Richmond members forum

[Harry]

Went to the forum tonight however wished I didn't.

Ian Campbell had a few good things to say regarding off-field sponsorships............however that was about the only positive to come out of tonight.

If we are serious about our club and our future then Greg Hutchinson must leave our club asap..............he came out and made excuse after excuse for our performances...........from injuries to Staffords mistake for grabbing the ball out of a ruck contest in the north game to chaffey not being goal side of his opponent in the geelong game.................he said had it not been for these minor factors then we would be in the mix................the scary part is that he and the football department really beleive that we are not far off and just need minor improvements.

The absolute worse thing that came out of his mouth was the club will be looking at players with AFL experience in the draft using our picks 30 and onwards.................he said that picking up a player with AFL experience is cheaper than picking up kids from the under 18 level...................an AFL player would cost approx. 70K and can be signed up for 1 year whereas an under 18 player would need to be on the list for minimum of 2 years and would cost 100K + .................... they have this set in their policy so expect more draft picks being wasted on players like Nicholls, Sziller, Houlihan etc.

I quite liked their ploy of only allowing the older citizens to ask questions about such matters as the red seat allocations at the MCG and wouldn't allow the younger males at the back ask any questions, which obviously would have related to footballing issues.

For those who didn't attend you didn't miss anything...............Just picture a monday nights spindoctoring session on Club Corner.

 

[PuntRoadRoar]

oh yay bring on 2004..................

 

[alleycat]

sounds like a totalll waste of time, all smoke and mirrors again,when are they going to relalise we want action and want it now!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tigerblood]

You can't be serious, Harry! Oh noooo! I cannot believe that we are going to pick up more hacks like Houlihan and Nicholls. If they do that again, then my faith will be obliterated once and for all. Make no mistake, this draft is the absolute LAST chance that this mob has to regain my faith. If we use draft picks to dip into the pool of mid-20s rejects, then I will definitely be joining the Anti-Frawley underground resistance movement. And if they EVER dare use the line about "being on the right track" they had better get ready for a truck load of chicken poo.

 

[Ridley]

Hutchinson is a complete clown. He is as deluded as Frawley and the rest of them. I spoke to him at the last forum at Punt Rd and he was unimpressive, to say the least.

You are right Harry. We will go nowhere whilst people like him and Frawley are in charge of the playing list. They seriously think we are not too far away. The only things we are not too far away from are:

1. The wooden spoon
2. Driving all of our members away because of the mediocrity.
3. Oblivion!

 

[RFC not KFC]

I'm sure plenty of clubs are going to want to trade quality players for draft picks 30+. It's sounds exactly like what the cynics amongst us have been expecting from the club. If Miller is the saviour of Tigerland he'd better pull his finger out asap and stop throwing his support behind the wrong people.

 

[ComedyCapers]

In hindsight reaching the Preliminary Final 2 years ago has proved to be far more of a curse than a blessing. It has:
-1- Caused Danny to be given an extended contract
-2- Caused the football dept to believe we needed just to top up with a few recycled duds to win a flag
-3- Got the club to waste 2 years of planning and go for a 'quick fix' instead of a clear, well defined plan
-4- Guys who came off contract to be paid ridiculous sums eg Gaspar and Holland thus restricting recruiting
-5- Broken supporters hearts.

The powers to be at the time should have stepped back realised we may have 'over achieved' and made sensible, logical decisions. They didn't and we are all suffering now as a result.

 

[TigerFurious]

Sounds like the football department is doing their very best to utterly destroy the list and the board is happy to give them unconditional support to do it.

 

[Dean3]

Might be a slightly premature call TF, but I do sincerely hope that we draft at least 4 youngsters this time around. Mind you, we do really lack some strong bodies around the ball to support Cogs - that was the thinking behind Fleming and Nicholls, both failures as it turns out.
I don't mind trading to improve the list, just as long as it involves getting rid of the likes of Bidders, King, etc etc, rather than draft picks. Look at Collingwood's current team, it's full of players from other clubs: Clement, Freeborn, Holland, Molloy, McKee, O'Bree, Wakelin, Williams, Woewodin - not counting Rocca and Buckley. And many of those were traded for mid-range draft picks under Malthouse's regime.
It can be done - let's hope that Miller can work this trade period to our advantage and give us a few youngsters at the same time.

 

[nwonash]

I cant see the point of picking up other teams rejects. These rejects werent good enough to get a game with the club they came from, so what makes them think they'll improve our player list ?

Lets face it, we are going to struggle regardless, we may as well build a team that will be around for years to come. Thats why we have to go for youth. St Kilda & Freo have done a great job with recuiting youth. Mind you they have had those early draft picks and kept them.

I really believe its time Greg Beck says farewell. His been at the club for some 8 years and been an absoulute failure. I solely blame that dud for our playing list and the number has washed up wanna to bes.

Look at Essendon, I give them credit. They havent had early draft picks, they always seem to do their homework and pick up great players with their draft picks. Someone there has a great eye for talent.

 

[tiga]

In hindsight reaching the Preliminary Final 2 years ago has proved to be far more of a curse than a blessing. It has:

ComedyCapers, I know that I and I'm sure a few others saw the warning signs. We get flogged by Essendon, We beat Carlton in one of the most negative scappy games I've seen the Tigers play and then we get absolutely flogged again by Brisbane who was and still is the benchmark of the Competiton.

Why couldn't the powers that be see it?? Delusions of grandeur. If only Blind Freddy was on the Club board at the time we might be better off today. :-\ We must Draft quality youth. Rebuild now!!!

 

[MC24]

Someone said we should boycott the Forum. Approximately 150 people ignored that call. Me included.

Harry, I agree with you about how Greg Hutchison handled the situation. However, the other side to that was the way Ian Campbell handled things. Read my post below for further details.

Don't mention the war. Someone mentioned the war. When the issue of Matthew Knights came up tempers flared and you couldn't hear much over the top of all the commotion going on. Needless to say, nothing was resolved because people were too emotional for that to occur.

In regard to the coming trade period, I think the Club is preparing us for the fact that we may need to recruit experienced players from other Clubs. As Harry outlined, it was explained that the cost involved of getting a young player and having to sign him on for two years was a risk that may prove too costly, given that the player(s) may potentially never play a senior game of AFL football. So prepare yourselves people.

 

[MC24]

The proud history and traditions of RFC have sustained us through some very ordinary recent times.

Just as the good times have kept us alive, so too does the recent past serve to keep us where we are now. So let's not allow the issues of the past keep us in this mediocrity. It's time to move on.

If you have issues, write to the Club and get it off your chest or resolve it for yourself however you need to, but don't let it hold the Club back. Don't sweep it under the carpet and give up. Because, effectively, you are giving up on our footy Club. Be pro active, it's your Club as much as anybody else's. See the difference by the different response you get now.

Ian Campbell was under pressure from members last night. He handled it like there was no pressure. A lesser man could have hidden behind excuses and tried to save himself. He did none of that.

The experience Ian brings from his time overseas and in the NBA in America is already proving invaluable. And I hope people realise how lucky we are to have someone like Ian at our footy Club. Stay tuned for news over the coming weeks of some new developments at the Club. What became obvious last night was that here is someone who sees what the problems are and does something about them. He doesn't try to hide the problems or pretend nothing is wrong. Unlike the past, he seeks out the problems and does something about them.

Just as importantly, he realises the amazing potential of this football Club. He sees opportunities and goes out and does something about them.

I don't expect people to take my word for it, because we all need to experience things for ourselves to believe them. So go and talk to him at the pre game function at Punt Road on Sunday. Email or write to him and see for yourself.

While Ian knows the problems at the Club, what he said at the Members' Forum was that he can't do this on his own. He needs people to support him and the Club, so that it can move forward. He knows and understands what the issues are. He knows the lack of success and the lack of value for money we have been getting for our membership. He knows how supporters and members have been virtually ignored in the past. He knows all about our frustrations and how it hurts us. The Club is doing something very real about all of these issues.

We all get frustrated, emotional and impatient at various times, but for the sake of our footy Club, don't judge those there now on past mistakes. You don't need blind faith, just see for yourself by the results they achieve, by just giving them the opportunity they need to do their job properly.

RFC has a very real opportunity to move forward now. We've messed a lot of things up in the past, let's not let this opportunity go by now.

We can choose to live in the past or help the Club to move forward.

It's our Club and our choice, so we need to take some responsibility for the direction it takes now. And we can do that by the way we choose to support the Richmond Football Club - starting now.

 

[shawry]

MC24 another great post. I agree keep hte faith and give these guys a chance.

 

[Harry]

MC24 - I agree that Ian Campbell sounded confident and charismatic and I have no problem with what he said..............as you said I will beleive it when I see it.

However he has no imput on the on-field performance.................as long as we have the likes of Hutchinson and Frawely in the football department it is guaranteed that we will go nowhere.

I was cringing when I heard Hutchinson speak...............this is supposed to be a senior figure at our club and some of the comments he made reminded me fo school children in the playground. We might be on the right track in terms of off-field matters are concerned but we are on the wrong track on-field with these deluded fools running the show.

How can they possibly use injuries as an excuse................ How can they look members in the eye and make ridiculuos comments like - "Look if you had of said to us at the beginning of the season that Gaspar and Ottens would have played a total of 15 minutes of footy together for the whole season then we would have been really worried"..............MC24 - I was the one yelling from the back of the room "Stop your excuses!!!!!!"..............that's probably why he wouldn't take any questions from me as I had my arm up the entire time.

Using Campbell's injury as an excuse, Holland not being ready, Ottens, Gaspar.............do they think we are complete morons..................for the second half of the season we have had the least injuries of all clubs.

The Knights issue brought up heated debate and Hutchinson didn't want to discuss the matter further. A question was asked why was knights shafted by the club and was made to retire ...........Hutchinson's resonse was that it was better Knights played his last game in Melbourne against Essendon rather than playing in the final game in Sydney in the last round............... the person who asked the question then asked Hutchinson to listen to the question and answer what he had asked...............to which Hutchinson said he didn't want to discuss it further.

Joel bowden was another interesting topic............Hutchinson said that Joel was going to have minor knee surgery at the end of the season to which numerous people expressed their disgust...................."get rid of him, *smile* him off" was the common outcry of the members.

A question was asked about Dragacevic...............Hutchinson's response was that Dragga wasn't getting a game because the football department thought he was too slow.

He identified the list was a problem but said that we can't make too many changes.

From some of the remarks I could hear around the room and especially at the back were that Frawely was enemy number one. However there was no direct question or remark of this nature....................Hutchinson identified the vocal few and avoided allowing them to ask questions.

I walked out before it finished as I was disgusted and my arm was tired from being raised and ignored.

 

[TigerFurious]

As Harry outlined, it was explained that the cost involved of getting a young player and having to sign him on for two years was a risk that may prove too costly, given that the player(s) may potentially never play a senior game of AFL football. So prepare yourselves people.

So rather than scrutinise Beck's performance or the clubs atrocious record of developing youngsters, the footy department is just going to give up because its too hard and too risky to draft youth?

They truly have no idea and it will take years to repair the damage that Frawley, Hutchinson, Beck and co are currently doing.

If this is the direction the club is headed then I fear for its future.

 

[The Boss]

Hutchinson was previously a Used Car Salesman so that might explain the dribble that he speaks. He needs to go but with the clubs push for stability he will probably stay (even though he's not the best person for the job).

The problem with our Footbal Dept is that they are all so clicky and they can't accept criticism. Hopefully Miller can sort this out rather then joining the click himself.

 

[Tigerblood]

Harry, I'm proud and appreciative of your efforts!

If your report is accurate, then I'm even more pessimistic about our footy dept than I was before. I mean, fair dinkum, blind freddy could have seen that a gameplan cannot hinge on the constant availability of our talls. Gaspar NEVER plays a full season, Richardson NEVER plays a full season, Stafford NEVER plays a full season, Holland was NEVER going to play a full season after a knee reco. How this bozo can stand up before us and use the 'injuries to talls' excuse is unbelievable. This board was screaming 2 years back (when Gale retired) that our list was short on talls, and that the ones we have are injury-prone.

 

[tigerland]

Im making the call now, prepare for us to trade a 50s pick for Aaron Lord. (A so called crumming forward who will be the solution to all our problems...pffft!!

 

[JohnF]

Hutchison was just cloaking what he really wanted to say : "Look, if you said at the start of the year that Beck, Frawley and me would still have jobs in 2004 we would have been over the moon with that".



Consider yourself warned JohnF. :-\