Preliminary Final Week 2021 | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Preliminary Final Week 2021

Unfortunately, I seem to remember a multiple AA defender getting toweled up by some flog called U.S.A. not so long ago. *smile* does happen sometimes, especially when your whole team is being mauled all at the same time.

of course Richmond players get beaten.

I was enquiring why we'd feel sorry for a Port Adelaide player?
 
Probably already mentioned but were these the biggest blowouts in prelim history?
Essendon beat North by 86 in the 1983 prelim, and Collingwood by 133 the next year. Geelong beat us by 89 in 1995. I'm sure L2 knows if there are any more.

In 2007, Geelong beat North by 105 in the qualifying final and Port by 119 in the grand final, but only beat Collingwood by 5 in the prelim.
 
I think you're right across the board there, Jules. Like all of us, I'd love us to bounce back and snag another and we still might, yet for the last couple of months the same ear worm keeps popping unprompted into my head, a single line from Eminem's Till I collapse:

"When your run is over just admit when it's at its end."

The Dees and Dogs are young, with their best players in their prime or approaching it. Our best players are almost all past their best. We have some talented youth but no next Dusty, Chimp, or Jack. If we recruit well this off-season and our youth comes on and we get a gun free agent, we might steal another flag. Regardless, we shouldn't fear a couple of years low on the ladder - if we can build a solid young group and then add a couple of elite juniors we'll have rebuilt quickly.



Naughton is too good a forward to ever play back again. If U-H comes on they can throw Bruce back.

On us, you are spot on.
His attack on the ball, his run and positioning for a mark, reminded of the great Royce
 
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Probably already mentioned but were these the biggest blowouts in prelim history?
And YES, the AFL as custodians of our game should wallow in self congratulations with what they’ve accomplished with their incessant meddling with rules, their interpretation and genuine contrivance with the MRO et al.
 
Its 95% likely Bevo goes with the same plan and plays Schache on Lever.

some of the early blocking on Allir wasn't legal,

but then he completely dropped his bundle and looked like he was playing with his eyes closed.
I hate off ball blocking. No good clapping Scache if we get upset when an opponent does it Dlyan or VLAs. Also applies at other end. It's why key fwds only kick 50 goals not 80.
 
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Both teams in this years GF have better foot skills than any of our teams did.
They've copied & modified aspects of our hugely successful gameplan & improved it. Rule changes have played some part in that. We can't control that.
That's no disrespect to us, every team throughout history has been better than the team that won flags the year before.
Our challenge is to improve again.
 
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Essendon beat North by 86 in the 1983 prelim, and Collingwood by 133 the next year. Geelong beat us by 89 in 1995. I'm sure L2 knows if there are any more.

In 2007, Geelong beat North by 105 in the qualifying final and Port by 119 in the grand final, but only beat Collingwood by 5 in the prelim.
Meant combined
 
Both teams in this years GF have better foot skills than any of our teams did.
They've copied & modified aspects of our hugely successful gameplan & improved it. Rule changes have played some part in that. We can't control that.
That's no disrespect to us, every team throughout history has been better than the team that won flags the year before.
Our challenge is to improve again.
Yep. Pressure on the ball carrier and ground ball gets in the fwd line is king in finals. As you you say we need to polish up with more skilled users but should not go away from a proven flag winning formula.

Not sure these teams are better than our flag winning teams though.
 
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Both teams in this years GF have better foot skills than any of our teams did.
They've copied & modified aspects of our hugely successful gameplan & improved it. Rule changes have played some part in that. We can't control that.
That's no disrespect to us, every team throughout history has been better than the team that won flags the year before.
Our challenge is to improve again.
And exclude from our wish list players who don’t display the basic kicking, speed and ball handling skills.
 
huh? He was WOG. He was nullified and humiliated by ......... josh schache

id been wondering all year why sydney let him go,

but they obviously knew he had a defective ticker.

Hmm, don't really agree. He plays the intercept mark role, the trick is that you have to have lock down defenders around him, if the other defenders are not doing their job he can't do his. If a player like Allir gets a forward following him around you switch some roles to make it difficult to close down both Allir and an alternate defender who can roam more and intercept. Then again, maybe it was just too easy against Geelong, got a false sense of how easy it is to be an intercept marking defender.

Robbie Gray and Boak 33 yrs old will soon leave a hole and reckon they can be shaky down back.

Dee's could well have a mini dynasty, sensational defence, (securing Lever and May a masterstroke), sensational midfield and forward line will only improve with Jackson and Kozzie set to be stars.

Dogs the other one, weakness is defense but everything else they have in order and have U-Hagen in wings and will pick up 204cm F/S Darcy in draft.

Tige's - IMO we have had our time.

Yeah, not convinced on Port, blown it 2 years running although to be fair that PF against us last year was so close it could have gone the other way (but it didn't :cupgold ).

Dees do have a history of winning flags in bunches (as do we) so they could be up for a few years, especially given the team they have and not too old either.

Dogs are doing well to get this far, and capable of winning. They would be well aware of their weaknesses and looking to plug the gaps. Their history doesn't suggest multiple flags, but, as they say, past performance does not guarantee future returns. Definite chance to win another this year or in the next few.

Not sure we are out of it yet, need a few players to get better and a few old hands to keep it going and we can be contenders. We still have a fair number of A Grade players and should be pushing for another flag at least while keeping an eye on the future.

DS