the claw said:its interesting when debates like this happen. i always put up who i think needs to go for our club to move forward. the best we have done since 2001 is a ninth placed finish it would be nice to know from the defenders of players out there how many we need to turn over and who needs to go so we can take the next step, that is make the 8 and how many more and who to make the top 4 and become a regular high finisher to give us a decent crack at a gf.
surely everyone can see what window we have, if you want to call it that, is now. 6 30 yrolds 4 of them critical to any success that may come. any window that we have is now and that in itself is drawing a long bow. i would gladly argue that long term getting cousins can do more long term harm than good. for reasons that have been debated long and hard on this site.
anyway i digress all i am questioning/asking is what long term success can we expect without continuing to turn over and improve a substantial amount of players on our list.to many like raines and we will forever wallow in mediocrity. surely everyone can see we have to aim higher..
clearly after 50 games you se a 23 yo player in his 6th yr in raines as being good enough but surely theres players you dont think will be part of the premiership when it comes how many and who are they.surely and dont take it personally but surely no one is that naieve that they think we have the players to win a gf yet alone make top 4 consistently.
i think what you miss in this is that some players need time to mature and reach their potential. i think one of richmonds problems has been not having a stable team. Always chopping and changing.
Remember it was when this started happening (Barrett, Teasdale, Cloke, Raines, Wood, etc) change change change is what put us in this position in the first place. i'm glad they are sticking to their guns and building a team that will stick together, be mates and play for one another