- Feb 14, 2014
- 6,041
- 14,518
- AFL Club
- Richmond
Like most I have been watching the the tigers really intensely since Hardwicks promotion. Since then there is one thing that I have seen that I think is the root of our problems that is filtering through.
We have no fight and no will.
I speak as an overall for the club. I understand there are a few players that buck this trend and I will touch on that later.
When Hardwick took over, in the first two years, our side was finding wins hard to get. When we smelt a win we would attack and and hunt in an attempt to get the win. Even if we were behind, in 2011 at least, I would always remember the Richmond comeback. That will and fight I believe was spawned by the players being the underdog and wanting to improve. Go back and watch the 2010 Sydney game that we won. Look at the players fight to get us over the line. Cousins, Tuck and Newman were all playing like their career depended on it in the last quarter. We had a few players that would will us back into the contest. Tuck was always one that would play like he was never going to play next week-Gone. Cousins was fantastic for our kids and was fantastic in on field leadership-Gone. Newman was a great captain and was always trying to get the side over the line-Too old. One thing that was important here was that Cousins and Tuck were the extractors of the ball and they never gave up. They were in the guts and they would fight till the final siren.
Now to the list we have today. Rance, Jack, Maric, and to some extent Edwards are the ones who have that fight today. Rance will never die wondering but he needs help in the backline to be effective. Maric is a battler and will always give what he has a ruined body and he can't cover the ground as well as he used to (even then it was limited). Edwards is underrated by most (I put my hand up for that) but he is a second touch inside midfielder, one that great in traffic but I never expect him to be on the deck getting the ball out. Finally we have Jack. His passion and his drive is unmatched at the club at the moment. He may let his emotions grab hold of him in a game but he will always fight for the club.
For me I want Jack as our captain. He would go a long way of helping cure this issue. For me he is more vocal, more passionate and more marketable than Cotchin. I can see Jack doing what Selwood does more than I can ever see Cotchin doing the same thing. Cotchin does not have any fight or passion it seems. Also I am still bothered by his "If richmond gets a premiership I may retire" comments of a few years ago. To say that tells me that you are not serious.
I have digressed a bit with Cotchin, he is not the problem but he is still affected by the problem. All the players seem to had playing in a final as the ultimate goal of their career. we have all become comfortable with the position in the club. They are a side that is playing like their jobs have already been done. We need to find someone, Captain/Coach/Board whoever it is I don't really care to come in and shake the players out of this mentality that they have. We need someone to make the players feel pride and passion when they walk out onto the field.
We have no fight and no will.
I speak as an overall for the club. I understand there are a few players that buck this trend and I will touch on that later.
When Hardwick took over, in the first two years, our side was finding wins hard to get. When we smelt a win we would attack and and hunt in an attempt to get the win. Even if we were behind, in 2011 at least, I would always remember the Richmond comeback. That will and fight I believe was spawned by the players being the underdog and wanting to improve. Go back and watch the 2010 Sydney game that we won. Look at the players fight to get us over the line. Cousins, Tuck and Newman were all playing like their career depended on it in the last quarter. We had a few players that would will us back into the contest. Tuck was always one that would play like he was never going to play next week-Gone. Cousins was fantastic for our kids and was fantastic in on field leadership-Gone. Newman was a great captain and was always trying to get the side over the line-Too old. One thing that was important here was that Cousins and Tuck were the extractors of the ball and they never gave up. They were in the guts and they would fight till the final siren.
Now to the list we have today. Rance, Jack, Maric, and to some extent Edwards are the ones who have that fight today. Rance will never die wondering but he needs help in the backline to be effective. Maric is a battler and will always give what he has a ruined body and he can't cover the ground as well as he used to (even then it was limited). Edwards is underrated by most (I put my hand up for that) but he is a second touch inside midfielder, one that great in traffic but I never expect him to be on the deck getting the ball out. Finally we have Jack. His passion and his drive is unmatched at the club at the moment. He may let his emotions grab hold of him in a game but he will always fight for the club.
For me I want Jack as our captain. He would go a long way of helping cure this issue. For me he is more vocal, more passionate and more marketable than Cotchin. I can see Jack doing what Selwood does more than I can ever see Cotchin doing the same thing. Cotchin does not have any fight or passion it seems. Also I am still bothered by his "If richmond gets a premiership I may retire" comments of a few years ago. To say that tells me that you are not serious.
I have digressed a bit with Cotchin, he is not the problem but he is still affected by the problem. All the players seem to had playing in a final as the ultimate goal of their career. we have all become comfortable with the position in the club. They are a side that is playing like their jobs have already been done. We need to find someone, Captain/Coach/Board whoever it is I don't really care to come in and shake the players out of this mentality that they have. We need someone to make the players feel pride and passion when they walk out onto the field.