Scratchy Win

[Harry]

First of all I like to say that I'm glad we won today.

However if we played like we did today against a team in the top bracket of the AFL we would have gone down by 10 goals. I don't like to put a negative spin on everything yellow and black, but thats the way I see it.

The bulldogs were very lazy today and applied minimal pressure on us - we had loose players everywhere. Whenever pressure was applied our skill errors would prevail.

The commentators said it was a very ugly game today, but unfortunately most games we happen to win are ugly. Why? Not good enough.

This is the sad fact about the RFC at the moment and hopefully Frawely doesn't think that todays win has turned things around.

Hopefully Frawely doesn't reward todays poor performers by not making changes for the sake of not changing a winning team. Rogers, King, and Bowden were very ordinary and at times were a liability to the team and deserve to be dropped. Frawely will definately not do this.

This is exactly the time frawely should give new players a run in the side, when the team is confident coming from a win. McGrath, Krakour, Fleming, Nicholls played well for Coburg yesterday, especially McGrath. Frawely should give him a game next week, when we have momentum in the team, not when we lose and the team is in dissaray.

Danny please surprise me.

Rogers? Mistake after mistake, turnover after turnover. Can anyone remind me why he's in the team and why he never gets dragged.

 

[diggler]

(Rogers? Mistake after mistake, turnover after turnover. Can anyone remind me why he's in the team and why he never gets dragged)

Maybe Rodgers and Bowden are in a love triangle with Mr & Mrs Frawley, because these two duds rarely get dropped or dragged.

If we were playing a top side today, we would of been slaughtered. We play the worst brand of football in the league, no wonder membership and crowds are falling down. I blame that dud from Linton St Moorabbin. This ugly brand of football will send this club down the toilet.
I pay alot of money for my membership and quiet frankly you see better skills in first division EDFL. Going to a Richmond game, is like visiting youre mother in law. Its painful, but you just have to do it.
And another thing about the EDFL and any comp for that matter, you dont see gun full forwards doing risky handballs from 20 metres out directly in front. What is going through Richo's head? All he is good for these days is a decoy full forward. A total clown who reminds me of Alan Donald dropping his bat in the last world cup.

 

[Harry]

That love triangle explanation must be true, otherwise I can't think of any other reason.

Perhaps Rogers is being used as an example to the younger players of exactly how to be a dud and someone they can aspire to be, in order to fit into the team.

 

[YeahNah]

It's funny, I was watching Rogers with particular interest and wondered why he was so maligned. I thought he played pretty well yesterday and I thought "nobody will have a crack at him this week". I only saw the second half on TV, so maybe he played poorly in the first half. In the second half he was fine. Was it his first half that was the problem? Anyone?

 

[Harry]

YeahNah, I know what you are refering to - the last quarter when he got a few un-manned possessions in defence and found an un-opposed teamate by foot. He looked good because there was no pressure on him, by this stage the game was over.

Whats bad about rogers? where do I start.

In the third quarter he got possession of the ball at chb, pressure was applied and delivered it to the only bulldogs player around 2-3 tiger players.

Another example was a kick in from an out of bounds on the full just left of the behind post in the 3rd term. There was no clear options available and the umpire put some pressure on him to hurry up. What does rogers do? a 30 metre chip kick to the opposite side of the ground to a 2 on 2 contest. You probably heard me swearing at rogers when this happened.

These are only 2 examples of many, not only yesterday but as long as I can remember.

He looks much worse at the ground because you can actually see the obvious options that he doesn't bother to look for.

Rogers is tough, hard, can run fast, can kick the ball long. Yes I agree. Is this all that is required to play AFL. My answer is definately no.

Too many times rogers crumbles under pressure, has no vision even with the slightest pressure, would always take the easy option to bomb long to contests (if fortunate). His ball handling skills is pathetic, will always fumble even under no pressure.

We are an embarassment for playing him.

 

[Rosy]

I just watched the replay yet again. I'm not the least concerned about the scratchy low skill game people think it was.

I think our midfield looks a ton better now, and will only improve with another run under their belts and a bit of confidence in each other.

Rodan is great to have in there getting the ball out to Tivva and Fiora etc to use their pace to deliver it to the forwards.
Probably a bit of a changing of the guard with King there.

Plenty of people doubted Johnson would get in and get the hard balls when we drafted him, but he's proven he's willing to get in amongst it all rather than hunt around waiting for someone to get it for him. Him and Cogs give us some badly needed grunt in the midfield.

I think some people like to bag certain players no matter what, and Rogo is one of them. There are a couple of people I know of who would never in their wildest dreams admit Dunc had ever had a good game.

I prefer to ignore all of that.

We had our first win since round 20 last year and I am happy.

Yes a scratchy win for sure, but aren't all our games against the Dogs that way.

Bring on the Dockers.

 

[mightytiges]

I just watched the replay yet again. I'm not the least concerned about the scratchy low skill game people think it was.

I think our midfield looks a ton better now, and will only improve with another run under their belts and a bit of confidence in each other.

Rodan is great to have in there getting the ball out to Tivva and Fiora etc to use their pace to deliver it to the forwards.
Probably a bit of a changing of the guard with King there.

Plenty of people doubted Johnson would get in and get the hard balls when we drafted him, but he's proven he's willing to get in amongst it all rather than hunt around waiting for someone to get it for him. Him and Cogs give us some badly needed grunt in the midfield.

Agree with everything you say rosy. The first half especially the second quarter was terrible but after half-time our disposal and decision making improved dramatically and we started to play the way we should be playing. Need to keep that going this week against Freo. We are nowhere there yet (we still gave up too many goals to the opposition again from rebounds out of our forward 50) but it's only round 2 and our midfield is vastly stronger than last year and getting better as you say with each match played.

 

[YeahNah]

You're a breath of fresh air Rosy. I love the team and I love a win. Life's too short. Rogers was rated as the most underrated in the Tiger squad 2 years ago and the Crows were keen to get him around the time of their premierships. He can't be too bad. Love him or hate him, he's a Tiger player and deserves to be treated like one of the tiger family.

 

[Tigerdog]

With the unfortunate news on Richo I'd hope Rogers gets a go leading out of a forward pocket. I got no problems with Rogers he has given us a lot better service than some of our recruits over the years and he doesn't shirk an issue.
Let him lead out of a pocket for a few weeks and IMO the criticism of him would almost cease.

 

[gustiger12]

I'm sure some would have preferred a loss just so they can continue their public assassinations.

 

[johnson2richo2003]

I'm sure some would have preferred a loss just so they can continue their public assassinations.

agrees gus.would love spud and the boys rub it in their face,s this year.

 

[Tigerblood]

Yes, we must have a good support base amongst the English community given the amount of whingers around here. As much as losing has depressed me over the 30+ years I've gone for the Tiges, the constant barking of some of this lot annoy me more. The reason is that it's not countered with constructive, positive ideas. Sacking half the staff is not a constructive idea, although judicious pruning of the list is of course necessary.

Some whiner came up with an absurd gameplan of 'midfielders running to 50 and shooting goals' on another thread. Doesn't he know that Frawley already tried that by playing Cameron, Fiora and Tivendale off half back in the first half of 02?

Anyone who knows their footy would know that there were positive signs in last week's game. Rodan in the second half showed what he's going to become - a super-quick and extremely skillfull rover who gets a lot of ball in heavy traffic. Kane Johnson is a top-rate midfielder, who was able to get the pill and hit a forward. I like being able to relax when he gets it, knowing that a stuff-up isn't odds-on. When Knights was in his heydey I used to enjoy that feeling too, you just knew he was going to create something. Thirdly, Campbell is again turning it on - getting the ball, feeding off, tackling hard, instructing the youngsters. And then we've got Coughlan, who is starting to feel he belongs in the big show, in the centre, and with a body to back it up.

The Dogs hardly touched the ball in the last 45 mins of that game, and they have one of the best collections of running players in the AFL.

We moved up a notch last week. Another win or two, and the confidence can start to build. With that comes a more attractive brand of play. Bag them when necessary, but some of you are deafening in your silence when it comes to praise. That's why you're as blind as those who overrate duds. I'm the first to agree that, for example, King should go, but the biggest whinger on this board labelled Rodan and Coughlan 'duds' early last year. If we had listened to him they'd be delisted by now. I dare him to publicly admit he was wrong, and praise these two kids.

I say we cultivate the positives and be realistic about what can be done about the negatives.

Go Tiges!!

 

[MC24]

I say we cultivate the positives and be realistic about what can be done about the negatives.

Tigerblood, your blood's worth bottling. Some commonsense. I'm under no illusions about Sunday's result. It was a win and something to build on. But there is obviously a lot of work to be done.

And then we've got Coughlan, who is starting to feel he belongs in the big show, in the centre, and with a body to back it up.

Tigerblood, you can see and sense that he's just growing in confidence and starting to make his mark (pardon the pun). I don't want to get too far ahead of what may or may not happen in the future, because the disappointment would be too much for me to handle, but it would be a dream come true to see some of our players live up to expectations.

If anyone is going to drag this team out of its mediocrity then I really feel it's going to be Johnson, Coughlan and Rodan showing the way. To me, they just seem to have some real spirit about them. And I don't think even the Richmond Footy Club has a hope of dulling their spirits, like it has others in the past. Just my personal opinion.

We will turn things around and I maintain that it will be late in the season before we see a 'new' team emerge. Not just because of the additions to the midfield, but with the return of Holland and hopefully Ottens and others mid way through the season, the line up will change quite a bit.

The impact that Greg Miller will have and is having at the Club should not be underestimated either. That takes time, so expect to see a real difference in the efforts out on the ground later this season and into 2004.

This season is the start of better things to come. I have no doubts about that.

I don't have a problem with short-term pain for long-term gain. And as long as I can see the younger players improving and continuing to emerge then I can live with our results, whatever they may be, even though I may not necessarily like some of them.

 

[TigerFury]

Thankyou Tigerblood and MC24! At last sanity prevails!

 

[Koalalill]

Thankyou Tigerblood and MC24! At last sanity prevails!

TigerFury - you stole my thunder

Thanks TB & MC24 for some perspective. I agree MC24 I can see Cogs, Rodan and Johnson leading the way both on and off the field. As I have said before I think Rodan could be a future captain. I had the pleasure of speaking to David at the Family Day and he is just a really good bloke, not big headed. Actually he is the most uneffected young man you could wish to meet.

Sunday's result was what we as a CLub needed. It may not have been pretty but there were some positives. I was very impressed with our backline. There seems to be a greater resolve there - their tackling so far this year is much better. *smile* is leading the way and Andy K seems to be getting back to where he was a couple seasons back. And as I posted previously Johnson and Cogs seem to compliment each other really well. Surely the doomsdayers would have to see that - then again :-\

BTW did anyone hear Greg Miller on Sunday on 3AW with David Smorgan ???

One of the things he said was that in his opinion the recruitment of Hudson last season was a mistake. A short term fix.

 

[johnson2richo2003]

well said TB+MC24. couldnt have said it better myself.

 

[Harry]

Tigerblood, that whiner was me.

Theboss asked me for my opinion on a game plan we need and i obliged. I would have thought this was quite constructive. These are my opinions. If you think this is whining then thats your decision.

I try and be constructive instead of saying "oh dear, that was a poor performance, I wonder what went wrong".

The facts are IMO that our game plan and team structure currently is not good enough to compete with the top teams. It is too predictable and one dimensional. If these facts are realised then it makes no difference if you win or lose - you need to improve.

I stated the improvements i see RFC need to implement.

You say that what annoys you is that some of the supporters constant barking is not countered with constructive positive ideas. Then you go on and single out my thread, and call me a whiner. I would have thought that my thread was constructive. I don't know.

You say that Frawely tried "my gameplan" in 02 with fiora, tivendale, and cameron at half back. What does that have to do with what I suggested. I suggested that players need to be encouraged to run hard and link up from positions forward of the centre into goal scoring opportunities.

This would add another string to our bow and would open up our forward line as opposition players flooding back to counter richo would become worried about tiger midfielders running into scoring opportunities. This would create more unpredictability in our play and would also assist richo and the other forwards. Playing cameron at half back is not what I suggested.

If you don't like hearing the facts about our club and other supporters sometimes negative opinions then log onto www.luvi.dada.tigers.com.au.

I'm not a pessimist and i would love for us to win. But ask yourself this question - how would we go against brisbane at the gabba next week. Until i can say - "yes we're in with a definate chance", then I will give my opinion on how we can improve.

 

[YeahNah]

We have the start of a good midfield. The more time they play together, the greater they will develop the team work and understanding required of a great midfield. We will need to ensure we continue to address this issue, however the fact that we kicked over the 100 points was also a big plus. I was pretty confident our midfield would go OK this year. Our ability to fight out matches and kick winning scores is a concern. Sunday was a step in the right direction. Let's hope we can make it last.

 

[Harry]

Yeah Nah, we should have traded Rogers to Adelaide when we had the chance, the same way we should have traded Daffy to Hawthorn. What happenned after that? We lived to regret that decision.

 

[MC24]

BTW did anyone hear Greg Miller on Sunday on 3AW with David Smorgan ???

One of the things he said was that in his opinion the recruitment of Hudson last season was a mistake. A short term fix.

I heard the interview as I was driving to the game KL. At last, someone who tells it like it is. He was honest in everything he said and I really appreciated that.

He also reinforced what I have been saying to people for a couple of years now. When we played Brisbane in about Round 18 of 2001, we looked like a bunch of skinny kids, compared to them. If I didn't know it already, that just confirmed how far behind the top teams we really are.

And Greg Miller mentioned that very point and said that it would be at least two seasons before we could hope to match the likes of Brisbane/top teams.

After watching the Port vs Brisbane game on Saturday night and seeing our game on Sunday, it really put things into perspective, if they weren't already.

If we can get within cooee of any of the top teams this season and provide genuine opposition, I would consider that significant improvement.