Re: an observation
Massai said:
They may have done more than me in football (and if that is belonging to a very pathetic team, then I'm glad I never played football in any team like this lot the so called cream of the football world), but one thing I know is I'M A WINNER (everything I've ever done I've gone out to win), they are LOSERS.
Don't give any crap about attitude, Richmond excluding around 10 players DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE. They suck, they whimper, they fold, they cannot handle pressure, they cannot make the right decisions on the field, they have no leadership, no teamwork, no pride, the coaching is pathetic, their disposal skills are pathetic, basically the entire football department of Richmond for all its promises are complete and utter losers.
If Richmond were a pack of dogs, they'd be beaten by a single Chihauhau because the Chihuahau has attitude, this lot have their tails right between their legs.
Overall, they're weak, every other club must be licking their lips at the thought of what percentage gain they'll get playing Richmond this year.
Rance went down doing the right thing by his team mates, who in turn did absolutely nothing for him in return.
Yeah you're right I don't know what was said in the huddles, but whatever was said didn't work did it, they continued to play like the losers they have become. If that's hysteria so be it, but its also REALITY, Richmond are a complete and utter laughing stock.
You won't get any argument from me that we are a laughing stock, but there is a fine line between being tough and being disrespectful.
You're having a rant about a lot of obvious things, we are mentally weak? Sure. Not taken seriously by other teams? Of course. Playing badly? We've won only one game.
We know all these things Massai but to start reading into incidents like Rance's accident and picking at every little morsel the media throw to you (like the Newman comment) is just jumping on the media bandwagon of negative hysteria that the Herald Sun and co have made money off for years.
I agree with a fair bit of what you post, I have said for years we must run tougher camps and sessions in pre-season. We definitely need to work on our mental toughness and discipline.
The players should not be getting a pass, but I know there are players out there who are playing to the 100% of their ability and bleed for our club. They may or may not be good enough to play at AFL level, but who's fault is that they are playing?
The problems go a lot deeper and need a lot more than boot camps mate and they go a lot further than the playing list and coaches and game plan.
In tough times in a organisation (not war), true leadership is marshalling with your "troops". Installing true discipline and structure and implementing change, that takes time.
I put it to you that you could take the best "Coach" your imagination could fathom and give them our current playing list and they might win 2 more games in a season, would they get respect and show discipline on the field? No. They would just be better conditioned.
What would happen is you would have a supposesdly hard side that ran out onto the ground and soon loose that hardness as they watched teammates kick the ball to the opposition constantly, make wrong decisions, hold onto the ball or run too long, lead to the wrong spots, play unaccountable football etc.
You're spot on about us being mentally weak and needing to improve, our discipline is non existant etc. However we simply do not have the talent, either through proper development or sheer capacity for it, in many of our players that other lists have.
A team of Tim Flemmings (some people on here will love that thought :hihi) won't win you many games of footy.
I think I understand where you are coming from and your values so I see why it is so important to you, but you can't get narrow visioned and go over the top. You have to work with the list and not against it while we get ourselves out of this mire.
Put the emphasis on the players simply through hard work and processes, not ridicule and abuse. The players are responsible in some ways for more than they are held accountable for, however they also cop a lot of crap for things way out of their control. We need hardness, but it must be done cold and calculating.
The best leaders know when to be hard and supportive, not just 100% hard. There are some gems in our list and there is a lot of fools gold. We need a better filtering system than boot camps to sort that out and better structures in place outside of the playing and coaching staff to ensure we never get into this mess again and start addressing the deeper list problems immediately.
:hihi
