TOOTHLESS TIGERS

[RUNVS]

Next week is going to be difficult. GWS away with no Rance, Grimes or Riewoldt. Outside of Astbury and Lynch there will either be outsized or inexperienced KPPs.

I looked at Richmond's next few games and it is not an easy draw

Round 3 (AWAY) - GWS
Round 4 (AWAY) - Port Adelaide
Round 5 (HOME) - Sydney
Round 6 (HOME) - Melbourne

Sydney might be the outlier there but GWS, Port and Melbourne are not easy beats. All of them could in theory beat Richmond.

 

[Priddis Is Done]

Dustin Martin. Cooked? No more gas left?

 

[gavaniacono]

Not as painful as 35 years of being s**t.

My team might fall in a giant hole this season and that will suck, but I've seen us win 4 flags. Fans of the Dees and Saints haven't. Even the Dockers have been going for 25 years now and won nada. Good with the bad and all that.

If expectations are low then no drama. But when they are high....

 

[Scotland]

It is one of the few times that there's a legit argument about Vic media bias.

People mistake bias for ineptitude. Certain figures in the footy media hate my WA team (hai Garry), most just don't come to Perth to watch us play enough to have anything of value to contribute. On The Couch is classic.

Brown: "Orrrr yeahhh I reckon they'll struggle to win on the MCG".
Healy: "They won at the MCG last week".
Lyon: "Well they won't win at the MCG against a good side".
*WC beats Collingwood at the MCG*
Lyon: "Well they won't win finals at the MCG".
*WC beats Collingwood at the MCG in the GF*
Lyon: "grumble grumble umpires something"
Healy: "What about these 5 free kicks they missed to WC?"
Roos: "Goodesy! Joey Kennedy! Big Mummy!"

But yes LOL @ the Vic media hype train of 2018. Richmond were never going to lose again, Melbourne were the fairytale, Hawthorn made Bruce go full Bruce ('could they? they couldn't? could they?') and nek minit it was WC vs Collingwood again and the Pies were totally the flavour of the month the whole time. Richmond were completely steamrolled when we played them in Perth. How/why so many people just ignored that I didn't understand.

 

[Priddis Is Done]

thats what i was saying to everyone who would listen before the season. we've had 2 years at the top (finishing 3rd and 1st) which is all most teams manage, and pinched a flag out of it. we arent a geelong/hawks/sydney of the last decade where they raffled the flag between them, we are with the freo/saints/pies of that era. we've had our 2 years of fun and now we are irrelevant again.

Yeah look as a passionate supporter, as we all are... are Eagles on the way down this year? Maybe, who knows. Hindsight in months to come will tell us.

And if that is the case, 2 years at the top in a 4 year span with a couple of passionless seasons in between. 4 years up there is significant, for only one flag.

Is that underachieving? Yes probably. But if Collingwood won one last year, one would say that the Eagles were never good enough so didn't underachive at all.

 

[RUNVS]

People mistake bias for ineptitude. Certain figures in the footy media hate my WA team (hai Garry), most just don't come to Perth to watch us play enough to have anything of value to contribute. On The Couch is classic.

Brown: "Orrrr yeahhh I reckon they'll struggle to win on the MCG".
Healy: "They won at the MCG last week".
Lyon: "Well they won't win at the MCG against a good side".
*WC beats Collingwood at the MCG*
Lyon: "Well they won't win finals at the MCG".
*WC beats Collingwood at the MCG in the GF*
Lyon: "grumble grumble umpires something"
Healy: "What about these 5 free kicks they missed to WC?"
Roos: "Goodesy! Joey Kennedy! Big Mummy!"

But yes LOL @ the Vic media hype train of 2018. Richmond were never going to lose again, Melbourne were the fairytale, Hawthorn made Bruce go full Bruce ('could they? they couldn't? could they?') and nek minit it was WC vs Collingwood again and the Pies were totally the flavour of the month the whole time. Richmond were completely steamrolled when we played them in Perth. How/why so many people just ignored that I didn't understand.

Always relevant to any discussion

 

[Scotland]

Always relevant to any discussion

I respect Paul Roos as a player and a coach but * me he makes me want to throw the remote at the TV.

 

[matey]

Within 3 AFL games Tigers were looking back to back (in the bag by KB and many Tigers supporters) to looking extremely shaky. Unbelievable!

 

[Priddis Is Done]

I respect Paul Roos as a player and a coach but **** me he makes me want to throw the remote at the TV.

Agree. Hate him with a passion on On the couch

 

[OhhhhhCyril]

It’s only round 2, teams are allowed a bad game here and there. I wouldn’t write them off this early into the season. The only question is how do they handle injuries to key players moving forward.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Come back to me when you've won a flag champ

What kind of pathetic sooky comment is this? Take your rubbish elsewhere.

 

[Fadge]

Lynch kicked 6 in two games and has an excuse considering that it is his 2nd competitive AFL game in ages.

Riewoldt was injured in the first quarter, but I acknowledge he is struggling to play with another key forward though. Something that I did not see coming.

Cotchin has been one of our only good star players so far. He can’t help it that he is the only midfielder doing something.

Dusty I agree with. He’s either physically not right or mentally not right. How you have 0 tackles in 2 games as a midfielder is ridiculous. Puts hardly any pressure on the opposition, gets caught holding the ball and kicks it straight to the opposition right now. He’s so far from 2017 right now that it’s not funny.

Rance I also agree with. He is amazing when playing loose, but with the way the game unfolded yesterday, I think that Rance would not have made much of a difference at all.

Edwards I also agree with. Makes things happen in an amazing fashion when he is on, but goes missing too much.

This is the first time in a while that I am actually doubting our top talent like this. People keep pointing out dropping our role players but that is shuffling deck chairs on a sinking ship when our top players are playing like they do in big games. It happens way too often that they all collectively disappear bar maybe 1 or 2.

It's not about top end talent, it's about depth.

Many said there was a single key problem with the Tigers - no depth means when the inevitable injuries come to your ageing players, you very quickly fall off the pace...

 

[Fadge]

It’s only round 2, teams are allowed a bad game here and there. I wouldn’t write them off this early into the season. The only question is how do they handle injuries to key players moving forward.

What about 5 bad games in a row?

 

[theyellowsash]

It's not about top end talent, it's about depth.

Many said there was a single key problem with the Tigers - no depth means when the inevitable injuries come to your ageing players, you very quickly fall off the pace...

nah we got weller and a few kids at the draft, our midfield depth is sorted

 

[theyellowsash]

What about 5 bad games in a row?

more than that we were out of form a solid month before the finals last year

 

[matey]

The problem with the Tigers list is that they have got no young guns to step up to replace their big 4 and take them into the future. Can they succeed while ignoring the elite end of the draft?

 

[Frank Gallagher]

Success came off the back of an incredibly light injury list.

 

[Chism]

It’s only round 2, teams are allowed a bad game here and there. I wouldn’t write them off this early into the season. The only question is how do they handle injuries to key players moving forward.

This is the million dollar question because in the last few years none of their stars have copped an injury that had them missing chunks of games and the Tigers have been blessed on the injury front lately, but that run of good luck is starting to turn and welcome to the world of many other teams that have never had such a good run injury wise for so long spanning more than 2 seasons at a minimum to their elite level players. The Tigers i reckon have had the best run of injuries over the last few years or more than anyone team has had for a long time, as they have been very durable their elite end players.

There is still no way you can ride them off though as they still have a way better than average team even with the players that are out.

Dusty is a massive concern and seems disinterested for some reason and he has started right where last season finished in the same poor form for his standards.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

It’s only round 2, teams are allowed a bad game here and there. I wouldn’t write them off this early into the season. The only question is how do they handle injuries to key players moving forward.

Yep, it will be interesting to see. You can't write any team off after going 1-1 through the first 2 games, but being undersized and without their best key forward and best key back will definitely be a challenge.

Lynch is a very good forward, but he'll still take some time to get used to the Tigers system. Grimes getting suspended really came at a bad time for them to compound things.

It's shaping as a very interesting AFL season.

 

[OniAu]

You can ruck with one good hand.

Not so easy to mark a ball one handed playing forward.

Pretty simple concept really.

Ruck with one good hand. Man so insightful , I don't understand why rucks haven't been doing this all along!!!!

Point was , why risk Riewoldt in the ruck to further damage his hand. Silly idea really

 

[Prestigerrycomo]

It's not how long the injury list is that matters, as much as the quality of player that is out.

The best defender in the game, and a top three forward just went out of our side.

We played horrible last night, don't get me wrong, but them two are bigger injuries than what Nicnat, Gaff and Sheppard were. Their simply just better players.

Oh please your board ran with #pieshaveinjuries all last year


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Prestigerrycomo]

It's why Clarkson has no peer in the coaching world.

The bloke is a peanut but he surely has to be a candidate for a statue around the MCG pretty soon.

I truthfully wouldn’t have had an issue had he got it over Stynes

 

[dmc333]

Won't make the 8. The spuds will be heavily exposed now.

 

[Foucault1989]

You what annoys me the most right now... Richmond have had the third lowest injury count in the past few years. Rance, Riewoldt, martin and cotchin have missed barely any football. Whenever other sides get a few injuries all we hear is the old "injuries are not an excuse". Now Richmond get a couple and that's all we hear. I know Carlton have been v average but we have also been smashed with injuries over the last few years, especially in defence but I witnessed plenty of Richmond supporters sticking their heels in.

Suck it up Richmond. Don't blame injuries or umpires.

 

[Black Saab]

i think you're in denial

a team that has that little of teh ball and allows opposition such possession dominance will always give up more frees. Umps were bad both ways

Rules of the game comment is a little paranoid- really should help you with your midfield grunt and Tom Lynch/JR combo.

A good workman never blames their tools

Rance would have been exposed, along with many other loose defenders in all teams, enormously last night, even more so than in the prelim.

After top 6- your list is ordinary- short, soft and slow

How was Richmond in it till the last qtr? I agree Collingwood well on top but that the Pies couldn't assert themselves again (like last week) was really strange. Richmond really didn't play well. That was a big part of the game. It wasn't that they were awesome but Collingwood sooo much better. The Tigers were very average all game yet were well in the game till the last. Any other good side would have given the Tigers troubles last night. Probably not Freo atm but a number of other sides would probably have torched the Tigers long before it took Collingwood too. To me that is the strange thing about last night. Collingwood fought hard to get it done against a poor performance. They aren't rolling at their best yet either.

Richmond will bounce back.