Defence isn't the issue. Our midfield is the issue and specifically our inability to defend clearances. Our defence has actually been pretty good, given how easy we give up centre clearances.
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Damien Hardwick
- Thread starter Tigers of Old
- Start date
Defence isn't the issue. Our midfield is the issue and specifically our inability to defend clearances. Our defence has actually been pretty good, given how easy we give up centre clearances.
It's because our Ruckman are the worst in the competition by a long way. Benny Hill type stuff.
From a statistical perspective we weren’t that bad over the entire course of the game where contested possessions and clearances were concerned.
However, I’m betting we had big troughs throughout - particularly the second half - that enabled them to keep getting back into the game and then eventually overrun us.
However, I’m betting we had big troughs throughout - particularly the second half - that enabled them to keep getting back into the game and then eventually overrun us.
Correct. Once we allow a team to get a run on, we can't wrestle control back.
Agree that defence includes that pressure applied after losing a clearance. We aren't quite as rock solid we we'd like overall right now. I think Shai won that last centre clearance, so that final play was a whole ground play that involved everyone, and the whole team is just a little bit below where they need to be defensively right now.
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Have said it before..It didn’t help that we spent years drafting a certain type that suited a gameplan we perfected & then the AFL manipulated the format of the competition significantly to stop us. Last years draft was a step in the right direction to address this. Need to hit it again & might have to make some hard trades to correct the imbalance. No surprise so many are out of contract methinks…
Spot on - because we so easily lose centre clearance we’re always liable to be easily and quickly scored against. Happened in all the losses.
Having a career-best year IMO. I love the cheapies. He's trying to cheat wins to keep us in the hunt.
After the byes we're looking for soundness of personnel - that they're moving freely, explosive. It's about managing freshness. Soundness.
One of the tricks Sheedy used in his heyday was managing collisions. Essendon would play very outside say, three weeks in a row, al polish and class and *smile* all contact. Then on say, the fourth week he'd set them for a brutal scrap.
Damien Hardwick and Burge manage our injuries by planned contact aversion. It's not a three weeks out of four thing any more. It's a game stage thing.
When we're running overlap and cheapies nobody gets contact. So we minimise contact injuries. We still have to play football at times and be ready to play much harder.
And we're working the perimeter a lot. In attack. Getting the outnumber and running it in.
We've done pretty much everything we could to manage injury. The coach has. Burge has. And even if we can get them on the park in R21 it might be too late to get the synergy. And getting them on the park hasn't worked out so far this year.
The season isn't over. We still have a prayer. An injury-related prayer. So far they have been answered only with more injury.
If there's a Hardwick/Burge bungle it's Nankervis but we don't know the status there yet. And maybe we had no choice.
When we do the wash up of the season I think there is poetry for us but I still want more than that.
After the byes we're looking for soundness of personnel - that they're moving freely, explosive. It's about managing freshness. Soundness.
One of the tricks Sheedy used in his heyday was managing collisions. Essendon would play very outside say, three weeks in a row, al polish and class and *smile* all contact. Then on say, the fourth week he'd set them for a brutal scrap.
Damien Hardwick and Burge manage our injuries by planned contact aversion. It's not a three weeks out of four thing any more. It's a game stage thing.
When we're running overlap and cheapies nobody gets contact. So we minimise contact injuries. We still have to play football at times and be ready to play much harder.
And we're working the perimeter a lot. In attack. Getting the outnumber and running it in.
We've done pretty much everything we could to manage injury. The coach has. Burge has. And even if we can get them on the park in R21 it might be too late to get the synergy. And getting them on the park hasn't worked out so far this year.
The season isn't over. We still have a prayer. An injury-related prayer. So far they have been answered only with more injury.
If there's a Hardwick/Burge bungle it's Nankervis but we don't know the status there yet. And maybe we had no choice.
When we do the wash up of the season I think there is poetry for us but I still want more than that.
Didn't say that at all, but well done.
I'd rather see if someone like Clarke can be a contributor going forward rather than playing dead weights like Castagna and Aarts. Sometimes you need to take one step back to take two steps forward.
I’ve been saying it for years; Hardwick is a lousy, lousy game day coach. His holistic approach to footy has worked and worked well with a commanding list of players in their prime, and a support coaching group, since gone, that did the grunt work on the training track (and were bloody good at it), that allowed him the freedom to play to the media and take a lot of credit, while building a culture of comradery among the playing group.
Move forward to an aging list, the worst injury list in the AFL that grows on a weekly basis; the best of the assistant coaches long gone and some glaring recruiting mistakes has left Hardwick exposed.
His game day performances, even in premiership winning years was at best ordinary, but now it’s diabolical. Too few moves (in responding to what is unfolding before his eyes on the field), far too late if he makes moves at all. He’s repetitive rhetoric after the game is motivated by the same political correctness he bought into after his trips to the States, and the AFL sanitizing football, making Hardwick look foolish at times.
A 10-year player in any team would be sizing up finishing their careers; the same should be said of a coach. Hardwick should have no complaints with his time at the RFC nor should the club feel anything but putting the club first if they quietly went about looking for a coaching replacement. While tapping a number of veterans on the shoulder.
Intelligent change, based on need and replenishing, is desperately required now at Richmond and the coaching situation needs to be looked at as part of this process.
Move forward to an aging list, the worst injury list in the AFL that grows on a weekly basis; the best of the assistant coaches long gone and some glaring recruiting mistakes has left Hardwick exposed.
His game day performances, even in premiership winning years was at best ordinary, but now it’s diabolical. Too few moves (in responding to what is unfolding before his eyes on the field), far too late if he makes moves at all. He’s repetitive rhetoric after the game is motivated by the same political correctness he bought into after his trips to the States, and the AFL sanitizing football, making Hardwick look foolish at times.
A 10-year player in any team would be sizing up finishing their careers; the same should be said of a coach. Hardwick should have no complaints with his time at the RFC nor should the club feel anything but putting the club first if they quietly went about looking for a coaching replacement. While tapping a number of veterans on the shoulder.
Intelligent change, based on need and replenishing, is desperately required now at Richmond and the coaching situation needs to be looked at as part of this process.
He isn't bashing the door down, and we already had a heap in inexperience in the side. While we are trying to make the finals its about trying to win each game.
If Banks is bashing the door down, he gets a game regardless. If he isn't, and finals are gone, sure chuck him in to see how he goes.
So many post of angry, understandably, people saying WTF didn't we play more kids? That would have fixed it.
My translation of that is 'why didn't we play a heap more youngsters who aren't ready in addition to the heap of youngsters we did play who are mostly not quite ready or not quite good enough?
Yep, *smile* really upset they ended up at collingwobbles.
Leppa seem to be the best assistant coach in the business
You need to look less at age and more at the individual output of the fringe players who a young player would replace. The translation I think is "why didn't we play young players who may actually offer something more than the same old battlers?" which I think is a more than reasonable question.
Cumberland kicked 2 and should have had 4 and had played well in the VFL previously. There's a universe where we don't get an injury and he spends the game on the bench while we watch Castagna be a human meme.
Agree with this. I'm hating seeing most teams coaches box with 3+ around the coach but Dimma's always on his own. Dimma's whinges over the last 2 years might have lead to team complacency. I think this player hugging, hi-5 ing and 'just relax' mentality brought into our culture is playing against us now.
Yep. I don't care who gets traded anymore including Duz. We need to rebuild the team again properly.
The biggest selection blunder was not bringing in Mansell to cover for Vlastuin. This would have allowed Baker to be in the middle of the park.
