Strategy Where to from here?

[Doggies_13]

Where do we expect the team to go from here for the remainder of the season?

Next two games we should win and I say that lightly, and the last two games of the year we should win. That’s 10 wins.

In between we have Brisbane @ Gabba, Sydney @ SCG, Saints @ Marvel, Dees @ Marvel, Geelong @ GMHBA and Dockers @ Marvel.

We would need to go 3-3 there as a minimum you would think to make the bottom part of the 8. We are already. Now two wins and percentage off the top 6. I wouldn’t have us as favourites in any of those to be honest.

So do we keep playing a clearly injured and beaten up Bont? Do we invest time into JUH? Do we let Bruce really ease his way back with a focus on next year or rush him? Do we start to experiment with some positioning? And do we start giving some games to guys that may not quite be ready to see how they go (Bedendo, Jones, Raak)?

Or do we go all in to scrap our way into finals and hope for a 2016/2021 run? And in the meantime plaster over some obvious issues in our list and game plan.

 

[Dogsman16]

Short answer: No idea.

Long answer:

Basically evaluate where we sit after these next 2 games. We can’t afford a slip up. We lose either game and we are toast. If by some chance Bev actually starts making smart coaching decisions and we are 8-6 then hopefully we are able to unleash Bruce at a full tilt at scrapping into finals.

If we lose one and our season is toast then we start developing certain young players. Play Sweet, JUH, Bedendo instead of the usual VFL suspects that continually get a game and won’t improve much at 26 years of age. I’d be resistant to play Bruce if we can’t make finals but judging by his character he will do everything in his power to get back on the field to help us win games.

 

[Chalky White]

I guess I am flogging a dead horse here, but for me.

1. Play Sweet unless sore for the rest of the season
2. Give Buku a spell, get confidence and back in at last 1/4 of season
3. A line through Scott, McNeill and McComb
4. Ease Gardner and Cordy out, look at developing young KPD's
5. Recruit what we need, either through the draft or trading (instead of utility mid, HBF types)
6. Stop insulting the fans with ruck decisions...see point 1
7. Potentially trade Dunkley and/or Hunter to see what we can get with taller options
8. Replace Bevo and assistants
9. Don't be afraid to lose a gun....trade smart
10. Forget the Ballarat experiment.
11. Give our aboriginal boys a good run at it.
12. Recruit hard-nosed players. Get back to a mindset that we scrap for every ball.
13. If Naughton isn't working forward, stick him at CHB. Get his confidence up then move him forward again.
14. Give Weightman an ultimatum with the acting and staging antics....not acceptable.

 

[cecil]

I guess I am flogging a dead horse here, but for me.

1. Play Sweet unless sore for the rest of the season
2. Give Buku a spell, get confidence and back in at last 1/4 of season
3. A line through Scott, McNeill and McComb
4. Ease Gardner and Cordy out, look at developing young KPD's
5. Recruit what we need, either through the draft or trading
6. Stop insulting the fans with ruck decisions...see point 1
7. Potentially trade Dunkley and/or Hunter to see what we can get with taller options
8. Replace Bevo and assistants
9. Don't be afraid to lose a gun....trade smart
10. Forget the Ballarat experiment.
11. Give our aboriginal boys a good run at it.
12. Recruit hard-nosed players. Get back to a mindset that we scrap for every ball.
13. If Naughton isn't working forward, stick him at CHB. Get his confidence up then move him forward again.
14. Give Weightman an ultimatum with the acting and staging antics....not acceptable.

Gee this is some real old school Richmond clear the decks mentality...

Naughton not working forward? He's sixth in the Coleman race!

 

[ScragCity]

This year is finished for us. We have dished up a pathetic first half of a season which was meant to be the soft half of our draw. Our gameplan is completely obsolete dogshit that opposition coaches love to play against. We beat up on the weak sides but turn to mush against any side that is half competent or has real desire. We rely on the brilliance of Bont to carry us to wins. When he's not 100% physically then we just have no chance. Libba is the only other player who cracks in when the chips are down but he can't do it all himself.

I actually noticed in myself yesterday that I dread watching us now. Especially on Friday nights and especially when we play the Cats. Our gameplan is the most frustrating and ugly thing imaginable as a spectator. Watching the team work so hard just to kick it down Geelong defenders throats all night. Jeez that must be demoralising for the players to play in a way that requires so much effort for so little reward. Especially when the opposition squirts the ball out the back into a nice open forward line for an easy goal.

The "outside 5" crap is just horrible to watch. It looks so ******* stupid. I'm not sure what the idea behind it is but as a spectator it just looks so counter-intuitive and ugly. In a game that is supposedly all about inches, giving up so much free territory is hard to stomach. Not to mention the fact that when the umpires are directing the player "outside 5" it usually ends up being more like 10.

I just don't think I can stomach watching this anymore. I don't think anything will change until Bevo is gone. By that point Bont's career will have been largely wasted. At least we will always have 2016. I don't mean that sarcastically either - Premierships are precious. But we aren't going to see another under this coach.

 

[BIG_BONTS]

Still a few shining lights to look forward to:

• Bont rests up for the bye, comes back in much better shape
• Hunter (Wing), Bruce (FWD) and Mclean (FWD) are definite ins that make us a 3 goal better side
• JUH, Buku, Darcy keep developing, one of them plays most weeks
• Steamroll sides in the second half of the year with our backs to the wall
• Everything clicks in the elimination final
• Thrash Melbourne in the preliminary final
• Premiership this year
• Bring in Tex Walker next year
• Bruce to backline
• Premiership next year
• Dogs dynasty

 

[Chalky White]

Gee this is some real old school Richmond clear the decks mentality...

Naughton not working forward? He's sixth in the Coleman race!

Yep...So What?

 

[Dogs Rule]

Who knows? Frankly after the first quarter last night, I barely care. I was a second away from walking out at quarter time. The most disgusting 'effort' in years.

 

[Chalky White]

Gee this is some real old school Richmond clear the decks mentality...

Naughton not working forward? He's sixth in the Coleman race!

I actually want Naughton as a forward. But if we are getting slammed down back or hes's down on confidence, struggling to get a kick or unable to kick straight then a quarter in defence to get his confidence up wouldn't hurt him at all.
It's a balance isn't it? Our best forward would also be our best defender. I remember Chris Grant playing as a CHB and nearly winning the Brownlow.

 

[ScragCity]

I actually want Naughton as a forward. But if we are getting slammed down back or hes's down on confidence, struggling to get a kick or unable to kick straight then a quarter in defence to get his confidence up wouldn't hurt him at all.
It's a balance isn't it? Our best forward would also be our best defender. I remember Chris Grant playing as a CHB and nearly winning the Brownlow.

Who becomes our main forward target while Naughton is playing back? Maybe swing Gardner forward? Or Weightman to play FF?

 

[dergert]

If Dunkley didn't want to play ruck, he sure as hell won't want to be playing key forward.

Will we keep him?
Ive swayed in my opinion, but last night shows we need to keep him.

 

[Chalky White]

Who becomes our main forward target while Naughton is playing back? Maybe swing Gardner forward? Or Weightman to play FF?

Stick Khamis or English there. Rotate them. Sweet should have been selected, have both Khamis and English there.
You can't keep doing the same thing if it's not working.
I would rather lose by 30 than lose by 13 knowing we tried different methods.
Too many pissing in Bevo's pocket, selection is on him.

 

[Doggies_13]

I think the season is already gone 6-6 at the break with a horror 6 weeks to come against 6 of the top 7 with 4 of those on the other teams home deck (yes Marvel is also our home deck). If we lose either of the next 2 that’s the nail in the coffin of this season.

Bont is clearly beat up atm and has gone from one of the best players in the comp to struggling to play through the middle. There is a bit of carlton and Patrick Cripps

9

Patrick Cripps

Age

29

Ht

195cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

25.9

5star

K

9.8

4star

HB

16.1

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

5.8

5star

CL

7.4

5star

D

21.0

5star

K

10.1

4star

HB

10.9

5star

M

2.5

3star

T

3.8

4star

CL

6.3

5star

D

12.6

4star

K

4.8

2star

HB

7.8

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.2

5star

CL

1.4

4star

about us and the Bont atm. He clearly needs a rest or some surgery.

We have some massive decisions to make at the end of the season in relation to the list and contracts. Do we re-contract a number of the guys that will cost us big $$$ in positions we already have players in costing us big $$$ or do we use them to refresh the list and fill our needs. I am moving further and further into the let some go and refresh the list by filling our pressing needs camp.

I think it’s time to commit to JUH and take the ups and downs. Khamis’s first couple of games were great his last 2 have been as bad as any of JUHs in my opinion. You can’t tell me Bedendo and Jones wouldn’t do as much as McComb and McNiel, at the very least they are more natural as forwards and we may as well see what we have there.

Also I don’t care if it is Sweet, Schache or Cordy to be honest but we need that second ruck/third tall forward and they are our options like it or not so one should be playing each week.

Forward line for the next few weeks should be something like.
HF: Weightman JUH JJ
F: Schache/Cordy Naughton West
With Jones/Bedendo on the bench.

 

[BEaston]

I never wanted JUH dropped, I think we should play him the rest of the year.

I would be playing Schache forward as well, at least until Bruce comes back. We just have to accept he's going to squib some contests sometimes. Overall he makes our forward line work better and it helps Naughton.

I don't really care who we play as 2nd ruck, it's largely irrelevant IMO. I just want English playing majority 1st ruck. The forward structure is the important aspect.

I would like to see some games given to our younger players as a taste at AFL level... Bedendo, etc.

Be conservative with any injured players, no point in overcooking them.

Free the players up mentally... take some of the pressure off.

 

[dergert]

Bank the top 10 draft pick. Trade whatever is left over

 

[DognBones]

Realistically, the best we can do is to limp into 8th place and with the current issues we have that's not going to get us anywhere. If and when we get to a stage where it's mathematically impossible to make the 8, then it's time for the likes of of Bedendo and Cleary to be given more chances.
Try a different forward setup with 3 genuine talls, from: Naughton, Bruce, Marra or Schache in every game we play. This won't upset the balance because the 4 smalls we have in the forward line now are contributing very little.
If we stick with just English as our only ruck which I suspect we will, then one of the above forwards will need to be 2nd ruck.
Plan recruiting strategies for next season with the absolute necessity of finding a physically stronger key back.
Recruit an assistant coach who has proven capability of developing game plans.

 

[The Inbetweener]

What I’m interested in is if we miss finals, what kind of review if any will we have at the end of the year. Most likely outcome is the club will back Bevo in, but he’ll be coaching for his life. I personally hope we do a deep review, but can’t see it happening

 

[Dog 36]

I never wanted JUH dropped, I think we should play him the rest of the year.

I would be playing Schache forward as well, at least until Bruce comes back. We just have to accept he's going to squib some contests sometimes. Overall he makes our forward line work better and it helps Naughton.

I don't really care who we play as 2nd ruck, it's largely irrelevant IMO. I just want English playing majority 1st ruck. The forward structure is the important aspect.

I would like to see some games given to our younger players as a taste at AFL level... Bedendo, etc.

Be conservative with any injured players, no point in overcooking them.

Free the players up mentally... take some of the pressure off.

Personally can’t see us playing Schache as I don’t think he will be there next year so no use seeing what he can do.
Too late for him.

Play JUH and Sweet for rest of season

Also play West Bendendon Cleary and get players settled into positions they will train in during preseason.

If it means some senior players have a month off so be it

 

[dergert]

What I’m interested in is if we miss finals, what kind of review if any will we have at the end of the year. Most likely outcome is the club will back Bevo in, but he’ll be coaching for his life. I personally hope we do a deep review, but can’t see it happening

Dunkley has to be goneski. That'd be a bitter blow, losing our blue chip young midfielder

 

[The Inbetweener]

Dunkley has to be goneski. That'd be a bitter blow, losing our blue chip young midfielder

Mitch Cleary alluded to it last night, that negotiations haven’t progressed or even started.

 

[dergert]

Mitch Cleary alluded to it last night, that negotiations haven’t progressed or even started.

Neither for Bailey Smith. Saving the biggest for last?

 

[doggies ftw]

I never wanted JUH dropped, I think we should play him the rest of the year.

I would be playing Schache forward as well, at least until Bruce comes back. We just have to accept he's going to squib some contests sometimes. Overall he makes our forward line work better and it helps Naughton.

I don't really care who we play as 2nd ruck, it's largely irrelevant IMO. I just want English playing majority 1st ruck. The forward structure is the important aspect.

I would like to see some games given to our younger players as a taste at AFL level... Bedendo, etc.

Be conservative with any injured players, no point in overcooking them.

Free the players up mentally... take some of the pressure off.

you say 2nd rucks irrelevant you just want English first ruck but what do you think is a better use of English, 80% game time - all in the ruck (like last night) but knackered for a fair chunk of that time and obviously not at his best as he was up against it all night against two running ruckmen.

Or 90-95% game time for English, 50% in the ruck, 40-45% “resting” behind the ball or in front of the ball.

In this scenario I think we get more of the best of English on the ball because he’s fresh for that 50% in there, probably coming up against the oppos 2nd ruckmen more often too and has a brute ruckman as a teammate that’s helping to wear down the oppos ruckman all night (like they usually do to Tim) plus the added bonus of the marking target we get at both ends of the ground. And in the other 50% we get a good stoppage ruckman helping our midfield.

I dunno I just can’t see the negatives here - if that means Sweet sits on the bench for the other 50% of his night who cares, no difference to Buku last night with 53% ge time. Hide Sweet on the opposite wing to the play if you want to help rotations, sit him a kick behind the play who knows but so long as you’re getting a good solid 50% of ruck time in then he’s worth a spot over the other options currently

 

[Chalky White]

Gee this is some real old school Richmond clear the decks mentality...

Naughton not working forward? He's sixth in the Coleman race!

Wondering how Richmond has gone in the last 5 years?