Richmond's future brighter than we currently think!

[doherz]

The team with the exception of around 6-8 players lack the toughness needed to WIN.
Cousin's, Cotchin, Rance, Richardson have that toughness, perhaps Delidio (but he too goes missing when he needs to step up and he's had almost 5 years at Richmond), maybe a couple of the young players as well, the rest of the list is pretty much lost.

A majority of the list has only been there 5 years and have only known one coach (a rarity in itself for RFC). Lets see how we go post June.

 

[doherz]

You lost me after your first point when you included those two names as the nucleus of a very good midfield!! God help us!! The ferals are trying to hold on to anything. 3/4 qtrs of the list needs to go if we are fair dinkum about winning a premiership and getting anywhere near the Geelongs of the football world. Wake up people!!!

I may be a little too optimistic, but werent Geelong in a similar position regarding coach and players about 3 years ago (perhaps not 15th on the ladder though)?

 

[RemoteTiger]

Hang on! on the 9th you started a thread saying you were joining the Darkside,, and then the very next day you start this brightsider post.... Me thinks you are as muddled as our game plan.

Yes you are right - I was extremely depressed at the club I love and place far too much importance upon in my life. (The RFC have been that important to me since the early 1960s when I was a kid in shorts)

I then got to thinking about where the problem lay and what the solution was - originally I thought it was our poor players - but - then drew a line from when they must have shown talent to be selected in the draft or during the trade season to how they are playing now and came to the conclusion that the RFC is not developing the players in the crucial areas of physicality, mentally or culturally. I recalled the comments on Fox Footy Teams (about a kid not having a development coach until his third year in the club) and the jig-saw began to fall into place.

In my previous thread I blamed the players and slipped myself into the darker thoughts of the realists as they call themselves - its is just a couple of players and the footy department that really is at fault - kids like Deledio, Tambling, Cotchin, Moore, Mcguane, Polo would be household names and regular contributing stars if they had recieved the development of a club like the West Coast or Hawthorn or Geelong. With us they are labelled duds and would be's.

The problem I believe is in the footy department - the kids have not lost their talent just because Richmond picked them in the draft.....we are guilty of not developing that talent.....

 

[Spanish Prisoner]

RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB has a very good future.

Why?

Because We Have -

1. The nucleus of a very good midfield in the near future - Graham, Foley, Jackson, Coghlan, Tuck, Cotchin, Deledio to name a few
2. The foundation of a strong backline and it will continue to improve over the next season or two - McGuane, Moore, Polo, Rance, Newman
3. Arguably good to very good footballers playing a very poor game plan - White, Nahas, Collins, Morton, Tambling
4. Players who are still under developed and who with the right Football Department direction and leadership will become good to very good AFL footballers - Pattison, Hughes, Post, Vickery, Raines, Riewoldt, Oakley-Nicholls, Conners, Thursfield, Putt
5. Older players who still have a lot to give - Richardson, Brown, Simmonds, Bowden
6. Forgotten older players who may rise to AFL level again - Polak, Pettifer, Thompson
7. An off-field RFC that is stabilized and growing (how the Global Finacial Crisis impacts this is not known at this stage)

On the not-so-good-side of the equation we have -

1. A poor coaching panel whose approach and game plan is simply not getting the right results
2. A poor player development team that needs an investment of resources
3. Some players who are not AFL level - schulz, Edwards, Hislop, King
4. A Tradeable player whose value is questionable - McMahon

My opinion is that the RFC can turn this around by

1. Appointing a new coaching panel that is prepared to make the right tough decisions by introducing the right game and development plan to the right players
2. Investing in the Football Department's Player Development area
3. Getting or developing quickly a strong CHF to straighten the attack up
4. Putting more muscles on our players as they grow into their manly bodies
5. Increasing the skills of our players through constant drills and individual training

All this can turn-around-quickly because we do have a good base of young talented players.

In other words it is the coaching panel and the footy department that has let them down........Evidence of this is

1. A player manager announcing on Fox Footy Teams that one of his young players at Richmond did not have a development coach until his third year in AFL - it appears as though we expect kids to develop themselves over the first 2 years
2. The run and carry possession and outside game plan is not getting the right results and it appears the coach does not have another contingency plan
3. A Mid-field coach who was in his day as a Richmond Footballer part of the weakest mid-fields the Tigers put on the paddock in the modern era of AFL - our midfield performed far better in the last half of last season
4. A forward coach who is a better mid-field coach

And Lastly
5. Please don't tell me the top draft picks we took all of a sudden lost their skills or football brains when they were drafted by Richmond - they simply have not been developed.

Change the coaching panel and invest in the footy department and the young talented players we have will make the Mighty Tigers roar again in the near future......my opinion only.....RT

This was a great attempt to rationalise the situation, but it is simply not true.

The list is hopeless and we need to start tfrom scratch....

 

[BBC]

Remote, nice sentiments but we miss the most important ingredient - leadership.

We lack a strong President, Coach and senior playing group. Until we get this right then we can have talent but we will underachieve.

We need to make a change to our coach and get the appointment right.

 

[seven]

I got an idea - let's get a new coach and top up the list and we'll be bound for a flag.

Didn't we do that with Hislop, thomson and Cuz. "locked and loaded"

 

[Djevv]

Thanks for this Remote. I quite enjoyed this and I needed the boost after suffering through a replay of the weekend's game. Horrendous it was, absolutely dreadful, appalling, awful. Thankfully I switched it off before the fourth. Anyway I digress.

My thoughts are along the same lines as yours. I mean players like Deledio, Cotchin, Riewolt, Morton, Tambling and Connors are absolute dynamite, if onnnly they could be developed. And guys like Graham - well who'd have thought! And our backline shows plenty of promise. It's also great to see kids like Collins, Rance and yes even JON out on the paddock!

But my ideas about the issues with the club are a little different from yours: the main issue to me is a lack, as a club of 'ticker'. Collectively we have no heart, no belief, no faith. Are supporters any different to players? No we all expect to lose, especially the pressure games, week in, week out. The whole club is infected with this - Fremantle are the same. IMO the reason that other clubs seem to rebuild so easily is that they have a foundation to build on. We don't. We have no idea what success it let alone how to achieve it.

The solution? New leadership. My idea is that we might be able to turn this lamentable culture around by putting 'Old Richmond' in charge. When I say 'Old Richmond' I mean Malthouse coach, Balme Head of Football, Sheeds president, Bartlett in there somewhere. These guys KNOW the club and the culture but have proven outside the Tiges that they can cut it in successful clubs. The also have the respect and love of the members. Leading Richmond to sucess is the toughest gig in footy and I simply don't think a younger man or an outsider could cut it. We have tried a smart and savvy operator in Wallace, with a good plan (i think) to slowly build success that might be sustainable. Wallace has failed completely, and I doubt anyone else could have done better.

My definition of success is not premierships either its first finals then consecutive finals. Malthouse won't take us to a premiership IMO. But the young hungry bloke we get after him just might!

 

[IanG]

This was a great attempt to rationalise the situation, but it is simply not true.

The list is hopeless and we need to start tfrom scratch....

If thtas the case we may as well give up now and become the Tassie Togers with the lack of drafting options in the next 5 years due to GC and WS entering the comp.