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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
I’m a big believer that in the whole 90% above the shoulders line of thinking, and I am a big fan of the new breed of players like Jacko and Kingy that show a bit of fight. Many other PREnders bemoan the lack of mongrel in much of the playing group, particularly among the leaders and better players, because it is so inspirational to the rest of the team, hurts the confidence of opponents (and all that). You certainly don’t need a team full of hot-heads but having a few respected players with a bit of mongrel is really important IMO.
It occurred to me that this all-important ‘mongrel’ factor could be vaguely indicated by the number of suspensions a club gets. If a team is fired up, they tend to play better footy. They also do silly things from time to time and get suspended.
I checked the tribunal stats and sure enough, we were one of only three teams not to have any suspensions in ’07. The other two clubs also performed below their expectations (Adelaide and Carlton – tanking aside). Flicking back over the last 7 seasons I was interested to note that we have only had 8 suspensions (bugger all). I didn’t count them for every club but this seemed to be a lot less than most clubs. Furthermore, seven of these suspensions were given to players who are no longer on our list:
- Stafford (3 times)
- Hall (twice)
- Fleming
- Zantuck
I checked back as far as ’95 and it looks like we only have one player on our list that has ever been suspended, and he is hardly a mongrel. Joel Bowden was given one week about three years ago, and from my dodgey memory it was a pretty dodgey suspension.
I’m not suggesting we turn into Freo and start going nuts belting people. I just think maybe we have a deficiency in key, established and respected players with a bit of mongrel, and this hurts our performance. Geelong has Mooney, Scarlett and Chapman (probably more). I just hope Wallace will allow players like Kingy, Jacko and even Kel to become these sorts of players in the years to come.
Any thoughts?
It occurred to me that this all-important ‘mongrel’ factor could be vaguely indicated by the number of suspensions a club gets. If a team is fired up, they tend to play better footy. They also do silly things from time to time and get suspended.
I checked the tribunal stats and sure enough, we were one of only three teams not to have any suspensions in ’07. The other two clubs also performed below their expectations (Adelaide and Carlton – tanking aside). Flicking back over the last 7 seasons I was interested to note that we have only had 8 suspensions (bugger all). I didn’t count them for every club but this seemed to be a lot less than most clubs. Furthermore, seven of these suspensions were given to players who are no longer on our list:
- Stafford (3 times)
- Hall (twice)
- Fleming
- Zantuck
I checked back as far as ’95 and it looks like we only have one player on our list that has ever been suspended, and he is hardly a mongrel. Joel Bowden was given one week about three years ago, and from my dodgey memory it was a pretty dodgey suspension.
I’m not suggesting we turn into Freo and start going nuts belting people. I just think maybe we have a deficiency in key, established and respected players with a bit of mongrel, and this hurts our performance. Geelong has Mooney, Scarlett and Chapman (probably more). I just hope Wallace will allow players like Kingy, Jacko and even Kel to become these sorts of players in the years to come.
Any thoughts?