The End

[Football Tragic]

Is this the end of the Era? The full stop in a dynasty? The season when we finally have to admit that our older stars are finished and our youth not ready? Is it the year when we have to stop being stunned by loses and just accept them as part of our new reality?

Did we make a mistake trading for Taranto and Hopper and using our next two years first round picks? Do we need a new coach? Do we need a new CEO?

Is it the end?

 

[acr2751]

Is this the end of the Era? The full stop in a dynasty? The season when we finally have to admit that our older stars are finished and our youth not ready? Is it the year when we have to stop being stunned by loses and just accept them as part of our new reality?

Did we make a mistake trading for Taranto and Hopper and using our next two years first round picks? Do we need a new coach? Do we need a new CEO?

Is it the end?

probably,maybe,already done that,i am not stunned, no we didn't make a mistake, its not the next 2 years its only our first pick this year
no we have one of the best coaches in the AFL if he wants to stay keep him, i hope not but its a chance

no its not the end its the start, we are on our way to our best ever flag ( the next one )

 

[Football Tragic]

probably,maybe,already done that,i am not stunned, no we didn't make a mistake, its not the next 2 years its only our first pick this year
no we have one of the best coaches in the AFL if he wants to stay keep him, i hope not but its a chance

no its not the end its the start, we are on our way to our best ever flag ( the next one )

The next flag is always going to be the best flag....I just hope its not 30+ years away

 

[Madtiger2006]

We’re just 2/3 of the way through a rebuild. Transition time.
Time to get Dow, Nyoun, Banks, Brown, Bauer in the side

 

[DM#4]

Taranto has been our best player all season and Hopper has showed some great signs IMO. We clearly signed both of them up to have a last crack at a flag but also to help lead the younger blokes in the future.

This week including the sub, we are playing 5 guys with under 25 games experience. Soldo’s coming back from injury, Prestia has been sore and Young while injured this week, has only played a few handfuls of games in his lifetime. This year may be a right off finals wise however, the game time the younger generation are receiving this year is invaluable.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

 

[Football Tragic]

We're going through to the other side!

I love your new avatar Jak!

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

We're going through to the other side!

I love your new avatar Jak!

Thank you...I'm on fire! And no need to call the fire brigade too!

 

[biaseddustyfan]

 

[SavDog23]

the sky is falling

 

[Football Tragic]

the sky is falling

SH*&#! Is it?! Get back under that rock then.

I'm just a bit sad that it is the end. At the start of the season I was optimistic that we might be able to have another shot at it but losing Lynch has highlighted how much we rely upon so few. It had to happen after such an incredible era but it's just about getting my head around the fact that we aren't the trailblazers any longer. We aren't the team to beat. We're fallen into the mix and are once again trying to build our list on the run to try and find a way to contend in the future.

I hate the idea of having to look to the future for success. I'm greedy. I want the success to continue and the reality that it's not going to happen now, makes me sad. The end of an era.

 

[SleepingGiant]

Yes. We will win this week then get crushed by Geelong the week after.

 

[smurfin]

Reading Konrad Marshall's book, you get a sense that everything just clicked into place in 2017.
Mindfulness, Attitude, Belief, Comradery, etc, etc.
With no disrespect to Delidio, his leaving appeared to really help consolidate the leadership and teamsmanship of the group.
That's what is needed - every team has the talent to win games - its that little extra that lifts you above the other team on the day.

And that's what I feel is lacking at the moment.
I don't know that Dimma has necessarily lost the players but he doesn't seem to have that same inspiring effect on them he used to have.

Spend the rest of this year blooding the younger players, working on skills and strategies.
Then next year: reset the attitude. Cotch and Jack will be gone. Make Liam Baker

3

Liam Baker

Age

27

Ht

173cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.7

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

7.9

5star

M

3.2

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.7

3star

D

14.6

4star

K

6.8

3star

HB

7.9

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

3star

CL

0.5

3star

D

14.4

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

8.2

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

CL

1.2

4star

Captain. Short, Nank, Lynch, Vlas, Graham - or whoever Baker wants can be vice-Captains or part of the leadership team.
Promote the freshness and the new era. Get the players playing for each other again.

We have a lack of KPF at the moment - in 2017 we had only JR
Nank was just as undersized against the ruck monsters back then and he had Shaun Griggs as his back-up.
We currently have horrible disposal? Back then we had K-Mac, George, etc in the team and they weren't able to hit the side of a barn back then either.
Team make-up is not too much worse now than it was then. Dusty was huge - but not the reason we won the premiership.

 

[Dr Tigris]

We are in between. The old era is dying, slowly, and the new one is building, but not here yet.

If Lynch and Nank were in we probably would have win the last 2 games. Right now we are rebuilding the team and learning a new game plan where we have a good midfield. If it clicks then off we go. If it doesn't then we are learning and building for next year. Right now more B than A. hopefully it'll turn quickly and soon.

 

[peterbuch74]

 

[guruisatiger]

the best 12 minutes ever

 

[Delorean]

Would love to see Dow get a bit of a run. Feel like hes earnt it at VFL level? if the years a write off i'd like to see the young lads getting an opportunity while the bigger bodies are still around.

 

[Ralll]

Yep, the end is nigh imo.
'22/'23/'24 using the older players as the core was all we had left, and we seem to be screwing that up with too many inconsistent performances...whatever the reason.
I said around '21 our drafting had not been good enough to refresh the team, and the 2021 draft class again lacks the needed Dusty/Cotch/Jack/Sheds etc. replacements for the refresh to work.
I'm worried that the Hopper/Taranto inclusion will keep us middling without the needed high draft picks to rebuild.
On top of this, the club seem hellbent on a refresh.
Hopefully, if the kids don't progress into the needed replacements and the refresh fails, they can swallow their pride and change the strategy.

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Thank you...I'm on fire! And no need to call the fire brigade too!

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Thank you...I'm on fire! And no need to call the fire brigade too!

Nice Avatar Jak

 

[Football Tragic]

Yep, the end is nigh imo.
'22/'23/'24 using the older players as the core was all we had left, and we seem to be screwing that up with too many inconsistent performances...whatever the reason.
I said around '21 our drafting had not been good enough to refresh the team, and the 2021 draft class again lacks the needed Dusty/Cotch/Jack/Sheds etc. replacements for the refresh to work.
I'm worried that the Hopper/Taranto inclusion will keep us middling without the needed high draft picks to rebuild.
On top of this, the club seem hellbent on a refresh.
Hopefully, if the kids don't progress into the needed replacements and the refresh fails, they can swallow their pride and change the strategy.

I actually think we'll be better next year. I thought that throwing two inside midfielders into the team would be difficult considering they are often the genesis of all ball movement. They can win the ball - yes, but they don't know our game style and defense that has been ingrained into the rest of the squad since they were drafted. They don't have the understanding of how we get the ball to the outside of contests by hand (so they just automatically kick it long), they don't have the connection with the rest of the midfield (and our old midfield with them) and they don't know the disposal preferences of our forwards (which keeps changing too).

Foe me, I think Dimma made a mistake. I think he got excited with the trades and changed our game plan to try and taking advance of it. The problem is, is that he robbed Peter to pay Paul. He tried to keep all our midfielders in the side by resting them forward. This threw out our forwardline, broke down our turnover game and reduced our pressure.

We're still getting turnovers but they are in the wrong places on the ground. Instead of in the corridor where we can rebound at speed into our uncongested forwardline, we are turning the ball over in a crowded forwardline or around stoppages where there is now space to use the ball effectively.

For me, we need to look at what works for our squad. Two news players don't change the strengths of everyone else. We need them to use their hands more to feed the ball out to runners into space. We need them to get the ball to better users of the ball. We need them to focus on defense as much as attack through the corridor.

On top of this, we need to bring back our pressure and speed. The only way we do this is by bringing in more smaller forwards which, sadly, we seem to have gone from an over abundance to a drought. Perhaps this can be addressed at the mid-season draft?

Anyway, I feel Taranto and Hopper will get better and better as the season goes on but I feel we were too optimistic thinking that they would only make a positive impact to the side to start. I hope Dimma sees the error of his ways and teaches these boys how to play the Richmond-way rather than keep trying to use a gameplan that just doesn't suit our side.

 

[tony__montana]

In a few press conferences/articles Ive heard Dimma allude to targeting 2023 but moreso 2024 and beyond when asked about Tarranto and Hopper recruitment- they're smarter than us and probably realise you cant limp over the line to pinch another premiership, however I dont believe they expected to struggle this badly either - wouldve expected another finals run and then hope some magic happens. Just roll the dice from here on in, continue getting games into the young guys, dont even bother bringing tarrant back imho and see what happens. if we finish bottom 4 or 5 so be it, but im pretty sure we wont and will get progressively much stronger as the season goes on.

The list is nowhere near as old and tired as its being made out. Take Jack, Cotch and Tarrant out next year and it's looking pretty good demographically. But the older guys need to pull the finger out and start performing

 

[Bird Man]

It ended in 2021 when the rules where changed to stop our game style and the game changed to a high skill midfield game.

When I posted “our midfield” we needed to do a proper rebuild to change our style. The current crop of older players are so used to the old style they struggle to have an impact.

We can no longer carry c grade players that just play a role like apply forward pressure.

The only one that has adapted well has been Dan Rioli

 

[Ralll]

I actually think we'll be better next year. I thought that throwing two inside midfielders into the team would be difficult considering they are often the genesis of all ball movement. They can win the ball - yes, but they don't know our game style and defense that has been ingrained into the rest of the squad since they were drafted. They don't have the understanding of how we get the ball to the outside of contests by hand (so they just automatically kick it long), they don't have the connection with the rest of the midfield (and our old midfield with them) and they don't know the disposal preferences of our forwards (which keeps changing too).

Foe me, I think Dimma made a mistake. I think he got excited with the trades and changed our game plan to try and taking advance of it. The problem is, is that he robbed Peter to pay Paul. He tried to keep all our midfielders in the side by resting them forward. This threw out our forwardline, broke down our turnover game and reduced our pressure.

We're still getting turnovers but they are in the wrong places on the ground. Instead of in the corridor where we can rebound at speed into our uncongested forwardline, we are turning the ball over in a crowded forwardline or around stoppages where there is now space to use the ball effectively.

For me, we need to look at what works for our squad. Two news players don't change the strengths of everyone else. We need them to use their hands more to feed the ball out to runners into space. We need them to get the ball to better users of the ball. We need them to focus on defense as much as attack through the corridor.

On top of this, we need to bring back our pressure and speed. The only way we do this is by bringing in more smaller forwards which, sadly, we seem to have gone from an over abundance to a drought. Perhaps this can be addressed at the mid-season draft?

Anyway, I feel Taranto and Hopper will get better and better as the season goes on but I feel we were too optimistic thinking that they would only make a positive impact to the side to start. I hope Dimma sees the error of his ways and teaches these boys how to play the Richmond-way rather than keep trying to use a gameplan that just doesn't suit our side.

I don't mind the idea of a smaller and quicker forward line to lead the pressure effort, the extra speed could also help with spread and ball movement. It worked well to offset our lack of kicking skills throughout the premiership years, but we simply don't have those players anymore.
Last season we didn't play many small forwards together but still managed top 4 in intercept differentials, so it can be done. This season we're not top 4 for the first time since '16. In fact we're 3rd bottom which is a massive drop.

I think we were expecting Hoperanto to propel our clearance to match winning levels and lead the change in game plan that doesn't rely so heavily on intercept/turnovers. The problem is Hopper and co. are not winning enough clearance, and with Prestia playing injured we're the same low output as usual, with only Taranto having a career best season.

 

[Timothy Luncheon]

I don't mind the idea of a smaller and quicker forward line to lead the pressure effort, the extra speed could also help with spread and ball movement. It worked well to offset our lack of kicking skills throughout the premiership years, but we simply don't have those players anymore.
Last season we didn't play many small forwards together but still managed top 4 in intercept differentials, so it can be done. This season we're not top 4 for the first time since '16. In fact we're 3rd bottom which is a massive drop.

I think we were expecting Hoperanto to propel our clearance to match winning levels and lead the change in game plan that doesn't rely so heavily on intercept/turnovers. The problem is Hopper and co. are not winning enough clearance, and with Prestia playing injured we're the same low output as usual, with only Taranto having a career best season.

Feel like just sticking with what we did last year while adding those two to help win clearances would’ve worked, don’t know why we changed it