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Richardson (Bones) on Richardson (Richo)

Koalalill

Just looking for someone else to curse!
Dec 17, 2002
1,118
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This article was in Sunday's Age.

I must say I think Bones has written a very good article and he makes some very good points. Especially considering the trade talk scenarios.

Apologises if it has already been posted

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Limelight that blinds Richo
By Barry Richardson
August 17 2003

He was big and powerful and, at times, could take pack marks as well as anyone I have seen. He also had days when he looked like he had the iron gloves on.

He was a long kick, and when he nailed a big torpedo, he could match distance with the likes of Ben Graham or Anthony Rocca, but on a bad day, he could miss from the goal square and often did.

When he first played for Richmond, the Tigers had not won a premiership for 15 years, the fans were frustrated, starved of success and were looking for a great white hope.

Even though he represented Victoria, topped the Tigers' goalkicking twice and finished second and third in the club best and fairest, he was often savagely maligned as a player until he finally became part of a premiership team in 1967.

The date might solve this little riddle for you, otherwise you might well be forgiven for thinking I was referring to Matthew Richardson. In fact, it is Patrick "Paddy" Guinane and the similarities between the two in the way they have played and the way they have been scrutinised are unbelievably similar.

Paddy was a good player and a good bloke, the face of Richmond in the 1960s, thrust unwillingly into the limelight by the Graeme Richmond publicity machine to give disgruntled supporters hope for the future.

He just was not quite good enough to carry the burden of dreams and impatience all by himself. Sound familiar? Like Matthew (and most of us), he had flaws in his game and they were deficiencies that were never overcome simply by just trying harder.

Paddy was a one-dimensional player with eyes only for the ball and he crashed into both friend and foe with equal abandon. Even at kick-to-kick before training, you would find Paddy at one end and about 40 of us down the other in self-preservation mode.

Unlike a player such as Wayne Carey, the deft knock-on, the quick handpass or the shepherd for a smaller opponent was not part of Paddy's armoury, but he was still a valuable contributor when finally, late in his career, he was surrounded by players who took over his burden of expectation.

In 1967, he was vice-captain, kicked only one goal out of 16 in the grand final, but was flanked by Royce Hart, John Ronaldson, Billy Brown and Kevin Bartlett (who all kicked three goals each) and with singles from Bill Barrott, myself and Alan Richardson (Matthew's dad).

Matthew is a good player and a nice bloke, too. He is not a champion, simply because he has flaws in his game that he has never managed to eradicate. He is a wonderful mark, but even that skill is subject to a fair degree of inconsistency.

Perhaps if he had managed to convert marks to goals like a Matthew Lloyd, he might have crept to champion status. The fact is, though, that great forwards find a way to kick THAT goal when it is their time, and teammates rely on them to do it consistently.

Champions are also clever footballers; they know when to handball, when to block, when to flick it on to a teammate in a better position. I have no doubt that Matthew would like to involve his teammates more; he just does not instinctively seem to know when and where to do it, so his response is always to try to win the game off his own boot.

When it does not work, he unfortunately shares that disappointment with the world and even more visibly to his teammates.

Like Paddy Guinane, he will find peace only away from continual scrutiny if the limelight is shared, and he is simply allowed to play a smaller part in a successful team. For his sake, I hope the Tigers can surround him with enough talent to finally give him that luxury, for it seems that only a premiership would lift him from the "talent unfulfilled" category.


This story was found at: http://realfooty.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/16/1060936108379.html
 
Spot on Bones. No wholesale changes required. Just a coach with a game plan, a decent recruiter that went out and got the players to do the job (Bourke Clay Hart) and after twenty-four years in the football wilderness one of the great Richmond era's began. It's always darkest just before the dawn.
 
That is a good article, Koalalill, and it raises the fundamental weakness of this Richmond era.

For too long the Tiger admin and coaches have thought that a handful of players - Richo, Knights, Gaspar, Campbell, Daffy - could take us to a flag if they had a blinder of a year at the same time. They just think that a few foot soldiers who can make an appearance on the ground will help bolster that core group.

Weak clubs always have five or six very good players but fall away pretty sharply after that. And the bottom six or seven aren't worth looking at. Sound familiar?

Premiership teams have top players in every position, and good players who can't get a game. We haven't been remotely serious about developing our list, and have instead opted for the StKilda way.
 
Koalalill said:
Like Paddy Guinane, he will find peace only away from continual scrutiny if the limelight is shared, and he is simply allowed to play a smaller part in a successful team. For his sake, I hope the Tigers can surround him with enough talent to finally give him that luxury, for it seems that only a premiership would lift him from the "talent unfulfilled" category.

This paragraph sums it up in a nutshell.

The article was mentioned on the radio on the weekend, just never got around to reading it before. Thanks for posting it KL.
 
Hungry said:
For too long the Tiger admin and coaches have thought that a handful of players - Richo, Knights, Gaspar, Campbell, Daffy - could take us to a flag if they had a blinder of a year at the same time. They just think that a few foot soldiers who can make an appearance on the ground will help bolster that core group.

Weak clubs always have five or six very good players but fall away pretty sharply after that. And the bottom six or seven aren't worth looking at. Sound familiar?

Good point you make Hungry - that's what I have been saying for the last few weeks. Our Club has for too long believed we are better than what we are - the list was thin back in Walls & Geischen days and still is today.

Now finally the RFC has said we have to do something about the list and re-build from the ground up.
 
KL: Is this topic deja vu or did I actually read it on here a couple of days ago under heading "Limelight that blinds Richo" ?
 
Your right Roar34 it is a bit of Deja Vu, but it begs the question how did we let this bloke out of our grasp.

Barry RICHARDSON that is. He should have been made and assistant and in my opinion would have been better value than Brittain and has Richmond in his blood.

Yet another Administrative blunder in my opinion. We had a quality Richmond person in the fold and let him go to another club.

How does this happen. we should be going all out to get this sort of person back to the club along with the likes of Knighters although I doubt Knighters will come back whilst Spud is there.
 
Roar34 said:
KL: Is this topic deja vu or did I actually read it on here a couple of days ago under heading "Limelight that blinds Richo" ?

Roar34 - I did apologises in advance if it had already been posted.

Gustiger12: Barry Richardson has had many roles at ther RFC - his last being President. A position he left. He has now taken up a position at the Bulldogs as Chairman of Selectors.
 
Wrong Richardson Gus, Alan Richardson coached Coburg last year, not Barry. Though I think Alan also ended up at the Bulldogs...maybe there's an omen...the Bulldogs are starting a Richardson collection ;D
 
I wasn't having a shot at you KL, hope it didn't read that way.
I like Br's articles in Sunday Age, specially when he talks about Tiges both old and present. He has some very good thoughts on some of our players.