One word: SPONGEY
I was saying this yesterday, some well accepted norms around premiership windows, player type/positions required, finals exp etcā¦ have been shown up the last few years.
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Yep. Two average teams who put it together at the right time of year won the last two cups. I look at Richmond and just think, what an ordinary team of players. Dusty aside of course. We are a couple of players away and some consistency from taking a bigger step towards it.
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Two of the biggest norms got shown up yesterday.
Richmond finished 9th for contested football and 14th for clearances at the end of the season.
Need the big blokes on the big stage is one.
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Richmond beat Adelaide in both those statistical categories yesterday.
Richmond were never at their manic best during the season as they were during the finals.
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Thatās beside the point.
Richmond donāt have big cumbersome players and neither did the doggies.
All of Sydney, Geelong and then again Adelaide got shown up on the G for pace on the outside.
We have pace but we need to continue to add depth in that area.
Football is going the way of NBA. Small ball.
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I agree with you that itās changing, but the core values donāt change.
You still have to win more 1on 1 contests than you lose to be in a position to win the game.
Whether it is centre clearance, 1 on 1 marking, tackling around the ground, etc depends on the list of players and their strengths.
Richmond have won more contests around the ground and made their opposition work so much harder to win their contests in every final this year.
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Define superior situation ?
If anything that exact same attitude you just exhibited , is the reason why we arenāt.
Richmond had a massive critical assessment of the whole football club. They found weaknesses and addressed them across all facets of the running of the club.
Us we were just hard done by this year and are building to something special , just cos , no we will becom3 consistent just cos , like we did after 09, or after 2011.
We arenāt in a superior position because first you have to be closer to rock bottom to see ā ā ā ā isnāt working and that you need help to change.
As it stands we are going into next year with a midfield of hepp, Goddard,myers and zaka and magically expecting them to be an A grade midfield because itās worked so well in the past.
We are no where near being in a superior position.
We are akin to beiing an alcoholic who spends every night after work at the pub getting ā ā ā ā ā ā saying we donāt have a problem, and I can give up anytime I want.
Richmond they hit rock bottom , went to rehab and have come out the other side.
We have 15 years of mediocrity to remove from the culture of this club, and nothing as of yet suggests we are even remotely near taking the first step towards it.
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Itās how they get to the contests and win them.
Have a look at the ground balls they win in the forwardline. They are all small guys that break away with pace.
Look at our midfield this year and the last ten. Big and slow.
Also that big forwards win you finals. I still canāt remember the last big forward to tear a grand final, yet alone a final apart. Yes Boyd last year played well , but that was compared to mediocre performances of his in general.
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Yep, these age old theories that donāt stand up anymore yet the commentators still bang on about it.
As discussed with you before I would replace our 4th tall guy with a defensive forward in Long.
Agree with all of this. The question is, what players are available to us in the draft/trade period that will bring us what we need. Devon Smith, Saad added to Mcgrath, Zerett, Tippa, Fantasia is a good start. All of these players need to build a tank for 120 minutes over this pre season though. It sgouldnt be that hard though. Richmond had a stack of younger guys who did it this year, including a number of first year players.
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Stringer will help.
He will bust up packs and run like Martin.
He may not reach that level but he doesnāt have to because he will allow freedom to Merrett, Parish and McGrath to do their thing.
Saad would be awesome.
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If they get stringer , if be going with hooker back, jd and Stewart as the talls , and stringer as a semi tall 3rd but is required to do more defensively as a smallforward
Wouldnāt go all out Richmond and just have the big forward , but you need more smalls up there to create that ground pressure.
Jd hooker and Stewart , the ball just comes out to easy.
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Yeah, Iām curious about what they do with Hooker if Stringer comes. I expect Stringer will play a fair bit in the middle once he gets settled.
Joey and Stewart are the prototype forward so they are fine.
We need another running back like Saad and if Colyer canāt fix his kicking then somebody to replace him.
I like the game plan that we have it just needs a few minor tweaks and we will challenge.
Trav was playing the hardest role in the team. He was clearly instructed to run through the stoppage from the defensive side so that if we won the contest he would be streaming past at pace.
We hardly ever won clean ball from the stoppage.
Lots of unrewarded running and then having to double back to defend.
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Iāve been pondering this for a while now. While I like Hooker up forward and think itās worked well in terms of providing us with a formidable and varied forward structure, I also canāt help but salivate about the prospect of pairing him down back with Hurley - with Ambrose as a third tall.
Much i suppose will depend on Stewart. Heās a good, tall, lead up forward, but perhaps lacks a contested element to his game. If he can improve that even by 10-20% next season and with Stringer/Begley/Laverde/Langford/Fanta as mid-fwds rotating into the midfield, Green and Walla as small fwds, I think that would be a very hard, mobile forward line to match up on. Again though, much will depend on whether Stewart can as a big man, add some gorilla to his game
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I agree about Stewart. He for mine is the key to our forwardline. If he can improve his contested marking even just 10% then Hooker wont be required up front. That aside I still think we are one tall to many. I didnāt like the setup with Laverde in there or even Begley. I would have Long as a defensive forward to help out Walla.
The objective for Laverde and Begley is to improve their midfield game so they can be rotated more.
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F: Walla Stewart Stringer
HF: Begley Daniher Fantasia
Doesnāt get much more potent than that.
HB: Gleek Hurley McKenna
B: Ambrose Hooker Baguley
All we need is a midfield 
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