08-22-2021, 06:26 AM
[1] We have not learnt the full capability of out list:
It is rather scary to think, but Marc Murphy never actually played a game where the entire list was available to select from. He played 300 games and it could have been more, but for injury. Murphy was drafted this century. The malaise actually goes back farther than that. Maybe, there was a week in 1999, although I doubt it. There wasn't one in 1996. In 1995 we may have been close ...
Just think what that means to a team, NEVER to have your best combination on the park, in fact, never quite knowing what your best combination is, because some guys may never have played with some others.
Look what happened to us in the past: Wayne Brittain wasn't a bad coach. Under him we got to the finals in 2001. But in 2002 we were on the bottom. Why? Not because our coach was incompetent, but that we had a large number of injuries we couldn't cover. Brittain was the scapegoat.
John Elliot also had his comeuppance, an event that hurt us for years to come.
Why did Richmond fail this year? Arrogance and injuries.
With a large part of your talent sitting in the stands, even the best sides falter. We have been experiencing this for at least twenty years!
[2] Have we learnt that David Teague can coach?
I would not argue that he can't coach. Consider how we played against Essendon and St. Kilda this year. Those were really good wins. He's had two full seasons and a part of one. Even Malthouse got more than that.
I admit freely that I was disappointed with Teague's coaching this year. He was outcoached often. Our defensive structures are not that great, even though we do have some defensive talent.
Has he had support from his assistants? I would find it hard to argue the positive case.
Brett Ratten is a better coach now than he was when he coached us. He had a couple of really obvious weaknesses: he wouldn't make a change and he wouldn't pick a side to best hurt the opposition. he also thought we had enough talent to win a flag when we didn't.
Does he do those things now? I doubt it. He learns and St. Kilda are improving because of it.
Now we may never know if Teague is the man or not. The review process didn't help him either.
[3] Were we right to select a young, untried coach in the first place?
History suggests that we weren't, as we haven't improved that much since Bolton left. We have improved: we don't tend to loose by huge margins very often any more. But have we improved enough to save a career? That looks unlikely.
[4] Have we solved the development issues?
I don't think so, but I do feel we are moving in the right direction. Our player development this century has been appalling. Our recruiting was worse for a long time, but we do seem to be doing better there. Not perfect, but nowhere near as poor as we were under Wayne Hughes.
We appear to be trying to develop our players more. I hope to see more of that in the next few years. But I think the review process is not going to be pleasant reading in this area.
[5] Would we care about the board of we were winning games?
I don't know that we would. There have been problems there for a long time, but if we were winning, there would be no reasons for the actions to exist. We would be a much more harmonious ship.
Do I like the way things are going? Not sure that I do. There seems to be considerably less democratic processes that there were in the past. But, with a number of the older heads moving on, I don't think the board is the source of all our woes.
Is it the source of any of our woes? Absolutely. We do need more football people involved, in my humble opinion. We are not just a business. Infighting has cause problems. But most of those people are leaving, or have left. I am not willing to bash the new administration: yet.
It is rather scary to think, but Marc Murphy never actually played a game where the entire list was available to select from. He played 300 games and it could have been more, but for injury. Murphy was drafted this century. The malaise actually goes back farther than that. Maybe, there was a week in 1999, although I doubt it. There wasn't one in 1996. In 1995 we may have been close ...
Just think what that means to a team, NEVER to have your best combination on the park, in fact, never quite knowing what your best combination is, because some guys may never have played with some others.
Look what happened to us in the past: Wayne Brittain wasn't a bad coach. Under him we got to the finals in 2001. But in 2002 we were on the bottom. Why? Not because our coach was incompetent, but that we had a large number of injuries we couldn't cover. Brittain was the scapegoat.
John Elliot also had his comeuppance, an event that hurt us for years to come.
Why did Richmond fail this year? Arrogance and injuries.
With a large part of your talent sitting in the stands, even the best sides falter. We have been experiencing this for at least twenty years!
[2] Have we learnt that David Teague can coach?
I would not argue that he can't coach. Consider how we played against Essendon and St. Kilda this year. Those were really good wins. He's had two full seasons and a part of one. Even Malthouse got more than that.
I admit freely that I was disappointed with Teague's coaching this year. He was outcoached often. Our defensive structures are not that great, even though we do have some defensive talent.
Has he had support from his assistants? I would find it hard to argue the positive case.
Brett Ratten is a better coach now than he was when he coached us. He had a couple of really obvious weaknesses: he wouldn't make a change and he wouldn't pick a side to best hurt the opposition. he also thought we had enough talent to win a flag when we didn't.
Does he do those things now? I doubt it. He learns and St. Kilda are improving because of it.
Now we may never know if Teague is the man or not. The review process didn't help him either.
[3] Were we right to select a young, untried coach in the first place?
History suggests that we weren't, as we haven't improved that much since Bolton left. We have improved: we don't tend to loose by huge margins very often any more. But have we improved enough to save a career? That looks unlikely.
[4] Have we solved the development issues?
I don't think so, but I do feel we are moving in the right direction. Our player development this century has been appalling. Our recruiting was worse for a long time, but we do seem to be doing better there. Not perfect, but nowhere near as poor as we were under Wayne Hughes.
We appear to be trying to develop our players more. I hope to see more of that in the next few years. But I think the review process is not going to be pleasant reading in this area.
[5] Would we care about the board of we were winning games?
I don't know that we would. There have been problems there for a long time, but if we were winning, there would be no reasons for the actions to exist. We would be a much more harmonious ship.
Do I like the way things are going? Not sure that I do. There seems to be considerably less democratic processes that there were in the past. But, with a number of the older heads moving on, I don't think the board is the source of all our woes.
Is it the source of any of our woes? Absolutely. We do need more football people involved, in my humble opinion. We are not just a business. Infighting has cause problems. But most of those people are leaving, or have left. I am not willing to bash the new administration: yet.
Live Long and Prosper!