What is Neil Balme thinking?

[Tigerdangerous]

The wheels are falling off the Richmond 2019 season one by one and while it is difficult to accept, the club must and put into action a very real plan that at the very least secures some decent draft picks come the end of the season.

I believe the focus now falls on the Football Manager Neil Balme who has the experience and integrity to make some hard calls. I think he needs to put some heat on the coaching staff and in particular “tramtracks” Hardwick.

If supporters in the stands can see such playing flaws as certain players “pulling out” of contests but still get selected, that falls on the coaching staff. If supporters can see players repeating the same mistakes, game after game, deemed as fundamentals of the game like vision and kicking to a teammate; that falls on the coaching staff.

Selecting serial underperformers falls on the coaching staff and selection committee. Persisting with Martin in his current state is a gamble that is not paying off; that falls on the coaching staff and Balme needs to speak from the hip to his staff while sniffing around the club and during training sessions to get a sniff of the mind state of the group.

Injuries aside, and they do hurt, Balme needs to look at the commitment of the group and certain individuals that take to the field to play for the Tigers. They have been indulged with a lot of “soft” love over the last few seasons; it’s time for some hard love from the club and that goes for all the coaches as well.

 

[zippadeee]

we were the best, best culture, hardest to play against in 3 weeks it’s evaporated to selfish, one dimensional and we look lost.
Things change very quickly. We had the perfect opportunity to go back to back and now we look like we need to rebuild again.

 

[caesar]

What a load of rubbish and *smile* post!

 

[year of the tiger]

I thought that soft love got us a premiership but it’s hard to know if this is another “forced” step backwards given our injuries.

The next month will give us a very public examination of what our next tier is made of and a good look at some newbies.

So far, our next tier is struggling a bit but given the competition is relatively even, I still think if they all come to play and iron out some dumb skill errors along the way, we should still be there abouts.

I can only see us winning 1 of our next 3 being the swans so some more immediate pain to come I am afraid.

Interesting to see how a younger team treats a hostile road trip to port next week - it could make us if we have the right mind set but I know port will try to bully us like GWS did.

 

[seven]

Last year was a disappointing way to end.
I reckon some of the players haven’t gotten over it.
They thought they were a shoe in make the GF

 

[casper68]

I thought that soft love got us a premiership but it’s hard to know if this is another “forced” step backwards given our injuries.

The next month will give us a very public examination of what our next tier is made of and a good look at some newbies.

So far, our next tier is struggling a bit but given the competition is relatively even, I still think if they all come to play and iron out some dumb skill errors along the way, we should still be there abouts.

I can only see us winning 1 of our next 3 being the swans so some more immediate pain to come I am afraid.

Interesting to see how a younger team treats a hostile road trip to port next week - it could make us if we have the right mind set but I know port will try to bully us like GWS did.

I am rather worried about the Swans game as l can't see anyone in our team stopping Buddy from kicking a bag.

 

[gold1]

Cannot believe the doomsayers around here :3 games in mainly against good opposition,serious injuries in a short time can unsettle ANY team,suggesting Martin is gone and so forth.................Why not get together and march to Punt Rd bern your membership tickets if you have got one,if not just pretend and perhaps have a sit in on the oval till the coach and admin resign.That should do it. :-*

 

[year of the tiger]

I am rather worried about the Swans game as l can't see anyone in our team stopping Buddy from kicking a bag.

Yes - I think no game from here on in will be easy, but I think the swans game is the easiest of the next 3 imo. ;D

 

[easy_tiger]

What a load of rubbish and *smile* post!

X2 and duplicate on about 6 other threads

 

[deedee]

Going to be a poor season, I have faith in those steering the ship to get us back on course, people are jumping at shadows after 3 bad weeks.

 

[Tigerdangerous]

What a load of rubbish and *smile* post!

That useless blurt reminds me of a Trump voter. Open their mouths and vomit crap. I read endless amounts of comments about individual players, revealing more about the egos of those writing these comments to be honest.

I posted this to get some response to a problem or series of problems that goes back more than the three games of this season. Our performance in the PF was a shambles and it began at the selection table and was compounded in the coach’s box during the game.

You can rattle on all you want about individual players but any club is only as strong as its coaching staff, the culture they create within the group and their capacity to make the right decisions when the sh#t hits the fan. The sh#t has hit the fan down at Punt Road; that much is obvious. I’m not convinced about the new coaches they have brought in and their appointments may have something to do with a culture that is a little too comfortable.

Enter Neil Balme. This is his domain and I believe the buck stops with him, particular with the coaching staff and with Hardwick. I would hope Balmy has them under a microscope because the side is playing like a disorganized rubble that has fallen down like a pack of cards. And that is unacceptable, particularly when you look at the wages of our footballers = performance. And that goes for the coaches as well!

 

[dimmauchamp]

That useless blurt reminds me of a Trump voter. Open their mouths and vomit crap. I read endless amounts of comments about individual players, revealing more about the egos of those writing these comments to be honest.

I posted this to get some response to a problem or series of problems that goes back more than the three games of this season. Our performance in the PF was a shambles and it began at the selection table and was compounded in the coach’s box during the game.

You can rattle on all you want about individual players but any club is only as strong as its coaching staff, the culture they create within the group and their capacity to make the right decisions when the sh#t hits the fan. The sh#t has hit the fan down at Punt Road; that much is obvious. I’m not convinced about the new coaches they have brought in and their appointments may have something to do with a culture that is a little too comfortable.

Enter Neil Balme. This is his domain and I believe the buck stops with him, particular with the coaching staff and with Hardwick. I would hope Balmy has them under a microscope because the side is playing like a disorganized rubble that has fallen down like a pack of cards. And that is unacceptable, particularly when you look at the wages of our footballers = performance. And that goes for the coaches as well!

You will slowly find out that anything your post without rose coloured glasses is not acceptable. How dare you bring up valid points about our current predicament. Its all good. We are just going to switch gears half way through the season because Dimma didn't want to peak early this year and we will win the premiership in a canter.
His comments about not peaking early shows just how out of touch he is. He was spooked in a similar manner years ago and it took him 5 years to realise he had it all wrong. I have a feeling we are treading down the same path again.

 

[caesar]

.

 

[mad_tiggy911]

I commented how little care we showed this preseason. We barely trained. Instead of getting the footys out early and working with the new rules we did jack *smile*.

 

[tha8ball]

Balmey would be typical balmey - we have had a terrible start to the season, blokes poorly out of form, our injuries - diabolical.... yet we are 1-2 the same as fancied sides like Adelaide and Collingwood and the media’s love child essendon. Stack made a stellar debut and Lynch looks to be a huge recruit. I reckon he’d be thinking if we could be about 50/50 W/L around round 8 then we are a huge shot second half of the season.

 

[seven]

Is the Neil Balme magic fading?

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

That useless blurt reminds me of a Trump voter. Open their mouths and vomit crap. I read endless amounts of comments about individual players, revealing more about the egos of those writing these comments to be honest.

I posted this to get some response to a problem or series of problems that goes back more than the three games of this season. Our performance in the PF was a shambles and it began at the selection table and was compounded in the coach’s box during the game.

You can rattle on all you want about individual players but any club is only as strong as its coaching staff, the culture they create within the group and their capacity to make the right decisions when the sh#t hits the fan. The sh#t has hit the fan down at Punt Road; that much is obvious. I’m not convinced about the new coaches they have brought in and their appointments may have something to do with a culture that is a little too comfortable.

Enter Neil Balme. This is his domain and I believe the buck stops with him, particular with the coaching staff and with Hardwick. I would hope Balmy has them under a microscope because the side is playing like a disorganized rubble that has fallen down like a pack of cards. And that is unacceptable, particularly when you look at the wages of our footballers = performance. And that goes for the coaches as well!

This Trump supporter wants to know what information you're basing your opinion on. What do you know about cultural standards slipping at the club?

 

[Tigerdangerous]

I think about what drives a club to success and in football for me in any case, success is measured by winning premierships. Winning more than one by winning several in successive years speaks of the quality of the footballers at the club and just as importantly the culture of the that club. Surely Hawthorn has been the benchmark in modern times considering its premiership successes and the type of footballer it has been able to attract and DEVELOP. Underline that word develop. Richmond has a poor record in this area.

Richmond struggled for years and that in part was due to a culture that was obsessed with off-field stability (important of course but shouldn’t be where most of the energy is spent), and wait for it – poor coaching and poor recruiting. We all lived through 2016 when the train wreck exploded with a bang. Then something happened in 2017. It was a glorious, surreal year where everything clicked but I wonder just how much influence our the long term culture at the club contributed to that success?

A lot, despite Hardwick, or little? In 2018 we won a lot of games but the signs were not good going into the finals series. Poor selection and an inflexible head coaching mindset led us to disaster in the PL. Did we have the right mindset (think of the clubs culture) to turn it around over the pre-season?

The fact that the 2019 has started very badly, and while injuries are a curse and impact, every side has to wear that, but our mentality is weak on the field (and has been for years) and the decision making in the box has been less than inspiring, particularly on game day. That’s culture and it has been around too long at Richmond. I’m hoping that Balme is all over this and coming from Collingwood and Geelong in particular, I think he is. He’s certainly seen it all before I would imagine.

And if he isn’t, then he too has been sucked into the back slapping, we’ll be okay moving forward (heard that phrase before?), culture at Tigerland and that worries me.

 

[gutfull]

Balme will be all over this , but hey l ask you to take 7-8 best players OUT of any team and you get what ????

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

Maybe there's a problem with culture, maybe not. Personally, didn't detect a lack of effort yesterday, just a lot of uncharacteristic fumbling and poor decision-making. A few times we created the outnumber in our forward line and couldn't capitalise.

Switched over to West Coast/Collingwood and the Eagles in particular displayed supreme ball handling, much like we've become accustomed to seeing from our team.

We're all disappointed that our much-vaunted "system" didn't enable replacements to simply pick up the thread from the injured players, and it's apparent there isn't going to be any minor premiership/McClelland trophy this year. But we've gone from being a mature, settled team to one of the youngest in the space of a fortnight, and have been beaten by mature, settled opposition.

Found it encouraging that we could make so many fixable errors and be only 4-5 goals down halfway through the last. The final 15 minutes was disappointing, but again, errors from Edwards, Graham and one other on the camera side wing led to the goals, and the skipper wasn't out there.

Can understand the disappointment of those who were making grand final plans in the pre-season, but it's a bit early to be pointing the finger at coaches and culture IMO.