This was printed in the Age just over a fortnight ago but it echoes,no, it screams what has been written on this website for some time. When they start writing about us with such openness and it is not challenged by RFC officials, then we've got trouble with a capital "T" in Tigerland.
Every year, as Richmond makes its seemingly annual early-season charge before its almost-as-inevitable slump, the dissection of the carcass operates along the same lines.
First comes the obligatory Matthew Richardson "trade him or keep him" soap opera. Then the heat turns on the senior coach of the day, be it Danny Frawley, Jeff Gieschen before the incumbent and Robert Walls before that. Once those avenues have been exhausted comes the focus on the administration.
But why, given that Richmond's mediocre skill level has been as issue over most of that time, isn't the focus more on how the Tigers have managed year after year to be saddled with a playing list that simply doesn't stack up against the best?
In a nutshell, the Tigers' recruiting in recent years has been spectacularly awful, both in terms of the national draft and trading, the club too often plumbing for young recruits who haven't cut it with the best, or giving away choices for ill-judged punts on experience.
The last seven years' recruiting hasn't translated into much of substance at all for the Tigers. Take their first pick in the 1996
national draft, Pat Steinfort, at No. 16, kept on the senior list for five seasons without playing a single senior game. Among the dozen players taken immediately after him were All-Australian Jason Johnson, dual premiership player Tim Notting, Troy Cook, Alistair Nicholson and Rowan Warfe.
Richmond pulled one of its biggest success stories, Mark Chaffey, from the same draft pool. The other half-dozen selections played 29 games for the Tigers between them. In fact, Chaffey, Brad Ottens (a "monty" at No. 2 in 1997), Andrew Kellaway, Ty Zantuck, Mark Coughlan, David Rodan, Andrew Krakouer and perhaps Chris Newman are about it on the positive side of the recruiting ledger over that entire period.
Kellaway and Zantuck were both taken after pick No. 70, Krakouer and Newman after selection No. 40, reasonable "gets" at least. So what on earth have the Tigers been doing with their early picks? Wasting them.
Richmond gave away its first two selections in the 1998 national draft to get Craig Biddiscombe from Geelong and Rory Hilton from Brisbane. They would deliver Jude Bolton to Sydney and David Wojcinski to Geelong. Not hard to pick the loser there. Nor, more significantly, via the Tigers' decision to use the No. 3 pick in 1999 on another lightly framed and still unproven running player in Aaron Fiora.
Josh Fraser and Paul Hasleby were No. 1 and No 2 respectively. Among the next 10 players taken after Fiora were Matthew Pavlich, Robert Murphy, Joel Corey, Damian Cupido and Luke McPharlin. In footy parlance, Richmond "had to fall over to miss". It did.
It gave away its next pick, No. 7, and another crack at those more illustrious names, to Collingwood, along with ruckman Steve McKee, for the feisty but limited little man Clinton King. The Tigers' next three picks were Ezra Poyas, Scott Homewood and Andrew Mills. Only Mills remains on the list, the trio having played 14 games between them. First-round pick in the 2000 national draft, Kayne Pettifer has been an even bigger disappointment than Fiora.
And some of Richmond's more successful trades have to be questioned on a longer-term perspective. Leon Cameron has been terrific for the Tigers, but the Western Bulldogs have picked up two pretty good bets for the next few years at least with the selections they got for him, Mitch Hahn and Ryan Hargrave. Whatever Richmond gets out of Cameron from here is a bonus.
Even Kane Johnson's valuable acquisition and that of Greg Stafford in the trading market arguably have been more than cancelled out over the longer-term in recruiting win-loss terms by the unsuccessful acquisitions of, among others, Aaron James, John Rombotis and Paul Hudson.
Of course, there's an element of luck about the lottery that is the national draft and the calculated gamble that is the player trade. But how long can you consistently fail to deliver players who rank among the competition's elite before poor judgement becomes a more compelling conclusion?
On both critical recruiting fronts, the draft and the trade period, Richmond simply hasn't measured up for a long time now. Is it any great surprise its on-field performances haven't either?
Richmond recruiting disasters and other recurring nightmares
By Rohan Connolly, August 15 2003
By Rohan Connolly, August 15 2003
Every year, as Richmond makes its seemingly annual early-season charge before its almost-as-inevitable slump, the dissection of the carcass operates along the same lines.
First comes the obligatory Matthew Richardson "trade him or keep him" soap opera. Then the heat turns on the senior coach of the day, be it Danny Frawley, Jeff Gieschen before the incumbent and Robert Walls before that. Once those avenues have been exhausted comes the focus on the administration.
But why, given that Richmond's mediocre skill level has been as issue over most of that time, isn't the focus more on how the Tigers have managed year after year to be saddled with a playing list that simply doesn't stack up against the best?
In a nutshell, the Tigers' recruiting in recent years has been spectacularly awful, both in terms of the national draft and trading, the club too often plumbing for young recruits who haven't cut it with the best, or giving away choices for ill-judged punts on experience.
The last seven years' recruiting hasn't translated into much of substance at all for the Tigers. Take their first pick in the 1996
national draft, Pat Steinfort, at No. 16, kept on the senior list for five seasons without playing a single senior game. Among the dozen players taken immediately after him were All-Australian Jason Johnson, dual premiership player Tim Notting, Troy Cook, Alistair Nicholson and Rowan Warfe.
Richmond pulled one of its biggest success stories, Mark Chaffey, from the same draft pool. The other half-dozen selections played 29 games for the Tigers between them. In fact, Chaffey, Brad Ottens (a "monty" at No. 2 in 1997), Andrew Kellaway, Ty Zantuck, Mark Coughlan, David Rodan, Andrew Krakouer and perhaps Chris Newman are about it on the positive side of the recruiting ledger over that entire period.
Kellaway and Zantuck were both taken after pick No. 70, Krakouer and Newman after selection No. 40, reasonable "gets" at least. So what on earth have the Tigers been doing with their early picks? Wasting them.
Richmond gave away its first two selections in the 1998 national draft to get Craig Biddiscombe from Geelong and Rory Hilton from Brisbane. They would deliver Jude Bolton to Sydney and David Wojcinski to Geelong. Not hard to pick the loser there. Nor, more significantly, via the Tigers' decision to use the No. 3 pick in 1999 on another lightly framed and still unproven running player in Aaron Fiora.
Josh Fraser and Paul Hasleby were No. 1 and No 2 respectively. Among the next 10 players taken after Fiora were Matthew Pavlich, Robert Murphy, Joel Corey, Damian Cupido and Luke McPharlin. In footy parlance, Richmond "had to fall over to miss". It did.
It gave away its next pick, No. 7, and another crack at those more illustrious names, to Collingwood, along with ruckman Steve McKee, for the feisty but limited little man Clinton King. The Tigers' next three picks were Ezra Poyas, Scott Homewood and Andrew Mills. Only Mills remains on the list, the trio having played 14 games between them. First-round pick in the 2000 national draft, Kayne Pettifer has been an even bigger disappointment than Fiora.
And some of Richmond's more successful trades have to be questioned on a longer-term perspective. Leon Cameron has been terrific for the Tigers, but the Western Bulldogs have picked up two pretty good bets for the next few years at least with the selections they got for him, Mitch Hahn and Ryan Hargrave. Whatever Richmond gets out of Cameron from here is a bonus.
Even Kane Johnson's valuable acquisition and that of Greg Stafford in the trading market arguably have been more than cancelled out over the longer-term in recruiting win-loss terms by the unsuccessful acquisitions of, among others, Aaron James, John Rombotis and Paul Hudson.
Of course, there's an element of luck about the lottery that is the national draft and the calculated gamble that is the player trade. But how long can you consistently fail to deliver players who rank among the competition's elite before poor judgement becomes a more compelling conclusion?
On both critical recruiting fronts, the draft and the trade period, Richmond simply hasn't measured up for a long time now. Is it any great surprise its on-field performances haven't either?
