What is our biggest problem right now? (poll)

[DjJazzyPete]

Generational change , injuries haven't helped ... esp Lynch .
We need speed, our midfield is one paced ..
We need forwards . Can't blame Teague when we haven't got the players . We haven't recruited a tall forward in the last few years . Did we expect Jack to go on forever ?? Till Bradke ( who is raw but has potential and is a few years off ) . Yeah getting Tom Browne vs a tall forward or a fast midfielder or a small forward was a mistake . And we gave away our small forwards .
Recruiting Hopper was probably a bridge to far . Giving away our first draft pic 2 years in a row... uugg esp this year when we will probably finish in the bottom 6 .
We have a few retiring Cotch , Tarrant , Jack , ( Dusty ? , Grimes ? Prestisa ? rumored ) .Maybe a few going to other clubs Dusty? Graham ? , Broad , Soldo ? ( rumored )

Good news is that hopefully we get 2 pics in the mid season draft .

 

[tigertough]

Old players
young players not up to it
no speed
poor game plan

 

[Bullarto Tiger]

Need McRae to pop down to the club and give everyone a bit of a pep talk ..... He's got it "going on" at the moment with his team.

 

[checkside]

Voted for all of the above.
Obviously forward line and conversion an issue, delivery has been poor as well.

Skills have been average.

Injuries and suspensions have taken a toll, so has bringing players back from injuries without building them up.

Then we have the trying players in different positions, which may not suit them really, the older brigade being on there last legs, which probably aren’t performing as we thought they would be, and the total lack of belief in one and other.

All in all, I think a lack on buy in from all players, on what has been asked of them. Players fault or coaching fault, there is no belief. I remember when Dimma said he stopped focusing on what guys couldn’t do, and focused on what they could. That doesn’t happen anymore.

 

[Bullarto Tiger]

beat me to it.

we are just machines - lumps of meat and bone powered by food. the harder we work, the more worn out we get.

Brick layers get their knees replaced 30 years before dentists.

its why if you want to buy a ute, you buy one from Sorrento, rather than Cape York.

Tigers are worn out.

I wouldnt want it any other way

I like and agree with your commentary
Does it also presuppose that Dimma is worn out? Quite possibly?

 

[Little Ziggyadee]

We need to all come together and sing Kumbaya.
What happened to the jokes in the huddle just before the games.
The ass pitching?
The fingers up the clacker?
The enjoyment of wearing our jumper.
We look like a bunch of stiffs now.
Our list is better then Collingwoods but they are fit.
If your fit it helps with decision making and helps run out games.
This preseason has been Beer and chips absolutely shocking.
Let's get Melbourne fit FFS

 

[Little Ziggyadee]

No one else notice?
Castagna retires club goes into free fall.
At least his 1.3 or 2.2 wouldve improved on our 6.12.

 

[eZyT]

I like and agree with your commentary
Does it also presuppose that Dimma is worn out? Quite possibly?

yep.

I dont think we can overestimate the mental toll winning the '20 flag locked up in Queensland.

we know of the familial toll.

messages, techniques, idiosyncrasies do get stale as well, which comes under 'worn out' heading

its almost the inevitable perfect storm,

that has shocked most of us, including senior RFC minds.

theres no doubt they thought we were major contenders in 2023,

while It seems only GWS and Carter understood we were wooden spoon aspirants

 

[Bullarto Tiger]

yep.

I dont think we can overestimate the mental toll winning the '20 flag locked up in Queensland.

we know of the familial toll.

messages, techniques, idiosyncrasies do get stale as well, which comes under 'worn out' heading

its almost the inevitable perfect storm,

that has shocked most of us, including senior RFC minds.

theres no doubt they thought we were major contenders in 2023,

while It seems only GWS and Carter understood we were wooden spoon aspirants

I, too, believed Richmond were going to be contenders this year.
I thought we were well back from the cliff edge, but the ground has collapsed from underneath us.
Going to be a long season now. Will just try and get some joy out of any highlights the younger players could provide.

 

[BrisTiger24]

My pet peeve is how bad our pre season was.
* Dimma taking a massive OS break while by Caesar’s reports the team had an ordinary preseason was the first red flag. Was concerned then we wouldn’t be fit enough
* The preseason camp sounded like utter nonsense, the footies didn’t even come out?? I get all the bonding crap teams go on with, but to not practice the sport you play even once while away for a week is beyond stupid.
* new S&C guy Luke Meehan…is it his fault we had so many injuries from day 1 preseason and he had little to work with or did he run an inadequate program which is showing how unfit the team is. Has to be under the microscope.
* preseason games v North and Dees were awful. On what I wrote above I was expecting little and got exactly that. I downgraded us from top 8 to bottom 6 then and sadly have been proven correct.

Our last few pre seasons have been a worry.

Coming out of 2020, I could understand an abridged pre season given how big the 2020 season was mentally and physically. But it's like we created a new norm. Last couple of pre seasons, we have started later than other clubs, seemed to have more days off than other clubs, started later after xmas break. Only Ceasar can really fill us in on the actual content of pre season sessions but we do look under prepared from a fitness point of view and muscle readiness point of view. With a new boss in Meehan, I wonder whether he didn't want to push them as hard but that is contributing to our current woes?

 

[MD Jazz]

At what point do we still use the stand rule as an excuse? Its been in play for 2 years. FWIW I didnt think it effected us last year. We were the highest scoring team in the comp.

It's not about scoring though. We played the best forward half turnover game in the comp for about 4 years. Teams really struggled to move the ball out of their D50. A lot of it was to do with pressure on the ball carrier but also the way we forced the kick to a contest. It was much easier to do that when the man on the mark wasn't retsricted to a single spot. He could move. We did not give them the corridor. We aggressively manned the mark. We didn't sag back off the mark.

As DS points out it might only be a few % but that change has opened up the field for the oppostion. Teams rarely man the mark in their F50. Teams concede the short passes now. Because you can't stop them. Players only need a few meteres spare. Elite kickers can hit the targets, and their options have increased.

It's almost impossible now to play a forward half turnover game. And I dodn't think we have adjsuted tactically at all. I mean how could you?

Combine it with a few other factors like wear and tear, motivation etc and its the goal a qtr difference between winning and losing.

The AFL thinks higher scoring is the panacea, as do most sports administrators. The NBA is the same, they want higher scores so make it harder to defend. Allow travels and carries. Cricket has allowed monster bats. They make boundaries shorter. Restrict fields. They all think people just want to see high scores.

Personally I prefer a contest between attack and defense.

 

[dimmauchump]

Castagna's retirement probably sums it up to be honest. He was just mentally done. He knew he was going to have to work overtime to keep his spot in this team and perhaps after 3 flags and a mentally draining last couple of years he just didn't have the fight to go again. I see similar issues with the likes of Vlastuin, Grimes, Martin etc.

I also think the Covid fallout and the 2020 season broke Dimma. He has never been the same since that year. Yes, perhaps his message has tired on the team but i think mentally he just doesn't seem the same bloke. That is no doubt having a huge influence on the playing group and the other coaches.

 

[French Tiger]

As others have mentioned

Senior players declining rapidly

Injuries

Plus the lack of early draft picks consistently due to our period of success means no real quality coming through developing , I think Gibcus only top 10 pick for approximately 10 years

Having said that I do agree with the recruitment of Tarranto & Hopper , without them going forward the midfield would be very bare.

 

[Carter]

senior players are done

younger players aren't ready

that makes for a heady brew, my friends

 

[WildStyle]

Injuries to important players, causing too many inexperienced and not at the level players to be in the side.

Not enough time for the team to gel with with Tarranto and Hopper. Injuries delaying this even more.

Important senior players struggling.

Major loss of confidence.

 

[wigglyworm]

You can cover 1-2 tops 3 junior players in the team with less than a year or two experience. Once you go above that statistically you are screwed.

 

[RobsJourney]

Our biggest problem is everywhere. I've harped on a LOT about this on BigFooty but we have WAY too many back flankers.

What was the point of drafting so many when we were already well set in that area? We have overlooked midfield and key position depth far too much. Look at 2021, 5 picks inside 30, we picked Gibcus - probably fair enough although I wanted Hobbs to boost our midfield, but then the next 4 picks we took 3 back flankers (argue Banks is now a wing) and Sonsie who is a lighter, outside midfielder, so sort of a flanker.

We passed on Van Rooyen, Michito Owens, Windhager, heaps of players doing decently well at AFL level already.

Now we have reached a point where it looks like a rebuild is needed, and we have no depth in the main two components on a footy field - midfield (ball winners, not outside mids), and key position.

Flankers are necessary yes, you can't build a team with only key position and ball winning midfielders, but when you have SO MANY it becomes ridiculous.

When you're doing well, which we were for 5-6 years, obviously recruiting is harder because you have less top draft picks, however, you still have to nail what you can and we just haven't.

If you draft more solid midfielders and key position than you need, at least other teams come for them with juicy trade offers. Teams rarely come knocking for fringe utilities that aren't getting games at AFL level.

We are basically starting from close to scratch because we have no quality key position or midfielders in the VFL, but we have 8-10 flankers (mostly backline), half of which are currently injured, and none of which will get a game in the AFL anyway ahead of Baker, Rioli, Vlasutin, and Short.

Dumb, dumb recruiting.

 

[DuD_Delist]

Personally it is whatever is meaning our old guys aren’t performing relative to other teams. I’ve put game plan but really preseason/motivation/Father Time.

Vlaustin, Martin and grimes being this poor relative to what they have put out week after week wasnt on my cards.

Over a decade of heavy lifting takes its toll and not doubt the motivation/Hunger factor has something to do with it.

 

[MD Jazz]

Just looking at some team stats (https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_stats_team.html?year=2018) assuming these are accurate.

Our ranking on defensive measures have dropped off from our successful years. They are not great in some instances but we rank lower on all measures from 21-23. Small changes but big impacts. Is it personell based or rule change based? Maybe a bit of both?

Turnover Differential
2017-2020 - We ranked 1st/1st/3rd/2nd
2021-2023 - rank 2nd, 4th, 16th

Mtrs Gained differential
2017-2020 - We ranked 6th/2nd/2nd/1st
2021-2023 - rank 8th/4th/12th

Inside 50's differential
2017-2020 - we ranked 3rd/2nd/2nd/2nd
2021-2023 - rank 8th/4th/13th

Tackles differential
2017-2020 - we ranked 5th/7th/1st/1st
2021-2023 - rank 7th/11th/10th

Tackles i50 differential
2017-2020 - we ranked 3rd/1st/6th/6th
2021-2023 - rank 6th/6th/6th

Pressure Acts
2017-2020 - we ranked 5th/5th/3rd/4th
2021-2023 - rank 4th/6th/9th

 

[St Kevin]

On field: most of our premiership stars are nearing the end.
Off field: Gale possibly leaving to set up the Tasmanian team.