Richmond must move quickly to stop the rot

Roar Guru

By David Wiseman, 5 Jun 2009 David Wiseman is a Roar Guru

Tagged:: AFL, Matthew Richardson, Richmond Football Club, Richmond Tigers, Terry Wallace

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In the end, it was all pretty anticlimactic. After all the hype and speculation, how could it not have been? But considering the circumstances, the Richmond Football Club have handled it well. Their next quandary is how to move on from here.

For the remainder of the year, they’ll have a caretaker coach.

If the team can perform reasonably well, the caretaker would have the inside running to be the permanent coach. This was the path that Carlton took with Brett Ratten and Fremantle with Mark Harvey.

It would be a shame, though, if the players responded to the caretaker coach in a manner they didn’t do so for Terry Wallace. So don’t be surprised if the Tigers come out and wallop the West Coast in Round Twelve, which they probably would have done anyway.

What of 2010 and beyond?

The first decisions will have to be made in the off-season regarding the list. In this regard, it is going to be a painful exercise for the Tigers because they are going to be right back where they started from with Wallace five years ago.

While ‘list management’ was a big part of Wallace’s vocabulary, it remains to be seen how effective his was.

This adds insult to injury for the hapless Tigers’ fans, as the pain from the last five years has come with no tangible gains.

Sure, they have some pieces in part. But this is the AFL. You would expect that they have some reasonably competent players.

Matthew Richardson is already the oldest player in the AFL and there will a lot of conjecture as to whether or not he plays on for another year. His form isn’t the issue – he has been playing some great football.

His ability to recover from injuries at his age and the wear and tear he has been through is a major factor.

He is currently on 282 games, so he most likely will be given another season to try and become just the fourth Tiger to reach the 300 game milestone.

Besides Richo, there are plenty of other questions: what to do with Ben Cousins? What to do, if anything, during Trade Week?

Then, once the new coach has his squad, he has to work out the brand of football which is best for his team.

Something Wallace never quite mastered.

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The Crowd Says (7) | Page 1 of Comments

Redb said | June 5th 2009 @ 7:42am | Report comment

There are way too many articles on Richmond, move on. They’re 15th who cares.

The game of the round is Brisbane v Carlton at the Gabba. Carlton have no defence and will not be able to stop Brown and Bradshaw. I hope the lions smash ‘em.

Redb

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Pippinu said | June 5th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment

What of 2010 and beyond?

Pretty much more of what’s happened the last 27 seasons.

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Redb said | June 5th 2009 @ 11:11am | Report comment

9th?

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Pippinu said | June 5th 2009 @ 11:17am | Report comment

redb
now let’s not exaggerate, that only happens every 2nd season or so, the other seasons are considerably worse

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Redb said | June 5th 2009 @ 2:37pm | Report comment

correct, there is no way Richmond will finish 9th this season more like 15th, maybe 14th if Fremantle implode.

Three games of interest to me this week are Bris v Carlton , Bombers v Adelaide and the Collingwood v Melbourne game – that should be better game than it looks on paper.

Redb

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Charlie said | June 5th 2009 @ 2:42pm | Report comment

I always love it when misinformed people bleat the same old lines trying to convince themselves it’s true. Perhaps if you say it enough times it may become true – I think not. Redb I would have expected better from you.

Carlton’s defence is currently the third best in the league in terms of points conceded, behind only St Kilda and Geelong, averaging 87.8 points conceded per game. This is a 19.2 point per game improvement from last year, which in itself was a 25.3 point conceded per game improvement from 2007. So Carlton’s defence has improved by over 7 goals per game over the last 2 years, however it is probably still a work in progress.

Interestingly, last time Carlton played Brisbane, Carlton’s defence held Brown and Bradshaw very well until halftime, which was when we lost Jamison to injury. Thereafter our defence struggled, as most teams would with their premier fullback injured during the course of the game. This may highlight a lack of depth in Carlton’s defence, but if the back 6 stay healthy then Carlton will do allright. As a side note, Carlton also beat Brisbane last time they played at the Gabba (Round 21, 2008), despite a combined 10 goals from Bradshaw and Brown playing, a 126 point turnaround from 2007.

Methinks Redb is merely trying to divert attention away from the Adelaide v. Essendon game, in which the Bombers will go in as favourites and will probably lose. Or, as an Essendon supporer, he just always hopes that Carlton get smashed. Either way, both games should be entertaining and I’m looking forward to another weekend of AFL action.

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ren said | June 5th 2009 @ 8:18pm | Report comment

i think west coast are closer to imploding than freo, but then again i’m a bit one eyed.

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