Flooding to stop further floggings

[Tiger Fang]

Gidday, lads, it's Tiger Fang here.

I've been away for a while. Wanger and Shane got thrown out of the Moe Caravan Park. They've been living with me, and its been chaos. They're dogs are even running around the house.

I was there yesterday, having driven up in the VK Richo Express. It was a disgrace.

Last year, we took on and beat the Crows by flooding and frustration. It was one of the best matches of the year. We played it smart, and walked away with the points.

I could not see any such smarts yesterday. When the scoreboard reads a 60 point gap and accelerating like Wanger down the main street in Moe, the red point should start really flashin. We should have shut up shop then with a real flood. everyone behind the ball, and the ball goes nowhere. I would rather see a crap match and 100 ball ups and lose by 70 points than allow the opposition to give it to us right up the clacker.

I reckon there are a lot more 100+ point floggins coming our way. Terry, get away from the sunlamp and start athinking again.

Tiger Fang - Standing by the Mighty Tigers.

 

[Tony Braxton-Hicks]

Can't flood these days. Water restrictions.

 

[feisty tige]

We need 40 days and 40 nights to help us now... :hihi

 

[cam]

Richmond didn't flood against Adelaide in that game. Adelaide flooded and we simply didn't give them the ball.

Why people still tow the media's line that we flooded... i dont know.

I for one was sitting there 100+ points down and HAPPY Terry didn't flood. We dont want to become like Adelaide and Sydney.. our kids much learn to play attacking footy. Full credit for Terry, he cops alot of flack for it but Richmond flood about the least of any club in the AFL. Thats the reason for the 100 point floggings last year, and will be the reason for the floggings this year.

A shame the media who are always protesting about crappy flooding football dont give Terry credit for not reverting to that style of game.. i'll never know.

 

[TOT70]

There has been a very subtle change in mindset since then. Wallace spent 18 months protecting the younger players. Tactics like those employed in the Adelaide game were more about damage control than anything else.

In 2005, he kept his powder dry. He basically shored the team up with experienced players like Simmonds, Knobel and Graham, introduced Deledio and Tambling and gave other youngsters very limited game time.

In 2006, he increased the number of youngsters in the team but protected them. Foley got very little game time, Deledio was kept out of the middle, choking football was a regular occurrance, Patrick Bowden was commissioned to play loose across half-back etc. This was all about holding ground.

Four weeks before the end of the season Wallace opened the games up. He was encouraged by three good wins, albeit two of them against teams that were deep in the tank-zone. WC gave him a reality check in round 22.

This season he has continued the open games, the loose man across half-back is gone, Gaspar is gone, Johnson no longer tags the opposition star and players like McGuane, Moore, Foley, Deledio, Hughes and Tambling are being exposed to harsh reality. It is now learning time, big-time.

If he goes back choking tactics, it will be to restore some damaged confidence before opening it up again. The younger players are the future, somewhere along the line they will need to be bloodied , bruised and shown how hard they have to really work. They will also need to learn to break tags, run free and lock down their opponent. They will have to learn to hit targets, kick goals and take opportunities, all things that they are currently having difficulty with.

Ling gave Deledio a real lesson on Sunday, just like Buckley did to him several years ago. Good, now we find out if Deledio can really play.