Our Era

[TigerFurious]

Run? This is one of the most successful sides ever full stop. Forget the who is the best debates. We are in the club! Savour it, it was never gonna last forever, and we might regroup a lot sooner than many think.

I think there is a deep-seated fear among some Richmond supporters that the last few years were an aberration and we are about to resume normal programming - Richmond being a mediocre laugh stock.

While the premierships may not flow so freely for a while, we’ve never been better placed offield for a (lack of a better term) rebuild.

 

[TOT70]

Not that fussed about recent events. Annoyed that the era has ended, obviously, and annoyed that bragging rights are coming to an end but it had to happen, sooner or later. Three flags in four years qualifies as closer to later than sooner, to my way of thinking.

Now for the hard part. The Richmond man culture drove this success. It needs to be passed on to the next generation of player or it will be lost. There are some worrying signs. Have some older players become selfish? Are they trying to hang on for an extra contract? Will they all retire together? Who are the next generation of leaders? Vlastuin? Make him captain for next year. No brainer. Bolton? Balta? Graham? Nankervis? Short? Are they going to be as good as Edwards, Grimes, Cotchin, Riewoldt, Houli, Martin, Rance and Grigg? Do we need to go to the draft for a shot of class or do we need to support that group?

The culture is in their hands. This off season will shape the next era of the club. So will the next one.

 

[spook]

The kids have learned culture from the best, Toots. They have care in spades. But do they burn? They've only known success. Vlastuin maybe remembers failure.

(Dusty should be skip.)

 

[Baloo]

As we contemplate the inevitable, I'm not sure how I'd prefer we go (other than keeping winning Premierships on a regular basis). A Hawks style crash and burn but belief a rebuild will be successful? A Geelong style stay in there or there abouts for a decade but never winning the big one? Not sure which would be worse.

Happiest supporters must be Swans supporters. They dropped down but already their kids look like they are going to make them dominant again.

 

[TOT70]

The kids have learned culture from the best, Toots. They have care in spades. But do they burn? They've only known success. Vlastuin maybe remembers failure.

(Dusty should be skip.)

Agree but he won’t want to.

 

[spook]

Agree but he won’t want to.

He might. He's upped his media presence - maybe in preparation?

 

[Smoking Aces]

The care factor is there which means the culture is strong. Two players (one being Baker and the other Macintosh) showed nothing but concern when Houli hurt himself last night. Almost to the point they didnt care there was a game going on.

*smile* it. I am watching all 3 premierships tonight.

 

[The_General]

I’m not sure how you can call 2013-2016 as part of “our era”, we didn’t even win a final in those 4 seasons.

Teams don't just walk into finals and win their first grand final. They usually have heart ache, lessons hard learned, but the good sides come out better.
We paid our dues in those years, regrouped/rebuilt part of our list. If we didn't get three straight hidings, we may have turned out like Frawley's Richmond. Thereabouts for several years, topping up with Paul Hudson types, but never reaching the top.

 

[spook]

As we contemplate the inevitable, I'm not sure how I'd prefer we go (other than keeping winning Premierships on a regular basis). A Hawks style crash and burn but belief a rebuild will be successful? A Geelong style stay in there or there abouts for a decade but never winning the big one? Not sure which would be worse.

Happiest supporters must be Swans supporters. They dropped down but already their kids look like they are going to make them dominant again.

The academies are a massive free kick. Not just for the players themselves but knowing who's coming through that you are certain is yours means you can target other types in the open draft.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Teams don't just walk into finals and win their first grand final. They usually have heart ache, lessons hard learned, but the good sides come out better.
We paid our dues in those years, regrouped/rebuilt part of our list. If we didn't get three straight hidings, we may have turned out like Frawley's Richmond. Thereabouts for several years, topping up with Paul Hudson types, but never reaching the top.

I remember Salty Williams in 2017 trying to talk down our run saying that he’d been there when the team had won 15 games, but not progressed in finals.