Midfield Depth | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Midfield Depth

Yeah, this was obvious halfway through last year, and the kids are not ready yet for a tilt at the flag. Not much we can do about it except hope injuries don't affect our aging crew much but that's a faint hope. Dusty is durable but we know Cotch, Lambert and Prestia are not any more.

Like others have said I'd put Shai into midfield, he's a gun. Liked Bakes in there too as a pinch hitter.
 
Dont Argue said:
He had sore ribs for a week and a half.
Prior to that he had a very solid body of work.
Watched the magoos with Caesar yesterday. He is miiiiiiiiiles off it. Looks to be carrying too much weight around the flanks and his running from contest to contest has not improved. More or less unsighted for the entire game.
Be careful what you wish for bringing him into the side.
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Could that be padding for his bruised ribs or swelling even?
Didn't dusty have bruised ribs a year or two ago and really struggled for a month or so? Hopefully that is the case here.
 
Yeah I see our midfield as our biggest issue ,

I’m not going to knock our ageing stars who have brought us so much pleasure but the writing is on the wall , the honeymoon is over ,

obviously more than happy to be wrong though
 
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we only need a small tweak because our game plan is still about turnover.

I think Sonsie and RCD will finish the year as our coal face 1-2 punch. Get this part right and the rest will look after itself.
 
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Ridley said:
Midfield depth has been an issue for this footy club for as long as I can remember. We finally addressed it and Lo and behold we won 3 flags. But I feel we have neglected it since we won the flags and may well pay the price going forward. I’m not convinced that we have any real depth coming through. RCD, Dow, Ross, Martyn, Hugo do not inspire great confidence on the evidence to date. They are young and have time but I’m not sure they have it.

Unfortunately this lack of depth has coincided with a quicker than expected drop off from our premiership heroes. It was quite depressing watching that last quarter last night.
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I don't think we neglected it. We just didn't have access to the blue chips, and maybe didn't concentrate on exactly the right types. Ross Dow RCD. Sonsie is better. I'm sure this can be fixed within a couple years. We hope.
 
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And if any us were offered 3 flags for 10 years as also rans who among us would've said no. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
 
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ToraToraTora said:
I don't think we neglected it. We just didn't have access to the blue chips, and maybe didn't concentrate on exactly the right types. Ross Dow RCD. Sonsie is better. I'm sure this can be fixed within a couple years. We hope.
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Yeah. The AFL has an inevitability about it, it’s their model. Teams like Melbourne and now Carlton just get continued access to low draft picks through years of poor performance and eventually they have to come good just through access to talent.
Carlton have gone about it a different way because they have failed largely to develop their own so they have used their access to picks to get players from other clubs. I was told they had 14 players from other clubs in their team on Thursday night.
We need to play our youngsters and make a call on whether they are good enough but also we should target a free agent or a player from another club this year. We are still a destination club, incredibly well run and with the lure of playing in front of big crowds at the G. Let’s leverage that.
RCD is the one that has to come in for mine. I don’t know if he is good enough but he is a clearance/inside mid and there is only one way to find out and that is to test him.
 
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Dont Argue said:
He had sore ribs for a week and a half.
Prior to that he had a very solid body of work.
Watched the magoos with Caesar yesterday. He is miiiiiiiiiles off it. Looks to be carrying too much weight around the flanks and his running from contest to contest has not improved. More or less unsighted for the entire game.
Be careful what you wish for bringing him into the side.
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Cheers DA

RCD probably shouldn't be playing with his bruised ribs, they need about a month to come good.
 
Sooooooooooooooooooooo............ On the back of Thurs nights performance is it to early to start speculating on our likely draft hand at seasons end???

With a first hand view of our total system collapse late in the game, our petulant stupidity of constantly donating the oppo bonus 50's, topped up by inept decision making and woeful skills.
I'm tipping a possible top 5 draft pick to start with. Followed up by the bonus of #Lolnorf's early second rounder at perhaps 20, then our second rounder at say pick 23. Obviously there will be some shuffling around from F/S or academy prospects, but I'd say we're looking at being in a fairly healthy draft position once again to continue our rebuild in 6 months time. Wonder if it might be wise to ask the AFL about a possible priority pick after two years of barely competitive footy, or should we perhaps wait another year to ensure that there's a definite performance trend that needs H.Q. intervention.
 
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Dont Argue said:
It’s the picks 19 and 20 you just have to get right.
Don’t think we have.
RCD was the right pick at the time. Hasn’t worked out.
Dow was one from the clouds and am convinced we could have picked him up much later ( in the high 30s early 40s.)
Can’t expect too much from the later picks.
Dunstan was a gimee and we passed
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I just had a quick look at those picked after RCD and Dow. It's still early days, but no standouts, maybe Rowbottom from the Swans.
 
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AngryAnt said:
Yeah, this was obvious halfway through last year, and the kids are not ready yet for a tilt at the flag. Not much we can do about it except hope injuries don't affect our aging crew much but that's a faint hope. Dusty is durable but we know Cotch, Lambert and Prestia are not any more.

Like others have said I'd put Shai into midfield, he's a gun. Liked Bakes in there too as a pinch hitter.
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this is our one priority going forward. Need to develop and have a strong midfielders particularly at centre bounces. Dion had a top first quarter, this left Shai and Baker to do their thing in the forward line. Having them at centre bounces unbalanced the side. Get this right and we will challenge.
 
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I know it's early but my gut tells me its over for this group of mids...and we are going to need top line free agent midfield talent to have another tilt. We will need some key retirements (Cotch / Jack) and some tough calls on our uncontracted role players (Rioli would be one).. to have any chance of getting a couple of A grade mids in.
 
What are the possible mid-season drafting opportunities this year?
 
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AstuteTiger said:
Scoop start a new thread - Midfield Depth -Part 2
First time I've been on this thread and was shocked to see 2010 on page 1
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No cause that’s how long I’ve banged this drum.

We’ve won three flags, I wouldn’t change a thing besides retooling our midfield earlier.
 
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Luke Parker shows you don’t necessarily need early picks to get very good players.

Bolton also a great example.

This can be addressed in a draft.
 
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Do we also need a better midfield coach as McQualter or Clarke don't fit for me?
 
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