What is Neil Balme thinking?

[Merveille]

Cannot believe the doomsayers around here :3 games in mainly against good opposition,serious injuries in a short time can unsettle ANY team,suggesting Martin is gone and so forth.................Why not get together and march to Punt Rd bern your membership tickets if you have got one,if not just pretend and perhaps have a sit in on the oval till the coach and admin resign.That should do it. :-*

Exactly - Grimes Rance Houli Riewoldt Caddy all of them All Australian nominees i believe. Now put them back in and take out 5 of GWS best players.
People have lost their collective minds.

We could be full strength in a month less Rance

 

[The_Celebrant]

We could be full strength in a month

I've started drinking full strength already. Too much, actually. I blame Castagna.

 

[tigerman]

I've started drinking full strength already. Too much, actually. I blame Castagna.

:rofl

In Balmey we trust.

Hic, hic.

 

[Tigerdangerous]

There’s a lot of knee jerk comments to my post with some even predicting the response of Balme (or should I call him Neil, adds a certain touch of authority using a first name) to our situation that has been brewing for more months than people care to admit to.

I understand your frustration but rather than giving smart arse comments you might consider how the Head of the Richmond Football Department “might” respond to his head coach rubber stamping the appointment of a coach to his team from a failed club culture like St.Kilda? Essendon nabs a gem in Ben Rutten with premiership coaching credentials and Richmond does the exact opposite to replace him?????

You might also comment on “tramtracks Hardwicks” inability to develop players and persists with proven failures at AFL level. I hope Balme is!

You might also like to comment on our playing groups continued fragile mindset and that’s been a trademark for years.

Winning the premiership covered a lot of persistent cracks in the behaviour and performance of a number of players and our head coach in particular. Let’s see how strong our culture of “enjoying yourself and your football” holds up in 2019. Let’s see how well Hardwick responds and let’s hope Balme has a Plan B up his sleeve because we all know Hardwick doesn’t.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

Average age GWS 25.67, Richmond 24.36.

Stats say the odds are 39%/61% before you start.

You're also playing interstate, your best defensive runner goes down at the outset, your best player is distracted for the day and your captain goes down with a quarter to play. On top of that, due in part to inexperience, you execute poorly under pressure.

You're not going to win unless the opposition is terrible or tanking.

 

[lukeanddad]

Average age GWS 25.67, Richmond 24.36.

Stats say the odds are 39%/61% before you start.

You're also playing interstate, your best defensive runner goes down at the outset, your best player is distracted for the day and your captain goes down with a quarter to play. On top of that, due in part to inexperience, you execute poorly under pressure.

You're not going to win unless the opposition is terrible or tanking.

Cut it out! No room for a rational response here.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Cut it out! No room for a rational response here.

Stop clouding the issue with facts!

 

[Tenacious]

Was Balmey in place at Geelong in 2007?

If memory serves me right that was a year when after about 5-6 rounds Geelong was going pretty bad - and there was dissent within their fanbase.
They weren't happy and wanted the coach gone.
Members were flooding the talk back radio moaning about the club and saying they'd had a gut full and were cutting up their membership cards.

And we know what happened after that (unfortunately as I was quite enjoying their suffering)

Anyway - whether he was there or not and whether he was involved in that turnaround or not - I'm sure Balmey will be able to make use of the example.

 

[TigerPort]

There’s a lot of knee jerk comments to my post with some even predicting the response of Balme (or should I call him Neil, adds a certain touch of authority using a first name) to our situation that has been brewing for more months than people care to admit to.

I understand your frustration but rather than giving smart arse comments you might consider how the Head of the Richmond Football Department “might” respond to his head coach rubber stamping the appointment of a coach to his team from a failed club culture like St.Kilda? Essendon nabs a gem in Ben Rutten with premiership coaching credentials and Richmond does the exact opposite to replace him?????

You might also comment on “tramtracks Hardwicks” inability to develop players and persists with proven failures at AFL level. I hope Balme is!

You might also like to comment on our playing groups continued fragile mindset and that’s been a trademark for years.

Winning the premiership covered a lot of persistent cracks in the behaviour and performance of a number of players and our head coach in particular. Let’s see how strong our culture of “enjoying yourself and your football” holds up in 2019. Let’s see how well Hardwick responds and let’s hope Balme has a Plan B up his sleeve because we all know Hardwick doesn’t.

I will bite

Rutten leaving was his decision to further his career.

The appointment of Kingsley was done through due process selecting the best person from the available applicants. You are fixated on the fact he was at Saint Kilda and this appears in your mind to mean Kingsley is deficient. Kingsley played 170 games for Port then was an assistant at that club before going over to St Kilda. Hardwick played with Kingsley through the period they were minor premiers for three years running. So expect Hardwick knows the guy very well and no wonder he rubber stamped.

The only poster around here frustrated is your good self after 3 games trying to bait everyone. Talk about going off early. Collingwood made the grand final last year off the back of a 1 and 3 start and still being 3 and 3 after six games and with an injury list as big as ours is at the moment. So this season is still very much alive and in 3/4 weeks time we will have the injured guys back- except Rance obviously.

And how you can pot Hardwick for not being able to develop guys when he is a premiership coach and the development of Stack was very evident on the weekend is beyond me.

And again the playing group has a fragile mindset?? Guys who have had strong enough mental capacity to win a premiership?? Another mindless rant.

And then for good measure you throw in some more false generalisations on Hardwick, just in case you don't get the negative responses you are looking for.

But I will agree with you on one thing and will watch the rest of the year unfold and see this group - and Hardwick - respond and overcome.

 

[Tigerdangerous]

I will bite

Rutten leaving was his decision to further his career.

The appointment of Kingsley was done through due process selecting the best person from the available applicants. You are fixated on the fact he was at Saint Kilda and this appears in your mind to mean Kingsley is deficient. Kingsley played 170 games for Port then was an assistant at that club before going over to St Kilda. Hardwick played with Kingsley through the period they were minor premiers for three years running. So expect Hardwick knows the guy very well and no wonder he rubber stamped.

The only poster around here frustrated is your good self after 3 games trying to bait everyone. Talk about going off early. Collingwood made the grand final last year off the back of a 1 and 3 start and still being 3 and 3 after six games and with an injury list as big as ours is at the moment. So this season is still very much alive and in 3/4 weeks time we will have the injured guys back- except Rance obviously.

And how you can pot Hardwick for not being able to develop guys when he is a premiership coach and the development of Stack was very evident on the weekend is beyond me.

And again the playing group has a fragile mindset?? Guys who have had strong enough mental capacity to win a premiership?? Another mindless rant.

And then for good measure you throw in some more false generalisations on Hardwick, just in case you don't get the negative responses you are looking for.

But I will agree with you on one thing and will watch the rest of the year unfold and see this group - and Hardwick - respond and overcome.

A reasonable response although mine is not a mindless rant. The Tiger group has for many years failed in big marquee games – fact. The club has relied too much on a talented few and thanks to the “injury Gods” have gotten away with it. This year looks to be the exception to that good piece of luck.

If you read my posts I have prefaced my comments by underlining our failures in the 2018 PL which was almost seven months ago and has carried through to our last game against the Magpies and the shambles the other day. That falls directly on the coaches and Hardwick in particular. What generalizations about Hardwick? I think most here would agree he is a truly lousy game day coach. He is stubborn although you might call that loyalty? And as far as I’m concerned the 2017 premiership was last week. I’m more concerned about a much bigger picture, and the next six weeks.

You cherry pick and nominate Stack as the example of Hardwicks capacity to develop players. I don’t buy that thin argument for a moment. Do you want a list of selection failures and players he persisted with along with those today he continues to select that simply have not developed into even reliable B-grade AFL players – who instead struggle to fill the gaps caused by injury. Does Tyrone Vickery ring a bell? Hawthorn did what Hardwick is incapable of doing. Making the difficult call, at the absolute right time for the absolute right reasons.

You attacking me personally makes me laugh and tells me you don’t like to think about the bigger picture. It’s far easier to keep the focus on the small picture. Personally I don’t give a sh!t about your perception of me. I do give a sh!t about repeatedly made mistakes and poor coaching decisions and choices.

Whatever is in play at the moment is not working, with the group that have been running out since September 2018. I believe Balme has the experience to say a few home truths to the coaching staff. The next few weeks will tell us something about the “steel” of the collective and the individual that run out to play for the Tigers. Stay tuned.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

You cherry pick and nominate Stack as the example of Hardwicks capacity to develop players. I don’t buy that thin argument for a moment. Do you want a list of selection failures and players he persisted with along with those today he continues to select that simply have not developed into even reliable B-grade AFL players – who instead struggle to fill the gaps caused by injury. Does Tyrone Vickery ring a bell? Hawthorn did what Hardwick is incapable of doing. Making the difficult call, at the absolute right time for the absolute right reasons.

Granted, only a handful of clubs have had a premiership combination intact on the list two years later. Whether retaining that group has been a policy, I have no idea. But with a couple of exceptions, the group haven't looked like trade material since the flag.

 

[TigerPort]

A reasonable response although mine is not a mindless rant. The Tiger group has for many years failed in big marquee games – fact. The club has relied too much on a talented few and thanks to the “injury Gods” have gotten away with it. This year looks to be the exception to that good piece of luck.

If you read my posts I have prefaced my comments by underlining our failures in the 2018 PL which was almost seven months ago and has carried through to our last game against the Magpies and the shambles the other day. That falls directly on the coaches and Hardwick in particular. What generalizations about Hardwick? I think most here would agree he is a truly lousy game day coach. He is stubborn although you might call that loyalty? And as far as I’m concerned the 2017 premiership was last week. I’m more concerned about a much bigger picture, and the next six weeks.

You cherry pick and nominate Stack as the example of Hardwicks capacity to develop players. I don’t buy that thin argument for a moment. Do you want a list of selection failures and players he persisted with along with those today he continues to select that simply have not developed into even reliable B-grade AFL players – who instead struggle to fill the gaps caused by injury. Does Tyrone Vickery ring a bell? Hawthorn did what Hardwick is incapable of doing. Making the difficult call, at the absolute right time for the absolute right reasons.

You attacking me personally makes me laugh and tells me you don’t like to think about the bigger picture. It’s far easier to keep the focus on the small picture. Personally I don’t give a sh!t about your perception of me. I do give a sh!t about repeatedly made mistakes and poor coaching decisions and choices.

Whatever is in play at the moment is not working, with the group that have been running out since September 2018. I believe Balme has the experience to say a few home truths to the coaching staff. The next few weeks will tell us something about the “steel” of the collective and the individual that run out to play for the Tigers. Stay tuned.

The reasons for the failure at the end part of season 2018 are quite different to what is happening now. If we continued through 2019 and up say bottom 6 then your original post has merit. Not just 3 games into the season. Hardwick has stated that they were approaching 2019 with a mindset to build through the season and be hitting our straps in the later half and attacking the finals. 3 games in is too early to make any prediction and especially given the injuries we have incurred.

We will get most of the players back in a few weeks and then we will see how the rest of the season plays out. The advantage with this is we get some of the younger guys like Balta and Stack in and they add to their experience. The team will be better when that happens.

You are saying you look at the bigger picture but you are going off just 3 games where we sit 1 and 3 and have lost to two teams predicted to be in the hunt for the top 4. I cannot see how you can say you are looking at the bigger picture.

It boils down to you not rating Hardwick, even though he has a premiership to his name. "Tramtracks Hardwick" ring any bells? You also stated categorically that he could not develop players which only needs one name to break down. As I said too many generalisations in your argument.

Yes you could name many players that have not come on under Hardwick's tenure but one could find as many names for any club and any coach as not many players drafted each year will get past 50 games.

You use Hawthorn as some pinnacle of player development but 10 of their players on the weekend were obtained from other clubs and two others in Mitchell and Burgoyne are out injured.

Anyway I will wait until later in the year to make an assessment when I have more knowledge of the bigger picture and not some small picture based on three games.

Enjoy your football

 

[Tigerdangerous]

The reasons for the failure at the end part of season 2018 are quite different to what is happening now. If we continued through 2019 and up say bottom 6 then your original post has merit. Not just 3 games into the season. Hardwick has stated that they were approaching 2019 with a mindset to build through the season and be hitting our straps in the later half and attacking the finals. 3 games in is too early to make any prediction and especially given the injuries we have incurred.

We will get most of the players back in a few weeks and then we will see how the rest of the season plays out. The advantage with this is we get some of the younger guys like Balta and Stack in and they add to their experience. The team will be better when that happens.

You are saying you look at the bigger picture but you are going off just 3 games where we sit 1 and 3 and have lost to two teams predicted to be in the hunt for the top 4. I cannot see how you can say you are looking at the bigger picture.

It boils down to you not rating Hardwick, even though he has a premiership to his name. "Tramtracks Hardwick" ring any bells? You also stated categorically that he could not develop players which only needs one name to break down. As I said too many generalisations in your argument.

Yes you could name many players that have not come on under Hardwick's tenure but one could find as many names for any club and any coach as not many players drafted each year will get past 50 games.

You use Hawthorn as some pinnacle of player development but 10 of their players on the weekend were obtained from other clubs and two others in Mitchell and Burgoyne are out injured.

Anyway I will wait until later in the year to make an assessment when I have more knowledge of the bigger picture and not some small picture based on three games.

Enjoy your football

It all depends on what is between the ears of the players, and whether or not Hardwick can be pro-active rather than re-active in his coaching particularly on game day and as we ALL know that is not his strong suit. And the Tigers slide from grace started in the 2018 finals.

And as for those projections of Hardwick to build through the season and have the side hitting their straps towards the end of the season???? It's like believing the projections of a surplus budget by the current PM. Fantasy. Every game, from game one is there to be won and I would hope "tramtracks Hardwick" goes into every game wanting a win. It's as simple as that.

I referred to Hawthorns culture and its capacity to win multiple premierships and attract good players from other clubs because of their winning culture. We all know that Hardwick plucked a premiership from nowhere and it was fantastic. We also know Hardwick is a student of Clarkson but lacks the ruthlessness of Clarkson. He is what he is and I hope Balme has a quiet word into his ear.

If the 2019 season continues to unravel for the Tigers, and I hope it doesn't, I hope that the coach who is in his tenth year at Richmond is put on notice by Balme.

By the way; I've not mentioned the performance, or lack there of, the total lack there of, of Martin. I hope you appreciate that but I'm furious he was indulged in the manner he has been by the coach. He should have been dragged mid 2nd quarter and spent an extended period on the bench. But hey he wasn't and he cops two weeks for what?????

 

[CarnTheTiges]

I don’t buy the can’t develop players line. Vlastuin, Grimes, Martin, Ashbury, Rioli, Lambert, McIntosh, all Premiership players who started under Hardwick and have never had another senior coach. Grigg and Houli were going nowhere at Carlton and Essendon and won a flag with us under Hardwick. Jack, Cotch, Rance, Edwards, blossomed under Hardwick. There have been failures, all coaches have them, but the successes outweigh the failures.

 

[Tigerdangerous]

I don’t buy the can’t develop players line. Vlastuin, Grimes, Martin, Ashbury, Rioli, Lambert, McIntosh, all Premiership players who started under Hardwick and have never had another senior coach. Grigg and Houli were going nowhere at Carlton and Essendon and won a flag with us under Hardwick. Jack, Cotch, Rance, Edwards, blossomed under Hardwick. There have been failures, all coaches have them, but the successes outweigh the failures.

High selection picks dominate the players you have chosen as examples of Hardwicks capacity to develop players. I would assume because of their status within the draft these players had the qualities and skills necessary to make an impact at any club. Some others you have mentioned were already at Richmond before Hardwick arrived.

His failures are obvious and have been discussed very well on this site. And yes he has a premiership to his name which is great. But if the Tigers fall back into a 2016 mindset led by an intransigent head coach then Balme has the ability and position to make the generational change that “may” be required at the end of the season.

Can I add that while most of the posts on this site are obviously Richmond focused most of us forget the homework the other sides do on the Tigers? And they do. Getting under Martin’s skin knowing he is down in form and confidence was an example of that and it was not countered in any way by the coach. The result – a two match suspension to Martin. That is poor coaching and player management in my opinion.

 

[taztiger4]

High selection picks dominate the players you have chosen as examples of Hardwicks capacity to develop players. I would assume because of their status within the draft these players had the qualities and skills necessary to make an impact at any club. Some others you have mentioned were already at Richmond before Hardwick arrived.

His failures are obvious and have been discussed very well on this site. And yes he has a premiership to his name which is great. But if the Tigers fall back into a 2016 mindset led by an intransigent head coach then Balme has the ability and position to make the generational change that “may” be required at the end of the season.

Can I add that while most of the posts on this site are obviously Richmond focused most of us forget the homework the other sides do on the Tigers? And they do. Getting under Martin’s skin knowing he is down in form and confidence was an example of that and it was not countered in any way by the coach. The result – a two match suspension to Martin. That is poor coaching and player management in my opinion.

you know what, it ain't Dimma's job to develop players alone , we have development & assistants for that

 

[Tigerdangerous]

you know what, it ain't Dimma's job to develop players alone , we have development & assistants for that

Yeah sure. Like it's not Hardwick's fault who the club selects at the draft. Like it's not Hardwick's decision on who joins the Richmond coaching team. I’ll let you mull over that for a while.

The heat is not on just the players, but the “senior” coach and I would go so far as to say the next four to five weeks will be the most challenging of Hardwick’s coaching career.
I wonder if Balme agrees with me?

 

[taztiger4]

Yeah sure. Like it's not Hardwick's fault who the club selects at the draft. Like it's not Hardwick's decision on who joins the Richmond coaching team. I’ll let you mull over that for a while.

The heat is not on just the players, but the “senior” coach and I would go so far as to say the next four to five weeks will be the most challenging of Hardwick’s coaching career.
I wonder if Balme agrees with me?

Balamey knows his football so I doubt it

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

I would go so far as to say the next four to five weeks will be the most challenging of Hardwick’s coaching career.

September 2017 was quite challenging.

The club won't expect him to perform miracles. The test will come when he has his team back, players are underdone and can't see out games or break down again.

 

[TigerPort]

The Richmond Football Club is not a one man band.

The Richmond Football Club is - these days - all about the process.

Peggy, Brendon, Neil, Damien would be fully across what needs to be done and they will be planning to get through this period.

The next 4 to 6 weeks is a huge challenge for not only Hardwick but all the coaches, the medical guys, the trainers, all the players and all the support staff.

However the next 4 to 6 weeks is also a huge opportunity for not only Hardwick but all the coaches, the medical guys, the trainers, all of the players and all the support staff.

The so called "B Grade" players need to find the ability within themselves to lift to a higher level that they might not have been able to achieve with the "big 4" always there to do the work. Opportunity

The kids like Balta, Stack, Ross, Naish will get earlier chances and more of them. Opportunity

Guys like Higgins, Graham have the chance to grow and take more responsibility, maybe a bit earlier than planned. Opportunity

Guys like Markov, Menadue and Bolton will get their chance and will be given more time. The club and themselves will find out if they have a future. Opportunity

Lynch gets to be the main man up forward. The other players will get to know his style of play quicker. Opportunity

And then in 6, 8 10 weeks the established players get back from injury and slot back into the team. Potentially we can be a higher performing team at that time than we would have been if we weren't going through this current phase. Opportunity

So what can the "Richmond Army" do. Well individually we all have to make one of two choices. We can get behind the club. Attend the games and attend training and cheer as loudly as we did when we were on top of the AFL not that long ago. Cement our reputation as the best supporters. Give the club, the coaches and the players lift they need now.

Or you can sit there going woe is me, woe is my life and taking pot shots on social media at the club, the coaches, the players

Go tiges!!