Hi all,
Now that the various drafts are over and all clubs have secured their lists, I intend to look at each one of the lists to see how each stack up. Starting from the bottom my first will be the Tigers, slowly working my way through all the teams up to Port Adelaide. The Tigers will probably be my most indepth as it is the club I know most about. Already I've noticed some strange happenings or skews on some teams' lists. Also please excuse some of the formatting again. It is difficult to cut and paste a word document containing tables onto this message board. Anyway heregoes.
Richmond – Tigers rebuild, but there’s some way to go.
The Tigers have seemingly got themselves back on course in 2005. Yet this statement will become more credible once the team actually starts to perform consistently on the field. A new coach in Terry Wallace. New assistants in Brian Royal, David King and Steve Alessio. Wheadon has been retained but in a new role. The list has also been revised to include 10 new players on the senior list, on top of the addition of 9 or 10 last year, depending on how you deem Moore’s movement onto the senior list.
Surname Ht Wt Age
Stafford 203 105 30
Knobel 202 102 25 New
Pattison 198 90 19 New
Richardson196 105 30
Simmonds196 97 27 New
Hall 196 97 24
Archibald 194 91 19
Gaspar 193 90 29
Morrison 193 90 24
Schulz 193 92 20
McGuane 192 77 18 New
Limbach 192 77 17 New
Thursfield191 76 19 Rookie
Graham 190 90 32 New
Kellaway 190 90 29
Moore 190 86 21
Campbell 189 88 32
Bowden 188 90 27
Tuck 188 89 23
Deledio 188 81 18 New
Coughlan 187 88 23
Jackson 187 87 19
Polo 187 78 18 New
Johnson 186 86 27
Hilton 186 90 26
Tivendale 186 86 26
Pettifer 184 84 23
Hyde 184 84 22
Gilmour 184 77 19
Roach 184 78 19
Brown 183 80 27
Newman 183 84 23
Meyer 183 70 18 New
Raines 181 76 19
Tambling 181 74 18 New
Chaffey 180 82 28
Hartigan 180 74 20
Foley 177 71 20 Rookie
Krakouer 174 77 22
Rodan 171 82 21
To get a better analysis of the entire Tiger list let’s look at the spread of their players.
Twilight = 28+yo
Prime = 25-27yo
Development = 22-24yo
Junior = 18-21yo
<180 Small Runners
Twilight: 0
Prime: 0
Development: Krakouer 22,
Junior: Rodan 21, Foley 20,
180-184 Smaller Mediums
Twilight: Chaffey 28
Prime: Brown 27,
Development: Pettifer 23, Newman 23, Hyde 22,
Junior: Hartigan 20, Gilmour 19, Roach 19, Meyer 18, Raines 18, Tambling 18,
185-189 Taller Mediums
Twilight: Campbell 32
Prime: Bowden 27, Johnson 27, Hilton 26, Tivendale 26,
Development: Tuck 23, Coughlan 23,
Junior: Jackson 19, Deledio 18, Polo 18,
190-194 Mobile Key Position
Twilight: Graham 32, Gaspar 29, Kellaway 29
Prime: 0
Development: Morrison 24,
Junior: Moore 21, Schulz 20, Archibald 19, Thursfield 19, McGuane 18, Limbach 17,
195-199 Key Position/ Ruck
Twilight: Richardson 30
Prime: Simmonds 27,
Development: Hall 24,
Junior: Pattison 19,
200+ Ruck
Twilight: Stafford 30
Prime: Knobel 25,
Development: 0
Junior: 0
The previous list gives a spread of the reasonable distribution of a playing list over its varying ages and heights. It gives an indication of the evolution and development of a football list and where potential weaknesses exist. We will use this list to analyse other teams as well. The ages of these players are based on what age, I believe, they will be for most of the 2005 season.
From the spread you can see that tends to be 2 main groups at Tigerland. The first group is either in the twilight phase of their careers, 28yo+, or just about to move into the twilight phase, 27yo. The second group is in the junior phase of their careers, equal to or less than 21yo. The area in between, the development and prime age groups, ie 22-27yo, looks thin. This is especially evident in the area of prime age running players. The tigers will be forced to play boys from the junior group to make up for their dearth in prime runners and mobile key position players.
Another device to analyse is putting down the list in team order to see how many or what positions can be covered when injuries occur.
B: Chaffey 28 Gaspar 29 Kellaway 29
Newman 23 Hall 24 Moore 20
Thursfield19
HB: Bowden 27 Graham 32 Hyde 22
Hilton 26 Schulz 20 Polo 18
McGuane 18
C: Jackson 19 Coughlan 23 Tivendale 26
Deledio 18 Hartigan 20 Tuck 23
HF: Campbell 32 Simmonds27 Pettifer 23
Roach 19 Morrison 24 Raines 18
Meyer 18 Pattison 19
F: Stafford 30 Richardson30 Krahouer 22
Archibald 19 Limbach 17 Rodan 21
R: Knobel 25 Johnson 27 Brown 27
Tambling 18 Foley 20
Gilmour 19
The back half looks reasonably covered for injury. However once you move onto the centre line, the forward half and the ruck it is quite clear that there is a definite lack of experience if the team is tested by injuries to its front line players.
Conclusion:
Using history as a predicting tool, the last time Tigerland went through such a big turnover of players was the 1992/1993 seasons. In 1993, John Northey took over the reins and drastically reformed the playing list. New names such as Duncan Kellaway, Jamie Tape, Matthew Richardson, Matthew Rogers and others were given a try. Some succeeded, others didn’t.
In 1993 the Tigers had a big Pre-season making, but losing by 10 points to Essendon, the Final of the Wizrad Cup equivalent. However the length of the season proper found them out. Already in late 2004 the Tigers, under Wallace, have been training very intensely. I predict that they will come out of the blocks with the same intensity, but the length of the season proper will find old legs, and some inexperienced ones, out.
( Edit: I would be grateful for your honest comments re this analysis, either in style, content or accuracy.)
