End of an Era

[achillesjones]

What we are learning is that our depth players are just that. You can carry one or two per game at the most. After that, the continuity and connection drops away and we start to look second rate. We need the seasoned pros in the side. A process-driven team game only works when everyone understands where to run and what to do.
Chol and Ryan in the ruck gave our midfielders nothing.
With Soldo out for the season, we needed to recruit a seasoned ruckman to tide us over. Instead, we have Ryan and Biggy and Mate who are years off and Chol who has been tried and tried in vain. I would be looking now at third-string rucks who sit behind top rucks and recruit one for next year. Nank is a great example of recruiting a ruck who was ready to go.

 

[Coburgtiger]

Ha ha, just messin’ with ya Burg.

I have no intention of trawling through old threads for oops moments. Plenty of strange folk on here prepared to do that for me.

I far prefer PRE posters to actually have a crack at saying something.

And I do love my own occasional nuclear hot take

In terms of your position, I think you’re going too early. We will look very Richmondy by the time September rolls around. I think Hardwick is just tinkering and got a bit ahead of himself.

Here's hoping.

 

[Midsy]

Sadly, I agree this era has now passed us by.

I just don’t see the hunger in the eyes of the senior players any more. It’s only natural that after being at the peak of your game for 4 consecutive years and achieving everything, it gets hard to keep backing up year on year.

Jack, Cotch, Dusty, Prestia, caddy, Astbury, Houli, Edwards, Vlas, Grimes, Castagna, Lambert, Nank, Broad… all triple Premiership players. But all nearly 5 years older than when it started and all succumbing to injury and form issues. It gets harder to recover physically and mentally.

It doesn’t matter how many times you tell yourself you’re still ‘hungry for the contest’, when push comes to shove and there’s younger, fitter, faster opposition who still need to achieve something, ANYTHING, they will work harder.

It’s no-ones fault - it just happens. How many teams have done the threepeat, let alone 4 in 5 years? One? Two? It’s just too bloody hard to stay at the top for so long.

But I’ll take the end, knowing we made the absolute best out of what we had. September 30, 2017, will forever be the best day of my life. 2019 & 2020 were the icing and strawberries on the top.

 

[daniel30]

3 flags in 4 years we took our chance and back to back I still reckon still petrol in tank.

 

[DavidSSS]

One bad night is not enough evidence of a lack of hunger, they might have tired at the end but they looked pretty hungry against WCE a couple of weeks ago.

DS

 

[Midsy]

One bad night is not enough evidence of a lack of hunger, they might have tired at the end but they looked pretty hungry against WCE a couple of weeks ago.

DS

Until it got real tough in the last 10 minutes. We wouldn’t have let that slip 12 or 24 months ago.

Don’t think it’s a conscious thing; players will still think they’re giving everything.

 

[DjJazzyPete]

Probably the end of and era but if we manage it right the start of a new one . We have set ourselves nicely in the draft ..our depth players are mostly developing players atm ..

 

[Dyer'ere]

All AFL rounds every year are phoney to a great extent except those after the bye. RFC has been all over this for four years.

We have been *smile* for all of the phoney rounds this year. That is to say not in Preemiership form. Good.

Each Preemiership year we emerge after the bye. Treating the season at last, each game at last, as if the season depended on it. (Precisely as we should.)

And here we are, one week into the actual season, and we get sodomy from the St Kilda Reserves midfield. That was bad. Dimma, leaned against a shaded wall in the coaches box and took a moment to accept. (That was the bi=g moment for the fans.)

Edwards. Cotchin. Numbfoot Martin. Shai Bolton. Prestia the Waddler. That's the midfield we unleash after the bye. And Passable Lambert. And. They get flogged by the St Kilda Reserves.

There can only be one reason for that, can't there? They can't walk. Is this theory borne out by the gait of the individual players? By their form? Duh.

And how is our ruck division travelling? I dunno. I haven't seen them this year.

You are what you field. We field reserves rucks, children and an orthopaedic ward.

It won't necessarily get better this week. But it will get better over the next year. (Unless we pull the pin on the affair.)

Prestia and Cotchin can and will improve. And maybe we get Nank back. It's over if tat doesn't happen. We can nurse Numbfoot.

 

[Coburgtiger]

I think the disparity in perspective here are that some are treating this St Kilda game as the anomaly. Across five years? Maybe. This year? It's not the exception it's the rule.

We've had two games this this year where we looked like Richmond. The first St Kilda game, and the Bulldogs game. Honourable mentions to the port and West Coast game, but both losses.

We were lucky against GWS to get them at their worst and just get over the line, and they've shown just how easybeat they can be.

We've been demolished without a fight by Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane and now St Kilda. Each of these games would be the anomaly 2017-2020.

We were pushed by Essendon, but won on reputation. Essendon.

Hawthorn when we got them was a gimme.

I remember sitting on the wing in Round 1, the day I watched us unfurl two flags, and sat uncomfortably as we were sliced up the length of the ground by Carlton. By. Carlton. Yes, we got the win, but the warning signs were there.

Friday night's game was not the exception.

We've had horrible injuries. Either the whole midfield out, or all our talls, the whole year. We've been lockdown affected as badly as anyone. We've been specifically, even if not intentionally, targeted by incredibly significant rule changes. And we've gotten older. And we're trying to back up one of the most successful dynasties of all time. This is not catastrophe, it's reality. Something we've avoided since September 2017.

 

[Tigers of Old]

Nothing is definitive. Just focus on the next game.

 

[AngryAnt]

I think the disparity in perspective here are that some are treating this St Kilda game as the anomaly. Across five years? Maybe. This year? It's not the exception it's the rule.

We've had two games this this year where we looked like Richmond. The first St Kilda game, and the Bulldogs game. Honourable mentions to the port and West Coast game, but both losses.

We were lucky against GWS to get them at their worst and just get over the line, and they've shown just how easybeat they can be.

We've been demolished without a fight by Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane and now St Kilda. Each of these games would be the anomaly 2017-2020.

We were pushed by Essendon, but won on reputation. Essendon.

Hawthorn when we got them was a gimme.

I remember sitting on the wing in Round 1, the day I watched us unfurl two flags, and sat uncomfortably as we were sliced up the length of the ground by Carlton. By. Carlton. Yes, we got the win, but the warning signs were there.

Friday night's game was not the exception.

We've had horrible injuries. Either the whole midfield out, or all our talls, the whole year. We've been lockdown affected as badly as anyone. We've been specifically, even if not intentionally, targeted by incredibly significant rule changes. And we've gotten older. And we're trying to back up one of the most successful dynasties of all time. This is not catastrophe, it's reality. Something we've avoided since September 2017.

This is all true.

But IF we can get key players back fit and in form by finals, we can still do damage. I'm hoping Cotch, Bash, Jack etc have one more grand finals campaign still in them.

 

[Coburgtiger]

This is all true.

But IF we can get key players back fit and in form by finals, we can still do damage. I'm hoping Cotch, Bash, Jack etc have one more grand finals campaign still in them.

Completely agree.

We need to scrape into the eight, which we are likely to do given our draw. Then we need four vintage Richmond games. It's entirely possible.

But I don't think it's likely. We need an eye on 2022 and beyond. I believe the recent tweaks to style and form suggest that's happening already.

 

[Carter]

we love hunting.

it'll be like 2017 all over again.

finish 8th and the hunt is on, brothers and sisters

 

[DavidSSS]

I suspect it is somewhere between the doomsayers and the overly optimistic.

We have put in some shockers this year, against StKilda clearly the worst, and too many shockers to be ignored.

We have a lot of injuries and some form slumps, but despite this we have won a few games well and the games against Port and WCE show we can be competitive.

It is impossible from the outside to really gauge the impact of the effort to win in 2020. There is going to be a price to pay for winning in such a difficult year. Add in the lack of player development with the VFL not happening in 2020 and the disruptions to the VFL in 2021 and that has set us back.

So, I don't think we can go all the way this year. I still reckon we can be damaging in the finals if we get players back and if form improves. We are still going to be a less favoured opponent in September just because we have been there before and shown we can beat anyone on our day. But, with the injuries and form issues I can't see 2021 being our year.

The draft hand we have looks good. Soldo returns in 2021, Balta should be back and hopefully more experience in our youngsters will help. Possibly a couple of retirements and a bit of a reset and I reckon we can be thereabouts for a few more years.

DS

 

[DuD_Delist]

This is true. Our test is how quickly we can regenerate. We have the draft hand. Our list management and drafting is as important as its ever been.

On that front, I have no problem with trading Bolton for two first round draft picks.

Why not go the full hog.
Suns put pick 3 up for leadership.
Vlas fit that too a tee.
3 time premiership player.
Gets a well deserved pay rise.
With 2 firsts for Bolton we'd be back in contention next year.lol
3/9/11/13/16/25/30/41

 

[bengal tigers]

I don't know why people are writing off 2021,and worrying about 2022.
We are in the 8,we have a pretty easy draw for the rest of the home and away season ,and from what l have seen of the other top 8 teams our best would beat them .
We just need to get our offensive mojo back ,the smaller forwards and a few other's have become far too defensive .

 

[AngryAnt]

I don't know why people are writing off 2021,and worrying about 2022.
We are in the 8,we have a pretty easy draw for the rest of the home and away season ,and from what l have seen of the other top 8 teams our best would beat them .
We just need to get our offensive mojo back ,the smaller forwards and a few other's have become far too defensive .

yep, choice is go with a new game plan which looks very underwhelming so far. I'd go back to what we are good at with some minor tweaks maybe.
We don't need to rush new guys into the team ... injuries are doing that for us anyway. When the senior players are available, pick them.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

I don't know why people are writing off 2021,and worrying about 2022.
We are in the 8,we have a pretty easy draw for the rest of the home and away season ,and from what l have seen of the other top 8 teams our best would beat them .
We just need to get our offensive mojo back ,the smaller forwards and a few other's have become far too defensive .

The tried and true gameplan is no longer workable, we've seen it in the erratic results of this season. It now requires a special effort to win against decent opposition, and that's not repeatable each week.

Need to move on, just not in Friday night's direction.

 

[Carter]

The tried and true gameplan is no longer workable, we've seen it in the erratic results of this season. It now requires a special effort to win against decent opposition, and that's not repeatable each week.

Need to move on, just not in Friday night's direction.

This is it, Lee.

Home and away chaos is no longer viable.

 

[Gazmatron]

I don't know why people are writing off 2021,and worrying about 2022.
We are in the 8,we have a pretty easy draw for the rest of the home and away season ,and from what l have seen of the other top 8 teams our best would beat them .
We just need to get our offensive mojo back ,the smaller forwards and a few other's have become far too defensive .

I would have agreed with 2021 prior to the Saints game which I felt was a gimme. Going home we have Brisbane (MCG) Geelong. then Free over there on last weeks performance not a gimme however the wobblies, Norf and Gold Coast. Assuming GC a gimme the Collingwood stands as a test of where we are at for 20021 as I see a struggle against Brisbane and Geelong the way we are currently travelling especially with the injury concerns and playing underdone stars.