Hardwick vows to fix 'broken' Tigers

Youre being a tad unfair Hal. Could it be youre still moaning about the one that got away - 1967? Or the first semi final of 1969?? Whats the relevance of those games to today? Nowt. Same as the relevance to the 95 PF. Yes Geelong had had the tigers' measure since 2007 but sooner or later that will be broken. Nothing's surer, that's football. Our coaches? We've sacked one coach since KB's contract wasn't renewed at the end of 1991 season. I wonder how many other clubs have been saved the reputation of "coach sackers" by this long ago perception of Richmond's. Richmond is 'talked up' not by the fans necessarily, but by the media which knows that due to their large following, Richmond sells papers/provides ratings. Its that simple. Same as Collingwood and Essendon and Carlton to a lesser extent. The media loves the 'tragic tiger supporter' who always gets let down whether by finishing ninth, down the bottom or in elimination finals. the story is exacerbated by the fact that through all that, the TTS still gets up each year, buys a membership and hopes for the best (while expecting the worst). KB doesn't believe half the crap that comes out of his mouth. While he is a passionate Richmond man (why wouldn't he be having played 400 games and in five premierships??) he's a stirrer who likes throwing things out there to create debate. Listen to him with that in mind. Im an unblinkered tiger fan who can recall when we were successful but also the pain of the last 35 years. I for one and my tiger supporting friends certainly do not think we were born to rule. We simply want a decent chance to enjoy success that has come the way of a lot of teams over the past 30 odd years. We're realistic to believe that that success is still some time away.

Don Freo: That is my point. Richmond have been crap ever since. I barrack for Geelong and we have an absolute dominance over this club. If you listen to football talk back Richmond have a legion of fans (Mario from the petrol station, Tommy from Rowville, Trout from Woodend et al) who are arrogant and blinkered. They think Richmond are one win away from a premiership. They are encouraged by the Geelong hating K.B who is so deluded about Richmond's ability. I picked them not to make the 8 this year. Trout, Tommy, and Mario live in the past. They feel that because Richmond have had success in the 1960's and early 1970's that they are some great side that should be respected from here to eternity. AFL fans who are of a younger generation have never witnessed a successful Richmond era. These same blinkered Richmond fans who crap on about Tiger Time, constantly remind everyone that Richmond knocked over Essendon (or Essendoom as Trout prefers to call them) in a final in 1995. They never mention that they faced Geelong the following week and made total fools of themselves. The thing that irritates me about these so called big four clubs is that they live in the past, constantly harking back to bygone eras when they won all these VFL premierships. They have arrogant born to rule attitudes, and people who do not barrack for these big four clubs get fed up with such arrogance. There will be plenty of Richmond fans screaming sack the coach. Richmond are a club that has made coach sackings an art form. If one is to look at premiership success from 1990 onwards (when the AFL was formed) Richmond have not won a premiership, Collingwood have won two (20 years apart), Essendon have won two, and Carlton have won one. Richmond's history in the modern AFL era is one of wooden spoons, finishing ninth, stuffing up draft picks, losing three elimination finals in a row (including one to a team that finished ninth and only got into the finals because Essendon were disqualified), and sacking coaches. Despite all this K.B still believes that Richmond are one of the greatest teams in sporting history.

On what do you base that opinion? One away game to Hawthorn?

At this stage I would say WC are a great team at home, but only a good to average side away from home.

Hal, this is actually a different team than the team they had in the 1980s.

Richmond your season is over. This club is being found out by the much harder fixture it has been given. Richmond will not be saved by playing Carlton twice this year. I would like to see Richmond play Geelong twice. Richmond would have to be the most over rated team. This is a team that has done stuff all since 1980, yet all the so called experts constantly talk them up.

I think WC would have been very pleased with Jetta's skill and poise in the second half yesterday. He showed something to have fans salivating, including his link work in defense.

If we are to beleive Hardwick, and to be fair we should factor in that he said he made changes this year that he believes will take the club forward. He's also missed Deledio, Maric and Yarran and those guys are big outs. I can't imagine the board wouldn't have known of his strategy prior to re-signing him. Therefore his re-signing was a board endorsement of his plan and vision for the team. Lyon has done something similair at Fremantle. After just a few games it doesn't seem to have worked out as well as either of them would have hoped for, but it's a very small sample size and is it enough time to judge them? In 2014 it took WC two-thirds of the season to adjust to Simmo's game plan. They beat the teams they should and lost to the better teams but I could see the steady improvement and momentum building throughout the season while most simple minded observers used simple terms like FTB's and quite a few persisted until at least the halfway point of 2015. It finally clicked against the GCS late in 2014 and they haven't looked back since, The difference being that Simmo was a new coach while the others have coached their sides for years. My point is that it can take time for a new strategy to manifest into wins and it can look very ordinary on the field at times and players can more easily lose confidence while learning new tricks. The clubs either support the direction they embarked on together and beleive that it will eventually click or they don't. Interestingly last week Lyon reverted back to something closely resembling his usual game plan and I think that he will persist with it again this week. I'm not saying that Hardwick is the man to take the club forward - I already had doubts before the season started and I wouldn't have re-signed him but I would have shaken hands and told him that if he hit X pre-agreed KOI's then he'd be re-signed. I would have released that to the media without sharing what they KPI's - that seems like the most sensible approach to me. It's not like other clubs were lining up to poach him. So if the board has bought into the strategy then that is what they need to measure him on, not win/loss and heat from the media and fans.

No they're not dirty Michael, quite the opposite. I was just playing along and building on the mystic/legend David started. If people want to fear them I don't want to stop them. They are both showing a bit of aggression though and that's good. What Lycett did wasn't good, or smart, he had a brain fade and it was only a tap as most of the press are correctly reporting. If anything Lycett was squaring up for Coxy. Good luck next week, hopefully it's a cracker with WC winning!

Agreed Jax , I was pissed when they traded Sinclair for Jetta ,to me Sinclair had a great year last year and had more than proved himself, unless Sinclair was injured Lycett would have struggled to get a game,I hope Jetta can prove that he was a worthy pick up and Lycett can step up

David, did they really take out Hampson? Didn't look that way to me, simply overwhelmed him and injuries happen, esp the ones you have already got. Poor selection by Richmond. Personally I don't think that WCE ruckmen are at all dirty players, but I could be wrong. What I am certain about is if Hampson had "taken out" Nic Nat, for example, we would see David congratulating mister Hampson, would we not? Anyway, if deliberate dirty play by the WCE ruck brigade is on the table (Jax, is this what you are suggesting?) then someone sometime will apply the old square up rule. Go Swannies.

Sandi hit was not intended ,that's what you get when one ruckman can leap and the other can't quite simply albeit that Nic Nat has And extrordinary leap and Sandi normally doesn't need to jump much ,Lycett just had a brain fade in retaliation to Ty Vickory's effort Dean Cox last year ,just part of the game

Sinclair and Tippet are next. It seems inevitable that Lycett will miss which is a shame as he's only starting to hit his straps. That's why WC didn't match the Swans 4 year deal for Cal, they had Lycett standing by. Nic, Scott and Cal have done so many training drills together it would have been great to see them all play. I think people are beginning to see just how strong WC's ruck stocks were last year. They had three ruckman good enough to hold down the #1 ruck role at many clubs. Now if Jetta comes on it will turn out to be a recruiting master stroke considering Sinclair was taken as a mature-aged rookie in 2013 and they turned him over 3 years later for a pick 14. They are both the same age. Sinclair will be great for the Swans so don't let us down Jets.

What is it with the eagles taking out opposition ruckmen? 1st Sandi now Hampson. Who do they play next ... I'd suggest they should play 2 ruckmen.

WC is a pretty good team.They will do that to a few more sides...better sides...as the season progresses. Add Priddis, Sheed and Wellingham and the midfield grows another leg too. After half time, Richmond did well to stay with them.

I'm not a Tigers supporter but I backed them in my tips last night because I believed that they are a better team than their last couple of outings suggest. What I observed last night was that they are not. Sure the Eagles pressure was good but the amount of unforced errors by Richmond was mind boggling. It was like they had trained to turn the ball over. Very basic skills were poor or absent all together, It was very disappointing. A lot of people are talking up the Eagles as one of the teams to beat this year however they have only played one top 8 team (in my opinion) this year and didn't do to well, so personally I think they are a good team without being great. For me this gives me some clearer perspective of where the Tigs are at.