anyway...

 

[TheProwler]

The bloke took the Lions to three straight flags, I think he has earned the right to make such a statement.

He didn't say we wouldn't improve but that he saw no logical reason for significant improvement and 11 wins which would put us in with a chance of playing finals is beyond us.

We did finish 15th last year and are still in a major rebuild of the list, we have a list of kids and inexperience. We only have 4 players that have 100+ games under their belts and most of our list would struggle to get a game for a top four side last year.

Most rational posters on here would agree we have a long way to go and 2011 will just be another small step for us in our journey back to where we belong.

 

[docko911]

The bloke took the Lions to three straight flags, I think he has earned the right to make such a statement.

He didn't say we wouldn't improve but that he saw no logical reason for significant improvement and 11 wins which would put us in with a chance of playing finals is beyond us.

We did finish 15th last year and are still in a major rebuild of the list, we have a list of kids and inexperience. We only have 4 players that have 100+ games under their belts and most of our list would struggle to get a game for a top four side last year.

Most rational posters on here would agree we have a long way to go and 2011 will just be another small step for us in our journey back to where we belong.

But in his same rational he failed to say Brisbane couldn't make it.....

Taking the Lions to 3 straight flags wasn't like taking us to 3 straight flags. It was like taking us and West Coast and winning 3 straight flags a couple of years later. Imagine adding the likes of priddis, masten, kerr, Cox, NicNat Lecras, Glass etc. to our senior side. It was quite funny how much they struggled once all those players started to retire.

 

[santa claws]

sheesh why do we get so upset with the truth. pathetic soft and truly deluded.

we can can improve a lot but likely it wont be reflected in wins. improve in important areas get 250 games into more kids and you might find next yr mathews assesment wont be so harsh but realistic none the less.

 

[turtle27]

You blokes need to read it again. He said "there is no logical reason to think that Richmond can make significant improvement, and that target of 11 wins for a finals berth looks well beyond the Tigers". Spot on.

I think we'll improve in certain areas, but not significantly enough to get 11 wins and make finals.

 

[NQTIGER]

Brisbane are a lock for the top 8

 

[Roachy8]

This is the only bit that really annoyed me in the piece...

For Richmond to push up out of the bottom four this year Trent Cotchin, pick two in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft and now going into his fourth year, needs to find another gear. He's shown glimpses but must develop the hard running to get involved in the play more often.

It has been well documented that Cotch has had injury issues in every pre-season and therefore has not been fully fit so far.
Perhaps I'm being too sensitive and maybe Leigh was alluding to his injury issues but he could have at least said it!

 

[The Goon]

You blokes need to read it again. He said "there is no logical reason to think that Richmond can make significant improvement, and that target of 11 wins for a finals berth looks well beyond the Tigers". Spot on.

I think we'll improve in certain areas, but not significantly enough to get 11 wins and make finals.

Could be semantic here but I read it as two seperate but connected statements.
I disagree strongly that we can't make significant improvements.
I agree strongly we wont make the 8.

So it's the first statement and phrasing that I have issue with. If he had said:
... "there is no logical reason to think that Richmond can make a significant enough improvement to achieve 11 wins and a finals berth"
I wouldn't have a problem with it.

For what it's worth though, I think this is what he actually meant.

 

[turtle27]

Could be semantic here but I read it as two seperate but connected statements.
I disagree strongly that we can't make significant improvements.
I agree strongly we wont make the 8.

So it's the first statement and phrasing that I have issue with. If he had said:
... "there is no logical reason to think that Richmond can make a significant enough improvement to achieve 11 wins and a finals berth"
I wouldn't have a problem with it.

For what it's worth though, I think this is what he actually meant.

I read it as the later NR, but can see how you could interpret them as separate statements.

 

[captain blood 17]

I had no problems with what Matthews said.

 

[Dr Tigris]

Looking at the amount of analysis he put into the three clubs its obvious (to me) that he actually had to think about whether we would be an improver or not. He seems to see that we do have the possibility to improve, but expects us to struggle to be competitive week in week out. I would say that is spot on.

 

[TJTIGER]

I have no problem with Leigh's conclusions. The ball is firmly in RFC's hands and they now do ............ Guess we'll get a look starting tomorrow & onward.