Clarke couldn’t have spelt it out any clearer during the draft.
Foot skills are now at a premium.
Players particularly under the pump are Pickett, Castagna and one of my favourites in McKintosh.
Reckon they will eventually be phased out by the upcoming youngsters who can regularly hit a target
I'm sure you'll remember people saying George and Kamdyn will be phased out of the side since the 2017 post-season. Everyone gets phased out eventually, but will these guys be phased out because kicking has become a premium?
The kicking quality of this crop could be by design. Maybe we are shifting to a more controlled game plan? We did trial one this year.
It could also just reflect a strong draft hand. A welcome bonus that we didn't need to compromise on like we usually would.
We still drafted for all the other typical Richmond traits, so I'm inclined to assume our recruiting this year doesn't represent a shift in thinking about how we will play in the near future. We can't know for sure either way, because we never needed to compromise on kicking or Richmond traits at our picks this year. We got both. Lucky us!
One question I'd like to put forward is:
Can kicking
ever be considered a premium when you play fast?
The reason I think it can't is because unlike Geelong's controlled approach that relies on precision kicking through a stable defence, fast play relies on turning it over to quickly get it in before the opposition's defence is ready, so there's more space available, and their defensive systems are in chaos.
The faster you move, the faster you pull the trigger, the more space available... so more room for error.
The slower you move, the slower you pull the trigger, the less space available... so there's less room for error. (Kicking premium)
I'm very happy to draft quality kicks, but we could've drafted even better kicks if we really wanted to and we chose not to.
From that line of thinking, I'd say we're doubling down on what we already do, but using better kicks to replace to rookies and late picks we've done it with before.
I still see us playing a fast, instinctive brand that has a place for players like George, Pickett, and Kamdyn, who still bring a lot of important qualities to the table, especially in finals. Grand Finals. Big contests. At this stage, I don't see kicking as a premium at Richmond with role players being phased out because of it, but I am biased, so I'll probably find any way to defend these guys lol.