Breakthrough, Building block, Benchmark call it what you want. | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Breakthrough, Building block, Benchmark call it what you want.

Scoop

Scoop

Tiger Legend
Dec 8, 2004
26,023
17,085
We lost Friday night because of skill, ability and experience. And right now in June 2010 that is fine. Losses like that I can live with.

Maybe because I have been overseas for three weeks but coming home Friday night I acutally believed that I saw a much improved Richmond side from the last one I saw. Infact I watched the Port game and I think the Friday nite effort was better then then the winning effort. There was no weather factor to drag the other mob down to our level. There wasn’t a team coming back from Darwin to play in the wet and cold. It was a top notch team without it’s best player, still a top eight team. And for sure, St Kilda if they kicked straight could have made it ugly but let’s deal with what happened.

For the entire 120 minutes on Friday the group was committted to the contest and committed to doing the team things when we didn’t have the ball. There was a stack of defensive runnning, switches, extra running to cover a teamate and constant movement within the rolling zone. The effort was as good as I have seen. We failed to convert opportunties in the first quarter but again that was skill and experience. Even in the second quarter when St Kilda were pushing forward and got to a six goal lead it didn’t feel like it was because we were not competeitng it was skill and ability. At that stage Richmond sides of the passed would have rolled and flood gates would have opened. We jagged a couple and held on. Then the thrid quarter came and there was some really good passages of running football. Linking handball chains off half back, class one touch football moving the ball from out wide back to the middle and into a key forward who was capable of taking the big grab. And then due to skills, ability and experience we didn’t know what to do when it got close.

I think Friday night was a massive step in the right direction and as postive of a loss as you can have. But we must get better, there will be let downs over the coming months but I think on Friday we took a massive step forward. That is the effort and attitude that is required every week. As we slowly weed out those not capable of having the required skill sets and ability to play the football that will get us climbing, just turning up and having a go will not be enough to make me happy.

But right now that is all I ask and on Firday night I saw a vastly different football side to the side I watched three weeks ago and a thousand times better then the side I saw in Round 1. In 10 or 11 weeks I can see the improvement and look forward to continous improvement through out the rest of the year. Wins and losses are not a factor for the rest of this year, improvement is. Get the right type in through the draft and make hard chocies with the playing list. The rest will happen with time and games.

But this game was a major step in the right direction and a tiny glimpse of what could happen. Long, long way to go but the steps are being taken and we saw some more againist the Saints.
 
Good call SCOOP. The signs are definitely there. After Friday nights game I left the game knowing we are heading in the right direction. Normally after a loss I hate watching replays of the game. But lately I actually look forward to watching the game again and see the little things that players do that instil confidence in me that this club can get somewhere is a few years time. Watching Riewoldt turn the game, watching Martin fend off an opponent then deliver a 50m pass into the forward line. Even seeing the usual whipping boys steadily improving makes going to the football these days that much more enjoyable.
 
good call, great call, big call, the call that i was thinking call.

100% effort for 100% of the time is what we should be aiming for right now. if dimma demands this we can clean the list of bludgers. when we clean the list of bludgers we can sort out lack of skills. when we are hard and skilled we can win games
 
Welcome back Scoop. I like the fact that we don't pick up 400 possessions while getting pasted by 10 goals.

It's been a long time (since Swooper perhaps) that the team has had a team first mentality with an emphasis on one percenters (surely we have been the worst for that over the years without actually knowing the stats).

I hope we just load up again on a batch of under 20's and don't trade/draft for players in the 24-27 age bracket from other clubs.
 
I reserved judgment on Beavis at first, but more and more I am becoming a fan of his. I will put the reasons why down eventually but I agree with some of the things Scoop said. You can feel a purpose and honesty behind the Tigers play and gameplan that hasn't been there since Northey.

It's not fashionable on PRE to praise Wallace, but he was an excellent coach on a week by week basis. But Plough never gave the feeling of depth, longevity and purpose that you get with Beavis's coaching.

Maybe I'm an hopeless optimist, but I feel something building.
 
6 months in and signs are looking towards turning the corner.

What we saw on Friday night is what Tigerbob calls the light at the end of the tunnel.

I can see the light.
 
jb03 said:
Welcome back Scoop. I like the fact that we don't pick up 400 possessions while getting pasted by 10 goals.

It's been a long time (since Swooper perhaps) that the team has had a team first mentality with an emphasis on one percenters (surely we have been the worst for that over the years without actually knowing the stats).

I hope we just load up again on a batch of under 20's and don't trade/draft for players in the 24-27 age bracket from other clubs.
Click to expand...

trades for those types of players will happen due to comprpmised drafts. so prepare youself.
 
We don’t have a CHF, CHB, FB or Ruckman and have a dozen + players with ropey skills or suspect talent.

Sure there are prospects in the pipeline but there is a long way to go until we can genuinely say the light is definitely not a mirage.
 
Dimma certainly gets a big mid season tick. Hard to fault so far and I only have praise for what I have seen from the coach.

but I didn't think we played 4 quarters last weekend despite Scooper's high praise.
Thought we started very slowly and St Kilda threatened to blow us away in the first two quarters.
Maybe that was adjusting to the conditions from the previous week I'm not sure but pleasingly we came back hard and that third quarter was scintillating.
We ran out of legs in the last and the gap blew out.
Overall I thought we did ok and came away positive.

I give us a real chance against West Coast if we play 4 quarters and we might even go in favourites. Be interesting to see how we handle it.

jb03 said:
It's been a long time (since Swooper perhaps) that the team has had a team first mentality with an emphasis on one percenters (surely we have been the worst for that over the years without actually knowing the stats).
Click to expand...

Lids excluded? ;D
 
good call scoop, the sign of improvement from 10w ago is apparent for all to see, so to is the form of key players in Newy, Lids, Cotch, Edwards, Moore, JR8 and Now Gus...we are applying a structure with more discipline and belief and greater effect than what could be mustered earlier on...with more senior players(Fooley, Jacko, Connors) to come back I am looking forward to what we can achieve :clap
 
We need to be careful. I recall during the middle of 2008 when we had drawn with the dogs, ran the Hawks close and also ran the Saints close that many around these parts were hailing the re-birth of the RFC, and look what happened there. Take a trip back through some of the threads at that time and you will find that that was supposedly the benchmark, watershed etc.

I agree, there have been some encouraging signs, but lets be honest, we have seen encouraging signs time and again over the past umpteen years, and for whatever reason, the rate of improvement stalled and actually then we went backwards.

Maybe its my pessimistic nature, but at this point in time, I am taking a wait and see approach. I have been conned by men in yellow and black jumpers far too many times before...men who have seemingly picked and choosed when to have a crack and when not to. They are having a crack now, but will it continue in this vein?
 
doherz said:
trades for those types of players will happen due to comprpmised drafts. so prepare youself.
Click to expand...

you mean a few player - player trades or giving away our draft picks??
 
Punxsutawney Phil said:
We need to be careful. I recall during the middle of 2008 when we had drawn with the dogs, ran the Hawks close and also ran the Saints close that many around these parts were hailing the re-birth of the RFC, and look what happened there. Take a trip back through some of the threads at that time and you will find that that was supposedly the benchmark, watershed etc.

I agree, there have been some encouraging signs, but lets be honest, we have seen encouraging signs time and again over the past umpteen years, and for whatever reason, the rate of improvement stalled and actually then we went backwards.

Maybe its my pessimistic nature, but at this point in time, I am taking a wait and see approach. I have been conned by men in yellow and black jumpers far too many times before...men who have seemingly picked and choosed when to have a crack and when not to. They are having a crack now, but will it continue in this vein?
Click to expand...

Spot on. Good post.


DH hasn't done much yet, wait and see approach is how I look at it. Many Richmond supporters as you say fell in love with Wallace early in his tenure. I think it was a way to get over Frawley and now this is a way for them to get over Wallace. For all we know, DH could be content with his list, won't cut hard enough at the end of this year, will keep duds like King and White, will top-up and will take us nowhere.
 
Punxsutawney Phil said:
We need to be careful. I recall during the middle of 2008 when we had drawn with the dogs, ran the Hawks close and also ran the Saints close that many around these parts were hailing the re-birth of the RFC, and look what happened there. Take a trip back through some of the threads at that time and you will find that that was supposedly the benchmark, watershed etc.

I agree, there have been some encouraging signs, but lets be honest, we have seen encouraging signs time and again over the past umpteen years, and for whatever reason, the rate of improvement stalled and actually then we went backwards.

Maybe its my pessimistic nature, but at this point in time, I am taking a wait and see approach. I have been conned by men in yellow and black jumpers far too many times before...men who have seemingly picked and choosed when to have a crack and when not to. They are having a crack now, but will it continue in this vein?
Click to expand...

I can understand your reservation Philby, but I see it a bit differently with Beavis. Every match Wallace coached he had his eye on the scoreboard and did whatever he thought would help him secure a win.

Beavis isn't doing that yet. He's coaching with an eye to the future and the scoreboard is secondary to that. While he keeps doing that and the lads show improvement he has my unreserved faith. When I detect a shift that he's starting to coach with the scoreboard in mind first, then his match day performances will be what marks him as a success or failure.

So far we haven't seen the kids drop their heads every match. They keep trying. We're seeing improvement in some of our fringe players. Our new kids are debuting better than they ever have (whether that is good recruiting or the result of the new kids going out with a well drilled simple game plan to execute, or both, I don't know, but it's a very pleasing change).

This feels different to the Wallace era.
 
Baloo said:
This feels different to the Wallace era.
Click to expand...

Would have thought every new coach would have delivered that, but i do get your point.

I'm with Philby too though. Way too early to make calls of turning any corners or similar. All this could be a calm before another storm too - none of us know. Good football teams weather storms and win as much by habit as skill. Hardwick has taken baby steps with footballing babies. Character and culture change will take seasons, especially in the current compromised environment.
 
jb03 said:
It's been a long time (since Swooper perhaps) that the team has had a team first mentality with an emphasis on one percenters (surely we have been the worst for that over the years without actually knowing the stats).
Click to expand...

I know we have been among the worst tackling teams for that long, surprise surprise............... It is a clear indicator for relishing a contest or not.

jb03 said:
I hope we just load up again on a batch of under 20's and don't trade/draft for players in the 24-27 age bracket from other clubs.
Click to expand...

No sense of adventure JB ;D
 
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