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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
Time for a rant.
I'm sick of the crap. Not from the team, but from the "supporters".
I'm sick of the pathetic, self-indulgent, crying from people who built up unrealistic expectations, despite knowing full well how deep the hole was that we've been climbing out of. I can't click on a thread without being immediately overwhelmed by whinging, moaning, "our season is finished", "our team is rubbish", "is it time for Wallace & Miller to go"... etc etc ad nauseum. Our season is NOT finished. Let's use last year as an example, we were 0-3 then too, and the corresponding games this year have been a hell of a lot better. No 100-point blowouts, for a start. We even pushed the Grand Finalists pretty hard.
Does anyone think Freo's season is over? They've got the same win/loss ratio and practically the same percentage as us. Or, if you want to eradicate the home ground advantage, how about Melbourne? Is their season over? Same win/loss, significantly worse percentage. How about the Doggies, should they bother turning up for the remaining 18 matches? Sure, they won a game when Geelong imploded in Round 1, but since then have lost by 6 goals and 8 goals respectively. And they used to be coached by TW, so they must be extra screwed, don't you think?
I'm sick of people who acknowledge the positives from the 1st three rounds being shouted down as "accepting mediocrity". Richmond has done anything but this over the last three years. Compare us to say, Hawthorn, if you disagree. Rather than "accepting mediocrity", tanking games, and throwing away seasons to buy lottery tickets for the draft, TW has challenged the club to develop a winning culture. 16th to 12th to 9th is not indicative of a club that accepts mediocrity, especially given the list in TW's 1st year. Oh, and that's not an excuse, that's a pure statement of fact. Don't take my word for it, trawl the PRE archives for people's opinions on the quality of the 2004/2005 list.
I'm sick of the snide, sarcastic belittling of Richmond players, regardless of whether they play a good game or not - generally because a "good game" seems to be defined by getting a minimum 25 touches, laying 10 tackles, breaking the lines with blistering speed (after clearing the ball from the bounce), and booting five goals on each foot. Selecting yourself a whipping-boy, and then doing everything you can to highlight his negatives while refusing to acknowledge any positives, is a pretty unsavoury thing to do. Ever watch a manager single out an employee or a workmate in the same way, for the same sort of constant vilification, when you knew that despite some flaws, the 'victim' was honestly trying to do the right thing? Do you admire people that treat others that way? I doubt it.
I'm sick of people screaming "play the kids", and then b!tching when we field a team with the majority of players under 23, and lose games.
I'm sick of people complaining about how much they've hated the last 25 years of Richmond footy, and then laying it at the door of the current coach for not immediately supplying consistent finals football. "The last 25 years of football have been rubbish", is not an excuse to bag the current playing group - they can't go back to 1987 and change history and make all your memories into happier ones. They can only work to improve, and 16th, 12th, 9th looks like improvement to me. Despite the losses, we're looking better this season, being more competitive early on whilst relying less on older players. It bears repeating: if you knew about the state of the list in 2004, and you're pissed off now because we haven't won a premiership yet, or even refuse to acknowledge improvement across the team, then you're a freakin' idiot.
I'm sick of people getting pissed off with the coach when he's not giving the supporters enough information, and then pissed off with him when he honestly tells us where he thinks the team is really at. Moreover, it sh!ts me that people seem to think that TW invented the concept of not advertising how injured your players are to the rest of the competition - every team does it, and has done it since I've been watching the game.
I'm sick of being more pissed off at people's reaction to losing a few close games, than the fact that we lost the games in the first place.
But I'm loving that we were a chance to win all of them. I'm loving that we've shown in all 3 games that we have the ability to play some pretty exciting footy. I'm loving that the mistakes and skill errors are fewer now than they were only 2 years ago. I'm loving that I can see drastic improvement in kids that didn't get a lot of senior game time last year. I'm loving that we're playing the Bulldogs on Friday night, and despite the fact that they flogged us last year, we're a reasonable chance of winning.
At the end of the day, if the Tigers *smile* you off so much that all you can do is spout vitriol and abuse, then maybe you're better off not watching them. Personally, for me the years in the wilderness will make the good times that much sweeter. And I'm enjoying watching the development of a footy team effectively from the ground up in the meantime. Life could be a whole bunch worse.
Oh, and I'm better than all of you. ;D
I'm sick of the crap. Not from the team, but from the "supporters".
I'm sick of the pathetic, self-indulgent, crying from people who built up unrealistic expectations, despite knowing full well how deep the hole was that we've been climbing out of. I can't click on a thread without being immediately overwhelmed by whinging, moaning, "our season is finished", "our team is rubbish", "is it time for Wallace & Miller to go"... etc etc ad nauseum. Our season is NOT finished. Let's use last year as an example, we were 0-3 then too, and the corresponding games this year have been a hell of a lot better. No 100-point blowouts, for a start. We even pushed the Grand Finalists pretty hard.
Does anyone think Freo's season is over? They've got the same win/loss ratio and practically the same percentage as us. Or, if you want to eradicate the home ground advantage, how about Melbourne? Is their season over? Same win/loss, significantly worse percentage. How about the Doggies, should they bother turning up for the remaining 18 matches? Sure, they won a game when Geelong imploded in Round 1, but since then have lost by 6 goals and 8 goals respectively. And they used to be coached by TW, so they must be extra screwed, don't you think?
I'm sick of people who acknowledge the positives from the 1st three rounds being shouted down as "accepting mediocrity". Richmond has done anything but this over the last three years. Compare us to say, Hawthorn, if you disagree. Rather than "accepting mediocrity", tanking games, and throwing away seasons to buy lottery tickets for the draft, TW has challenged the club to develop a winning culture. 16th to 12th to 9th is not indicative of a club that accepts mediocrity, especially given the list in TW's 1st year. Oh, and that's not an excuse, that's a pure statement of fact. Don't take my word for it, trawl the PRE archives for people's opinions on the quality of the 2004/2005 list.
I'm sick of the snide, sarcastic belittling of Richmond players, regardless of whether they play a good game or not - generally because a "good game" seems to be defined by getting a minimum 25 touches, laying 10 tackles, breaking the lines with blistering speed (after clearing the ball from the bounce), and booting five goals on each foot. Selecting yourself a whipping-boy, and then doing everything you can to highlight his negatives while refusing to acknowledge any positives, is a pretty unsavoury thing to do. Ever watch a manager single out an employee or a workmate in the same way, for the same sort of constant vilification, when you knew that despite some flaws, the 'victim' was honestly trying to do the right thing? Do you admire people that treat others that way? I doubt it.
I'm sick of people screaming "play the kids", and then b!tching when we field a team with the majority of players under 23, and lose games.
I'm sick of people complaining about how much they've hated the last 25 years of Richmond footy, and then laying it at the door of the current coach for not immediately supplying consistent finals football. "The last 25 years of football have been rubbish", is not an excuse to bag the current playing group - they can't go back to 1987 and change history and make all your memories into happier ones. They can only work to improve, and 16th, 12th, 9th looks like improvement to me. Despite the losses, we're looking better this season, being more competitive early on whilst relying less on older players. It bears repeating: if you knew about the state of the list in 2004, and you're pissed off now because we haven't won a premiership yet, or even refuse to acknowledge improvement across the team, then you're a freakin' idiot.
I'm sick of people getting pissed off with the coach when he's not giving the supporters enough information, and then pissed off with him when he honestly tells us where he thinks the team is really at. Moreover, it sh!ts me that people seem to think that TW invented the concept of not advertising how injured your players are to the rest of the competition - every team does it, and has done it since I've been watching the game.
I'm sick of being more pissed off at people's reaction to losing a few close games, than the fact that we lost the games in the first place.
But I'm loving that we were a chance to win all of them. I'm loving that we've shown in all 3 games that we have the ability to play some pretty exciting footy. I'm loving that the mistakes and skill errors are fewer now than they were only 2 years ago. I'm loving that I can see drastic improvement in kids that didn't get a lot of senior game time last year. I'm loving that we're playing the Bulldogs on Friday night, and despite the fact that they flogged us last year, we're a reasonable chance of winning.
At the end of the day, if the Tigers *smile* you off so much that all you can do is spout vitriol and abuse, then maybe you're better off not watching them. Personally, for me the years in the wilderness will make the good times that much sweeter. And I'm enjoying watching the development of a footy team effectively from the ground up in the meantime. Life could be a whole bunch worse.
Oh, and I'm better than all of you. ;D