Guy Richards

[Lestat]

I agree... Bryan was good. He was great around the clearances... has a big strong body.

Its all relative really. If your comparing his game on Saturday night to his previous games, then yeah, he did alright.

However, compared to other ruckmen who have been in the system the same amount of time, he just does not, and will never have the abililty to make an impact.

I don't know why we always waste our time with these duds. Walker, Kinnear, Fanning, and now Richards.

 

[Jabso]

Its all relative really. If your comparing his game on Saturday night to his previous games, then yeah, he did alright.

However, compared to other ruckmen who have been in the system the same amount of time, he just does not, and will never have the abililty to make an impact.

I don't know why we always waste our time with these duds. Walker, Kinnear, Fanning, and now Richards.

I don't know if you mis-quoted or not but paul was talking about Bryan's game for willy.

Anyway do notice a trend with those players? They are all big men. I know it's cliched but big men take time. Fanning we had on the list for 3 years so we barely persisted with him. Walker granted, but he had the athletic talent to make it. Kinnear was at the right place at the right time, but I think he was on the list maybe 1-3 years longer than he should have been. Now Richards, has shown some talent in 2004, got a rising star nomination, was named best first year player and has had injuries.

Let's have a look at his career:
- 2000 Draft: #37 pick.

- 2001: 0 games. I'm not sure if he was injured but even if he was fit he was a beanpole ruckman that needed time.
- 2002: either another developing year or had a knee injury. I think he may have even had a serious kidney issue.
- 2003: see 2002. I think he had a knee injury in one of these two years. Looked ok at VFL level. Couldn't delist him at this stage considering our rucks were basically Fraser and McKee.
- 2004: Broke into the first team and ended up winning the best first year player. Played some great games, I remember him against Adelaide he played very well and played a great game against J.White. However his season was cut short by OP. You'd be stupid to delist him after it looked like he would deliver, despite more setbacks.
- 2005: Had a knee injury then a hip injury. This year was a write off.
- 2006: Struggled for fitness, if I remember correctly started well (in terms of actually playing games, although he did have an almost decisive game against the kangas) despite an interrupted pre-season, only to be cut down by injuries especially to his achiles.

People look at Richards and think "7th year on the list, I know he's been injured but surely you'd get rid of him by now". The fact is if you look at the circumstances year to year and if you weigh it up there was never a year where his delisting should've been automatic.

On the back of 2004, getting injured in 2005 we could've made a harsh decision to delist him, however I think weighing up the pros and cons, and the direction we were heading (youth policy/rebuilding) it wasn't necessarily the riskiest decison.

At the end of 2006 I think it was just a case of we weren't in the position to be throwing too many ruckmen out of the door. We may well have made a decision between CC and Guy. Being realistic CC was/is a player with his own injury worries and questionable (I don't know for sure) application both on field and off-field, not to mention the major query as to whether Cam could/can be a full time AFL ruckman or even with his body shape (short but not athletic or skillfull enough to make up for it). In fact CC's role in the AFL going forward is still questionable, he has the attributes of a ruckman and a forward, but lacks the key attributes needed to be effective in any of those positions at a decent level. With Richards we had an injury plagued pure ruckman, who has had maybe 2 years more in the system however ARGUABLY AFL experience-wise hasn't been given the same opportunity as Cam had, also Guy clearly has the potential to be more than a competent ruckman in the AFL with sporadic yet encouraging and yes some influential games and glimpses.

 

[Big Bryza]

A much much much times a million improvement by Guy. He actually won a fair amount of hitouts which is something he hasnt been doing and did enough around the ground to suggest he might be worth something. Would have been considered a hero had Cox been playing.

 

[Frederlick]

Since the day Peter Moore arrived on the scene every team wants 2 star ruckman, guess what? Won't happen. Richards problem has been injuries, not form. What if Didak doesn't kick 4 first week back? Different history yes, but given quality ruckmen are that thin on the ground it would be crazy not to try and at least see where Richards is going. I mean last years runners up recruited Spida on a 2 year contract. He even has an injury history and must be doubtful given his age, still good enough to get 2 years out of the Swans. I have hardly seen a game where we have been absolutely destroyed in the ruck in the last year (Roos game this year was close) so why risk not developing a player simply bercause he isn't Peter Moore after 10 games? The thing about ruck players is they require a physique which is susceptible to injury yet have the toughest physical task. One of the best players in the comp (Goodes) wasn't tough enough (physically) to hack it so sometimes patience is a virtue.

 

[loki04]

Since the day Peter Moore arrived on the scene every team wants 2 star ruckman, guess what? Won't happen. Richards problem has been injuries, not form. What if Didak doesn't kick 4 first week back? Different history yes, but given quality ruckmen are that thin on the ground it would be crazy not to try and at least see where Richards is going. I mean last years runners up recruited Spida on a 2 year contract. He even has an injury history and must be doubtful given his age, still good enough to get 2 years out of the Swans. I have hardly seen a game where we have been absolutely destroyed in the ruck in the last year (Roos game this year was close) so why risk not developing a player simply bercause he isn't Peter Moore after 10 games? The thing about ruck players is they require a physique which is susceptible to injury yet have the toughest physical task. One of the best players in the comp (Goodes) wasn't tough enough (physically) to hack it so sometimes patience is a virtue.

Bull***** , he has had horrible form btw 06 pre-season wqas one of his best at the club he then proceeded to suck in 10 straight games played 1 average game against nth melb. In the finals it was one of the worst rucking games i have seen, then he did it a week later in the willy final barely won a tap and when he did would direct it to the opposition.
He should of been cut from the list years ago the guy is a dead set hack.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Since the day Peter Moore arrived on the scene every team wants 2 star ruckman, guess what? Won't happen. Richards problem has been injuries, not form.

Its a bit of each, but mainly injury. He's not blessed with loads of natural talent, but then again neither is Sandliands. He needs to string a lot of games together to gather match fitness and confidence. He did that last year (played a few games) and let himself down, so he knows pretty much that he's on his last chance.

Last week's effort was encouraging.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

He should of been cut from the list years ago the guy is a dead set hack.

He is "lucky" that we had the likes of Hall, Walker, Fanning, J Cloke, C Cloke etc etc that had to be delisted before him. Especially lucky in the case of Cam, who should still be at the club. He knows he was lucky to survive - the only reason he has survived is because the club believes that at least he has some potential to do the job at the centre bounces.

 

[Coin_Toss]

Would have been considered a hero had Cox been playing.

I found a loophole. Dean Cox is the best ruckman in the competition....

If he beat Dean Cox I would knight him hor his heroic exploit.

 

[ChipDouglas]

I can recall Guy as the Ranges ruckman and the kid knew what he was doing, he gave his players first use with lovely tap work and the only question mark was never his ability but his body. His body is a lot bigger (He's now 24 it should be) he now needs to be more physical and play with more intensity, I suggest we put a collar on him, house him in a pit at the Lexus center, and feed him raw meat and then he can be "unleashed" on the weekend.

 

[Bonuspoints]

I think we'd all be less pissed about Guy Richards if Collingwood weren't so thin in the Ruck division. We have three ruckmen on our list, compare that to the Lions. Having Richards would not be so bad if we had used the previous three drafts to pick up another your ruckman to develop. Look at the Lions they are always developing talls. We persisted with Walker for too long and have ignored this position for too long and now we're paying the price. Yeah Richards has had a rotten run with injuries, kidneys and legionella (or whatever it was), but thats life and the club should be covering for players going down with injuries as thats footy. We need to make this position more of a priority for future drafts and talent development.

 

[AsianWithAFro]

I thought he had a pretty good game tonight. He had some very clean hit outs and it was against a very good ruck, Simmonds. Also he got more of the ball and did some nice kicks. I think he might lifting a notch. Your THoughts?

 

[Nesian]

yep i thought he improved again tonight...had some good taps and was a bit better around the ground....he seemed to get more involved it was good to see and he also gave fraser a rest and bit of run in other parts of the fields.

 

[Invigoration]

Disgraceful in the first half, lifted a bit in the second.
Couldn't believe how easily he was getting beaten in the first half, it was driving me insane.

He seems to be quite a good kick of the ball, providing its not actually in play, like if its a kick over the mark.

By what MM said after the game it seems he really wants that to be our ruck combo for the year

 

[Frederlick]

Richards to Lockeyer to Medhurst to goal! Old school footy and the way it should be done. One goal like that can break the opposition, if Richards can incremently improve every week like he has so far he will be more than useful by the end of the year. A lot of us had doubts about Toovey, and he proved us wrong, maybe Richards is slowly doing the same?