Matthew Clarke | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Matthew Clarke

So, have we worked out yet whether we are sacking Clarke ….or giving him a pay rise and contract extension ?

Why do these things always take so long on PRE ?
Depends on the time of year. We gave him a pay rise and contract extension at the end of November. But now we are looking at giving him the arse.

Wait until Sonsie get a game and we might hail him as the greatest recruiter since Stephen Wells.
 
Depends on the time of year. We gave him a pay rise and contract extension at the end of November. But now we are looking at giving him the arse.

Wait until Sonsie get a game and we might hail him as the greatest recruiter since Stephen Wells.
I need answers now Frehley. Casper and Rattler have no idea …..they are both taking ages.
 
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My view is the 2021 crop gives Clarke a stay of execution. But one more Higlet at 17 and I'm sharpening the blade.
 
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Actually think RCD is a far greater faux pa than Higgins
Clarke had a huge hard-on for RCD. That was a Superdraft right up to pick 18. Unfortunately we had pick 20. Post-RCD, O'Halloran, O'Neill, Rowbottom, Hill, Jordon, McInerney and a few others probs ahead at this stage.

We need to find out about Riley this year. Make sure he's fit so he has the best chance, then sink or swim.
 
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I need answers now Frehley. Casper and Rattler have no idea …..they are both taking ages.
OK I'll have an extremely half-baked, biased, non-objective, quick and dirty stab at it.

Since MC assumed the chair in 2016.

Relevant Contextual factors: We have been at the top of the heap during this time, so our draft hands haven't been great.

IMO I have been brutal in my assessments. This whole thing, obviously, is up for debate. Some players I've called good others might think are OK, some I've put in the bust pile, some might think the jury is still out, and fair enough, but I've made a call based on my own judgement of games played to date, time they have had to show their stuff, and what they've shown. Also you could break up my categories, eg superstar and good within the good category, Might still come on v what were we thinking in the bust category. To do this properly you would objectively assess players, games played, game stats etc, and also break down the strike rates by round, obviously a bust in round 1 is far worse than a bust in round 4.

Good: Graham, Shai '16, Baker, Balta '17, Pickett '19

OK: Higgins, CCJ, 17, Ross '18, Ralphsmith '19. Mansell 20.

Busts: Garth, Naish, Miller '17, RCD, Turner, English '18, Dow, Cumberland, Martyn, Biggie '19, MRJ '20.

TBA: Ryan.

I havent included '21 for obvious reasons.

Strike rate: 10 players (5 good, 5 OK) out of 22, with 1 TBA or unassessible IMO at this stage.

analysis/ conclusion: Without having looked at other clubs strike rates for comparison, remembering that the vast majority of players drafted are busts, and our 'good' includes 2 guns, I'd give MC a 6 out of 10 for his work up to the '21 draft.

I understand that other may judge the numbers more harshly, some may be more generous, I think I've been pretty harsh both in assessment of players and the mark awarded. and I don't disagree with Spook that '21 may yet be the making of him, and us, again.
 
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I just don't see how you can rate Higlet and CJ as OK when in their place we have an 18-year-old and a draft pick.
 

I just don't see how you can rate Higlet and CJ as OK when in their place we have an 18-year-old and a draft pick.
I'm well aware of that :)) but that's what I've done for reasons already explained. To me the answer is in the word 'bust': you get nothing, do your dough and no correspondence is entered into.
 
Is this thread even active if we won last week? Amazing how one loss can change opinions.

Just an observation.
 
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I just don't see how you can rate Higlet and CJ as OK when in their place we have an 18-year-old and a draft pick.
true, Clarke should have known both would receive better offers from other clubs after a few years and walk out on us.
 
People are going way too hard here, and knee jerking a response as well.
Remember when folks were saying Frank had failed and should be sacked, then we won 3 out of 4 and he was a genius.

As always, what was the brief that Clarke was given, for his years in charge or recruitment? Find us best available who can help
quickly? Find us the best available and we don't care if it takes 4 years to get that out of them?

Clearly, Higlet was picked to be a contributor fairly quickly. He was a high performer at U18, but probably with a low
ceiling for growth. Lower risk and lower reward. He did pretty well for us for a while, before the love affair (pardon the pun)
went sour. Maybe that brain bleed meant instead of having a 20% improvement, we'd be left with a 5% improvement, so we
cut and run. Notice no one at the club fought too hard to keep him, maybe they knew something we don't or maybe they
were selling the stock before it crashed. Either way, we turned it into another pick.

We took a Ruck and a KPP with the immediate picks after. I can't recall the amount of times I've read on the forums that we don't take enough rucks to develop.
We took Cujo, and have turned him into a couple of years of Tarrant and a future pick. If we get a premiership this year with Tarrant at FB, then it's genius. Unlikely,
but genius.

Balta - fantastic.

RCD and Ross: RCD was always taken - the club has said this multiple times, as a long term investment. I don't think they were expecting him to be
a regular 22 player before this year. He looks to have had a bit of a kick to get his fitness up, so it'll be interesting to see if he starts to take opportunity
or fadees into the background. If he can't make it as a regular this year, he's a failure.
However, has anyone after his pick done anything of note? Ely Smith, Xavier O'Halloran, Jez McLennan, Bobby Hill and James Rowbottom?
Most of those have done nothing. It would appear that the 2018 draft was a dud.

2019 - Thomson Dow was taken. Who would be better? Deven Robertson? Not many players have put their hands up yet.
2020 - The club abdicated their picks, as they wanted to start to give the younger players more chance for games, so they
took two picks. Indicating maybe that they weren't giving enough development opportunities to the picks in the previous years.

For interest - 2016 he was listed as taking over as head of recruitment in November. Does that mean Shai is his choice?
 
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