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So the 2013 season has officially ended for Richmond and Collingwood.
Their players will now embark on the traditional Mad Monday celebrations and end of season trip before regrouping to start pre-season for next year, where they will hope to improve on results and push further.
For players who may have been carrying injuries or niggles, it’s also a chance to get surgery, clean up a bit and try and prepare to start fresh for the next season.
We’ll take a look back at the seasons of both Collingwood and Richmond and see where they went wrong, where they went right and where they can improve for next year.
Richmond: what went right?
Things at Tigerland were on the up from Round 1, as they faced Carlton, who they had lost the same fixture for the last four years in a row.
While the five point win wasn’t convincing, and may have hurt them in the long run, but it was a win over a side that they had struggled to get over in the past and had become a bogey team for Richmond.
Not only did they have a Round 1 win, they backed it up with wins over St Kilda and Western in Rounds 2 and 3.
While they would go on to lose their next three games, the Tigers had importantly held on to a spot in the top eight.
Later in the season, Richmond posted impressive victories against Hawthorn and Fremantle, as well as posting a massive 121 point win over GWS, which helped the Tigers to their first final appearance since 2001.
What went wrong?
As much as the Tigers like to think they don’t rely on Jack Riewoldt to win them games anymore, it just doesn’t appear to be the case.
While Riewoldt improved his position as a team player, sharing the ball around more and setting up more goals for teammates in situations were he previously would have gone for the shot himself.
Despite this new “unselfishness” in Riewoldt’s arsenal, he is still a key player and when he gets shut out of the game, it is more damaging to the Richmond game plan then if Cotchin or Deledio gets shut down because the Tigers certainly have midfield depth.
In the Round 21 game against Carlton, Riewoldt started well kicking two goals on Bootsma, but after being shut down by Jamison, he finished the game with just the two goals and 13 touches.
Then in the Elimination Final, Riewoldt played on Jamison the entire game, and once again the Carlton defender managed to blanket Riewoldt keeping him to one goal and 11 touches for the entire game.
Where to for next year?
Richmond have a decent side, but they still need a few more players around the ground.
Starting from defence, at the end of last season Richmond brought in Port Adelaide strong bodied defender Troy Chaplin to take the second tall forward, and back-up for number one defender Alex Rance.
Rance had one of his best seasons and has come along way to being one of the best full backs in the AFL. However, Chaplin has often been exposed and when he is there is a tendency to not just leak goals, but for their to be a floodgate.
While the Tigers will likely persist with Chaplin, as he only got to the club this season, I don’t see them getting far with him as a permanent member of their defence, good teams will expose him too easily.
The Richmond midfield is one of the most up and coming midfields in the League.
With Tuck already retiring and Newman seems to on his way towards retirement, Richmond will want to fill the void in hard bodied midfielders with those two departing.
Up forward, as mentioned earlier, more support is required for Riewoldt, and while Vickery has come along nicely in the past year and has shown some real talent, he really needs to lift more consistently and he needs to be able to stand up when Riewoldt goes missing.
Fear not Tiger fans, as short as your September was this time, barring unforeseeable circumstances they will be back in September action next year as well, as the club slowly mounts a challenge to be genuine contenders.
Collingwood: what went right?
Similar to Richmond, Collingwood also won it’s first two games of the season, including it’s the first showdown between Nathan Buckley and former Collingwood head coach Mick Malthouse and Carlton.
Collingwood won both encounters between the clubs, a reversal on last year’s when Carlton took the points in both the 2012 encounters. Collingwood also scored a shock victory over Geelong, despite being 26 points down at half time.
Down at the Pies, Brent Macaffer found himself back in the side after a long lay off with injury and played important shut down roles, and the pies also discovered young and highly talented ruckman Brodie Grundy, who established himself as the no one ruckman at the Pies, ahead of veteran Darren Jolly.
What went wrong?
The Pies suffered a few injuries to key player and clearly require more depth to their squad. While they certainly found a few players that have a large amount of potential, they were not capable of performing at the required level.
While the injuries are certainly major, good clubs are able to cover for injuries and unfortunately Collingwood was unable to do that this season.
Another element of Collingwood’s season that went poorly was when Collingwood lost, they lost with quiet considerable margins. Aside from the Gold Coast and North Melbourne games, where they would have been expected to win, Collingwood’s average losing margin was around 41 points.
Where to for next year?
Collingwood needs more depth across the park, as they rely on a group of players within the group to consistently get them over the line.
However, these players aren’t able to string games together often, usually due to injury. Hypothetically, if Collingwood was able to get these players fit and firing they would once again be in a great position to push for a Top four spot.
Eager to start the next season, Collingwood has already announced a list of players that were being let go by the club, including veteran ruckman Darren Jolly, as well as Andrew Krakouer, Alan Didak and former Blue Jordan Russell.
The message this list sends is loud and clear, Collingwood doesn’t care about past service to the club, or how good you may have been, if you don’t perform on the field, you aren’t being kept on the list, which probably isn’t a bad strategy to have when you still have a decent list.
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