Damien Hardwick

[Harry]

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.

Would much rather mansell than George and aarts even in the fwd line. Imo mansell has been harshly treated by the MC.

 

[Harry]

Who says they aren't ready? They probably thought Cumberland wasn't ready or of 'middling ability' and he proved them wrong. You won't know unless you give players a shot. You're effectively advocating for known mediocre quantities over unknown quantities with the possibility of improvement. That's a sure fire way to the bottom of the ladder.

I actually think over the last 4 or 5 years, we've generally done well in playing young players. However our team selection at various points over the last year or two has been baffling though. For example, Soldo as sub, flip flopping Balta, Ryan debuting in a tsunami, continual selection of Castagna until recently, Baker being stuck at the forward pocket, Rioli Jnr being dropped, playing a crippled Lambert, playing a cooked Edwards.

You can add playing Stack in the fwd line.

 

[UKTiger]

Would much rather mansell than George and aarts even in the fwd line. Imo mansell has been harshly treated by the MC.

Mansell may not have a good kick but as a back up to Vlastuin he would terrorise his oppenents. May give a few frees but they would know they have been in a game

 

[Carter]

reckon Hardwick's goin' alright. I think the players are motivated plenty.

there's simply a shortfall in the midfield / ruck when we need steel to protect leads.

 

[Scoop]

Who says they aren't ready? They probably thought Cumberland wasn't ready or of 'middling ability' and he proved them wrong. You won't know unless you give players a shot. You're effectively advocating for known mediocre quantities over unknown quantities with the possibility of improvement. That's a sure fire way to the bottom of the ladder.

So true. Our own coach talks of players being just VFL players if they play too much VFL.

Dimma talks both ways when it suits him. Right now we are talking about our bottom five or six spots in the side. Should always be that way. One of Sonsie or Clark should be in our best 22 every week.

 

[tigersnake]

Dimma talks both ways when it suits him.

How?

 

[jb03]

reckon Hardwick's goin' alright. I think the players are motivated plenty.

there's simply a shortfall in the midfield / ruck when we need steel to protect leads.

Maybe. But he has to carry a large portion of the blame for the last quarter fiasco.

 

[saigon tiger]

Maybe. But he has to carry a large portion of the blame for the last quarter fiasco.

Last quarter fiascos JB but we will learn from this!

 

[St Kevin]

Maybe. But he has to carry a large portion of the blame for the last quarter fiasco.

Can you blame him for Castagna kicking like a mule or Short having a brain snap or Grimes dropping an easy mark? You could argue that Castagna shouldn't have been selected (I certainly would). I think if anything it shows our on-field leadership has been lacking.

 

[jb03]

Can you blame him for Castagna kicking like a mule or Short having a brain snap or Grimes dropping an easy mark? You could argue that Castagna shouldn't have been selected (I certainly would). I think if anything it shows our on-field leadership has been lacking.

That the players didn't know how to waste time/wind down the clock and get players back into the defensive 50 can only be coaching errors.

 

[Smoking Aces]

That the players didn't know how to waste time/wind down the clock and get players back into the defensive 50 can only be coaching errors.

Can you blame him for Castagna kicking like a mule or Short having a brain snap or Grimes dropping an easy mark? You could argue that Castagna shouldn't have been selected (I certainly would). I think if anything it shows our on-field leadership has been lacking.

Both make good points and blame is on players and coaches.

2 games in the space of 3 weeks we have lost being up with a minute to play.

 

[RoarEmotion]

Can you blame him for Castagna kicking like a mule or Short having a brain snap or Grimes dropping an easy mark? You could argue that Castagna shouldn't have been selected (I certainly would). I think if anything it shows our on-field leadership has been lacking.

In the short run no. In the long run yes.

Castagna has history with this. This is nothing new. Selection issue or coach / player responsibility and accountability for development lacking. Surely after 19 gf you make that the main focus of preseason.

Grimes and short undisciplined frees also nothing new. Coaching issue. Harder to punish with selection when they do so much right so needs to be another way. It’s also a lack of it being punished by anyone in the past. I reckon caddy is the only one. They did something about changing the young Cotchin baby’s happy but that’s it. And I wonder if that got followed through with.

Maybe if we had dropped a senior player in the past for selfish 50m penalties we may have lost a game but won three or four more in the future.

 

[St Kevin]

In the short run no. In the long run yes.

Castagna has history with this. This is nothing new. Selection issue or coach / player responsibility and accountability for development lacking. Surely after 19 gf you make that the main focus of preseason.

Grimes and short undisciplined frees also nothing new. Coaching issue. Harder to punish with selection when they do so much right so needs to be another way. It’s also a lack of it being punished by anyone in the past. I reckon caddy is the only one. They did something about changing the young Cotchin baby’s happy but that’s it. And I wonder if that got followed through with.

The overall discipline has been an issue for a while, and I was on this issue earlier than most here. Difference is, no one cared when we were winning because it didn't matter. Now we are back to the pack it stands out like dogs balls. Dimma's sooking about the umpires subliminally validates all of this behaviour too. He needs to shut up about it and the players need to pull their heads in. It's not 2017-2020 where we can play at 70% and roll most teams.

 

[TigerForce]

The overall discipline has been an issue for a while, and I was on this issue earlier than most here. Difference is, no one cared when we were winning because it didn't matter. Now we are back to the pack it stands out like dogs balls. Dimma's sooking about the umpires subliminally validates all of this behaviour too. He needs to shut up about it and the players need to pull their heads in. It's not 2017-2020 where we can play at 70% and roll most teams.

This.

 

[bugsy]

In many ways I think losing the way we did is far better than if we had managed another fluky win and assumed there wasn’t really an underlying problem.

Our best is still good enough to beat any other team on a given day. But undisciplined play and brain fades have just got to be minimised from now on.

Over the previous 5 seasons we have been consistently been the best performed team under pressure. It’s time for the likes of Balme, Gale, Dimma and players like Cotchin, Jack, Dusty, Grimes and Nank to sit down somewhere away from the spotlight and refresh WTF Richmond FC is all about!

 

[BillyJean17]

Would much rather mansell than George and aarts even in the fwd line. Imo mansell has been harshly treated by the MC.

Fully agree

 

[BillyJean17]

The overall discipline has been an issue for a while, and I was on this issue earlier than most here. Difference is, no one cared when we were winning because it didn't matter. Now we are back to the pack it stands out like dogs balls. Dimma's sooking about the umpires subliminally validates all of this behaviour too. He needs to shut up about it and the players need to pull their heads in. It's not 2017-2020 where we can play at 70% and roll most teams.

We have actually Improved the ill discipline acts quite a bit from the r1 debacle of 8 50m penalty’s

 

[Brodders17]

What do we get now after that coathanger abortion of a game?

That's a disgusting phrase to use on a football forum.

 

[wayne]

If this season peters out, are we ruthless enough to swap Hardwick for Clarkson?

Can you imagine what he would do to our list trying to pinch a flag with our veterans.

Our first three picks this year for O'Meara, McEvoy, Wingard and Mitchell, and our future first for Crouch and Billy Frampton.

 

[IanG]

That the players didn't know how to waste time/wind down the clock and get players back into the defensive 50 can only be coaching errors.

Since 2017 we have been one of the best clubs at controlling the tempo of a game so I'd put that more on the players.