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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
I've refrained from responding to yesterday's defeat by posting in haste.
I've looked at each of the threads such as:
Changes v Melbourne
Wallace ......
Perspective
and those threads on individual players.
Sure they let off a lot of steam and there are some good & interesting points within them.
But as I read each and thought of a response, I hesitated, thinking that there was something much much deeper that had a little of each of these threads and more.
And to do that one needs to look back to where we've come, what path we've taken, and where we are.
Going back to mid 2004, there were a number of issues confronting the RFC.
1. That the club was in perilous financial waters with millions of dollars of short term debt that could be called in.
2. That the list was in extremely poor condition.
3. It had a football management and coaching staff that was exiting.
4. The Punt Road facilities were the near worst in the AFL.
5. There was a split Board facing an election.
I'm sure there were some other underlying factors not listed here.
(You're welcome to add to these.)
To that there were some very important events that took place.
1. There was a coach found who was prepared to take on the role even though the Board election had still not yet taken place.
The choice seemed to be between two experienced coaches, but without premierships as coaches, or two inexperienced coaches. It was decided to take on Wallace.
(I remember expressing my doubts at the time but was definitely behing him when he was appointed.)
2. The Board election took place with the result of a united RFC Board for the first time in several years.
3. The choice was made that the best strategy both on-field/off-field was to rebuild without bottoming out. That was the list would retain its mature players and work on a rebuilding path whilst trying to maximise its on-field success.
5. Use that success to increase membership & financial support.
4. That the Club would work on developing a new larger facility that the squad could train on.
The result:
1. The RFC has improved off-field financially and increased its supporter base.
2. A new MCG-sized ground is being built at Craigieburn.
3. Is the hard one.
I believe we hamstrung ourselves by refusing to bottom out.
We were content to continue holding onto players that had proven that they were limited in facets of playing & mental skills, & leadership.
What we have done is transplant those same limitations from one generation of players to the next.
I believe, from an on-field perspective, we should have bottomed out completely after 2004, both in 2005 & 2006.
We should have traded off our mature players when they were still mature players.
We should have got priority picks, not only in 2004, in 2005 & 2006.
In both the 2005 & 2006 drafts, how much bigger difference would it have made to have had early picks in top half dozen in each of those drafts, along with early picks in 2007.
I don't have prejudice against the players we drafted, excluding a handful, we've taken very good players in each of those drafts with the picks we had.
But imagine how much better with 2 picks in the top half dozen in each of those drafts.
In regards to Terry and the coaching staff, I know they have worked very hard and built an infrastructure where there wasn't one before. (For that, all Tiger supporters should reappraise the efforts of Danny Frawley operating in an antiqued structure.)
I certainly don't want to see the same clean out as in 2004 again.
The football operation department was hamstrung in 2004 with insufficient infrastructure, then chose in 2005 to hanstring itself further by not receiving the benefits of bottoming out.
There's probably more that I can go on with, but I'll leave it at that.
Where are we know, and what do we do?
1. The club has improved its financial & supporter lot. It is a great credit to the Tiger supporter group that it "stuck fat" with the Club with all the changes over the last few years.
2. We do have the new Craigieburn ground soon to be opened.
3. We do have a list with some genuinely exciting young players that need to supported by some more genuinely exciting juniors.
4. Quite clearly, a review of the coaching position will take place with some young assistant coaches already within the infrastructure - King, McCrae, Rawlings & Campbell. And there may be other targetted young coaches not in the club.
Personally, this is the path I would follow.
1. Whether Terry chooses to continue through the review process, or not, will be up to him.
I believe that if a new coach is sought, the RFC needs to refrain from making a "knee-jerk" appointment. Sure, it may need to choose a care-taker coach, But in needs to go through a proper selection process.
Personally, the sought coach that I'd be after is a similar type to that I proposed in 2004, a young coach who can grow with the younger players, just as:
Hafey did with his group,
Worsfold did with his group at Westcoast, and
Williams did with his group at Port.
And if a Senior Mentor needs to be appointed, amen.
Clearly, a new coach needs to have "The Vision", a realistic one, and the strength of purpose to see that vision through.
2. This will be the last draft that any of the established clubs will have in terms of a "real" first round pick. It needs to be on the condition of which way the club wants to go.
If the RFC chooses to go down the bottoming out path, it probably needs to make a decision before we start playing clubs below us.
If the RFC chooses to go down this path, it needs to identify which of its current list have the mental, playing & leadership skills to lift themselves up to premiership level. (Finals, for finals sake, is not good enough.)
It needs to move on from from those players who have shown over many years that they lack the mental, playing & leadership skills to take it to a premiership.
3. Football history tells us that a great era often begins with a momentus event. When Hafey began in 1966 through into 1967, it involved a training regime never seen before at Tigerland. Players were exposed to mental and physical pain far greater than would ever be endured on a football field.
We saw this again with the bricks of Kennedy's commandos in the early 70s; again with Malcolm Blight having his players run over hot coals, plus his training regime; and again with the Hawks in 2004/5 when they went on the Kokoda Trail trip.
Momentus trials, such as these, sort out which players can rise above the mental & physical pain and which ones will show leadership under enormous pressure.
Food for thought.
4. Regarding Craigieburn,
Not only should the greater squad train there, but a Richmond Reserves team needs to move and play there.
To me, it is quite clear that if you want to develop premiership players you must have them train and play on a premiership surface.
Punt Road is a terrible ground to train on, it is far too small. Coburg, in winter, is a mud heap and bears no resemblance to an AFL ground.
And these are the conditions in which we are developing our youngsters.
Note:
Geelong train and play at Kardinia Park. And many of their juniors, from the Falcons, had Kardinia Park as their home ground too.
Hawthorn had the guts to move to Waveley. Now they train on one of the best surfaces in Melbourne. And their Reserves would benefit more by playing there too.
As for the interstate teams, most interstate clubs' set-ups, with training facilities and distribution of supplementary players, just can't be matched.
Craigieburn, as a whole area, has the space to create an elite facility. It can grow. Punt Road can't.
I've hit on a few areas, and probably left some out.
I haven't had the luxury of a proof reader.
I hope my comments can be taken in the right spirit.
I look forward to your responses.
I've looked at each of the threads such as:
Changes v Melbourne
Wallace ......
Perspective
and those threads on individual players.
Sure they let off a lot of steam and there are some good & interesting points within them.
But as I read each and thought of a response, I hesitated, thinking that there was something much much deeper that had a little of each of these threads and more.
And to do that one needs to look back to where we've come, what path we've taken, and where we are.
Going back to mid 2004, there were a number of issues confronting the RFC.
1. That the club was in perilous financial waters with millions of dollars of short term debt that could be called in.
2. That the list was in extremely poor condition.
3. It had a football management and coaching staff that was exiting.
4. The Punt Road facilities were the near worst in the AFL.
5. There was a split Board facing an election.
I'm sure there were some other underlying factors not listed here.
(You're welcome to add to these.)
To that there were some very important events that took place.
1. There was a coach found who was prepared to take on the role even though the Board election had still not yet taken place.
The choice seemed to be between two experienced coaches, but without premierships as coaches, or two inexperienced coaches. It was decided to take on Wallace.
(I remember expressing my doubts at the time but was definitely behing him when he was appointed.)
2. The Board election took place with the result of a united RFC Board for the first time in several years.
3. The choice was made that the best strategy both on-field/off-field was to rebuild without bottoming out. That was the list would retain its mature players and work on a rebuilding path whilst trying to maximise its on-field success.
5. Use that success to increase membership & financial support.
4. That the Club would work on developing a new larger facility that the squad could train on.
The result:
1. The RFC has improved off-field financially and increased its supporter base.
2. A new MCG-sized ground is being built at Craigieburn.
3. Is the hard one.
I believe we hamstrung ourselves by refusing to bottom out.
We were content to continue holding onto players that had proven that they were limited in facets of playing & mental skills, & leadership.
What we have done is transplant those same limitations from one generation of players to the next.
I believe, from an on-field perspective, we should have bottomed out completely after 2004, both in 2005 & 2006.
We should have traded off our mature players when they were still mature players.
We should have got priority picks, not only in 2004, in 2005 & 2006.
In both the 2005 & 2006 drafts, how much bigger difference would it have made to have had early picks in top half dozen in each of those drafts, along with early picks in 2007.
I don't have prejudice against the players we drafted, excluding a handful, we've taken very good players in each of those drafts with the picks we had.
But imagine how much better with 2 picks in the top half dozen in each of those drafts.
In regards to Terry and the coaching staff, I know they have worked very hard and built an infrastructure where there wasn't one before. (For that, all Tiger supporters should reappraise the efforts of Danny Frawley operating in an antiqued structure.)
I certainly don't want to see the same clean out as in 2004 again.
The football operation department was hamstrung in 2004 with insufficient infrastructure, then chose in 2005 to hanstring itself further by not receiving the benefits of bottoming out.
There's probably more that I can go on with, but I'll leave it at that.
Where are we know, and what do we do?
1. The club has improved its financial & supporter lot. It is a great credit to the Tiger supporter group that it "stuck fat" with the Club with all the changes over the last few years.
2. We do have the new Craigieburn ground soon to be opened.
3. We do have a list with some genuinely exciting young players that need to supported by some more genuinely exciting juniors.
4. Quite clearly, a review of the coaching position will take place with some young assistant coaches already within the infrastructure - King, McCrae, Rawlings & Campbell. And there may be other targetted young coaches not in the club.
Personally, this is the path I would follow.
1. Whether Terry chooses to continue through the review process, or not, will be up to him.
I believe that if a new coach is sought, the RFC needs to refrain from making a "knee-jerk" appointment. Sure, it may need to choose a care-taker coach, But in needs to go through a proper selection process.
Personally, the sought coach that I'd be after is a similar type to that I proposed in 2004, a young coach who can grow with the younger players, just as:
Hafey did with his group,
Worsfold did with his group at Westcoast, and
Williams did with his group at Port.
And if a Senior Mentor needs to be appointed, amen.
Clearly, a new coach needs to have "The Vision", a realistic one, and the strength of purpose to see that vision through.
2. This will be the last draft that any of the established clubs will have in terms of a "real" first round pick. It needs to be on the condition of which way the club wants to go.
If the RFC chooses to go down the bottoming out path, it probably needs to make a decision before we start playing clubs below us.
If the RFC chooses to go down this path, it needs to identify which of its current list have the mental, playing & leadership skills to lift themselves up to premiership level. (Finals, for finals sake, is not good enough.)
It needs to move on from from those players who have shown over many years that they lack the mental, playing & leadership skills to take it to a premiership.
3. Football history tells us that a great era often begins with a momentus event. When Hafey began in 1966 through into 1967, it involved a training regime never seen before at Tigerland. Players were exposed to mental and physical pain far greater than would ever be endured on a football field.
We saw this again with the bricks of Kennedy's commandos in the early 70s; again with Malcolm Blight having his players run over hot coals, plus his training regime; and again with the Hawks in 2004/5 when they went on the Kokoda Trail trip.
Momentus trials, such as these, sort out which players can rise above the mental & physical pain and which ones will show leadership under enormous pressure.
Food for thought.
4. Regarding Craigieburn,
Not only should the greater squad train there, but a Richmond Reserves team needs to move and play there.
To me, it is quite clear that if you want to develop premiership players you must have them train and play on a premiership surface.
Punt Road is a terrible ground to train on, it is far too small. Coburg, in winter, is a mud heap and bears no resemblance to an AFL ground.
And these are the conditions in which we are developing our youngsters.
Note:
Geelong train and play at Kardinia Park. And many of their juniors, from the Falcons, had Kardinia Park as their home ground too.
Hawthorn had the guts to move to Waveley. Now they train on one of the best surfaces in Melbourne. And their Reserves would benefit more by playing there too.
As for the interstate teams, most interstate clubs' set-ups, with training facilities and distribution of supplementary players, just can't be matched.
Craigieburn, as a whole area, has the space to create an elite facility. It can grow. Punt Road can't.
I've hit on a few areas, and probably left some out.
I haven't had the luxury of a proof reader.
I hope my comments can be taken in the right spirit.
I look forward to your responses.