Tigers Must Act Now To Halt Slide

wrennyboy

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IT'S no longer a matter of if, but how. Just how will the Tigers end their five-year association with Danny Frawley. And soon.

As much as president Clinton Casey and football director Greg Miller have stood by their beleaguered coach, the time has surely come when the football performance overrides everything else, including the early-season promises made by both Casey and Miller.

In these times, someone has to be sacrificed for the good of the club.

You can't sack the players – that's the pity – and at the same time the club cannot accept last night's performance without acting.

Logically, Casey and Miller must do something.

They have to.

They are obliged to.

Anything is better than this.

If they don't, and this team continues to dish up the sort of insipid performance they produced last night, then Casey and Miller are half to blame.

So what do they do?

Frawley is a man of integrity, so it's reasonable to surmise he has asked himself – and perhaps others – whether he should continue as coach. That might make their next move easy, so to speak.

The immediate benefits of sacking Frawley can be debated; the long-term effects if they don't, however, cannot.

After five rounds, and another smacking, Casey and Miller cannot let this continue.

At the very least, they must sit down with Frawley and work out what's going to happen over the next period, be it one day, one week, or the next 16 weeks.

While it's Frawley taking the hammering – and perhaps the bullet – it's the players who also must accept responsibility.

They talk about playing for the coach. It's one of those sayings in football that nobody really knows the meaning of, but at the same time, it means so much.

With their coach under siege, their club likewise, and themselves, you'd reckon they'd run out and just about die for the yellow and black. They didn't.

Their first half last night stunk.

They trailed by 62 points at a time when, considering the circumstances, the Tigers needed to fight. It was, as Crows coach Gary Ayres mentioned a couple of weeks back, disgraceful, pathetic and embarrassing.

Their second half was better, but still a way off the mark. At least they had a go and tried to play disciplined team footy.

But back to the first half.

The Tigers lacked energy. Time and again, Crows players broke tackles and ran off opponents. They were aided, of course, by sloppy disposal from the Tigers and a collection of better players struggling to get a kick.

Richmond skipper Wayne Campbell, Joel Bowden, Kane Johnson and Mark Coughlan had a collective 21 touches in the first half, all playing in a variety of positions. The Tigers kicked just one goal to nine in a horrible second quarter.

As ugly as that was, it was nothing compared to the reception the players and Frawley received at the main break and at the end of the game.

Crazy-looking Tiger fans – young and old – leaning over the fence screaming and swearing in a Friday night frenzy is not good for anyone. Some sang, some waved Frawley goodbye, another waved a wooden spoon.

But to the big, brave lad who spat on the players as they left the ground, feel proud of yourself. About a half a million people watching on Channel 9 now think you're a disgrace.

All in all, it was the worst possible result for the Tigers and for Frawley and we'll know soon enough if there will be any fallout.

And don't think we're being too over-zealous here. It's happened before. In 1997, the Crows humbled the Tigers on a Saturday night in Adelaide, and by Sunday night, coach Robert Walls was out of a job after just 1 1/2 seasons.

The next couple of days could be interesting.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,9374087%5E20322,00.html
 

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