'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark'.
If my memory of year nine English holds up, old mate Hamlet was granted an exit befitting a fallen soldier. Richmond have fallen, but a graceful exit we do not deserve.
The next 12 weeks are going to be brutal. Seasons being cooked before the halfway point aren't foreign to Richmond, but this one hurts because it was supposed to be different. We were supposed to have learned from our brief but disastrous foray into September and be ready to go deeper. It wasn't just our supporters getting giddy this time, 'top four' was bandied around by plenty. Not by Caro though, because she is a guru and understands Richmond.
Soon after our token once every decade finals experience, we stink again. It's just a matter of Benny Gale deciding whether the fish is rotting from the head or the guts.
By my (very quick) count that takes us to 8-20 in front of crowds of 50,000 or more since 2010, I'm hardly Robinson Crusoe on this but something is very wrong internally with that kind of stat. For reasons of geography and great success in the 1970's, Richmond plays in front of big crowds far more often than our results should dictate and we've bottled it over and over again.
After a performance as insipid as that, I really struggle to see how Hardwick and his support staff can remain in 2015. I know we've shown improvement in each of his season's to date but, unless you are coached by Mark Neeld, that's what happens when you bottom out and get loads of high end draft picks, it's natural.
Are we really that much better off though? Nobody worth a pinch of shit lets Ben Howlett kick five goals.
Given the rubble he walked into, it's only fair to give Dimma a free pass for 2010 and 11 but the picture for 2012-14 isn't as rosy as some might suggest. This list had finals potential in 2012, was finals ready in 2013 and at the dreaded 'take the next step' stage this year. During that time we've recorded 28 wins, 26 defeats and one draw. In two weeks that will likely be 28-28-1 and by the end of the year it'll dip well below 50/50, it's not even close to good enough given the talent available to the coaching staff.
There is no point doing it now because:
- he's more than earned the right to try and turn this around and
- we'd only be put in an an assistant who Dimma has shaped or Mark Williams, who is batshit crazy.
Turning to Dreamtime itself, they cracked in and we didn't. It's an overly simplistic way to view footy in 2014 but when two teams are as evenly matched as Richmond and Essendon, it summed up everything last night. You just can't go recording 60 odd less disposals and get comprehensively out tackled, it's soft. On a night when they had the ball a lot more than us, only nine blokes (Thomas, Rance, Morris, Conca, Grimes, Jackson, Grigg, Cotchin and Deledio) stuck more than two tackles. We can keep pretending that we are some amazing holier than thou uncontested team, or we can realise that we are more the Socceroos than Spain and start doing the hard yakka again.
The mistakes were terrible, none more than Rance but I'll cop that turnover - stuff like that happens. I found the continual stop-start entries into 50 far more offensive than a Benny Hill style miskick.
It's time to stop picking Griffiths based on what he did in under 18's. Sure, he'll probably go to Fremantle and kick 45 goals but it's pretty obvious it won't be happening at Richmond. At least we know that Vickery can play, so why is he stuck in the VFL while we hope that Griffiths will somehow magically come good?
It's unfair to pick on Griff given how rubbish so many were, but he's the one I look at and wonder 'what do you actually do?' It's time to get a look at Miles, O'Hanlon, Helbig, Elton, McBean and McIntosh - really we should have been getting games into that group last year instead of treading water with Newman, King, Tuck and McGuane and I suspect that's part of the reason why we are in freefall now. Also, pick bloody Petterd - at least we know he'll crack in.
It's frightening to think that our best player over the last month is the most likely to get to the end of the year, wonder why he's bothering and head off to a contender. Dusty was great again last night and that's comfortably his best four game block of his career. It's somewhat ironic that a player often suspected of being a downhill skiier has been at his best when we've been at our very worst. Dusty could emerge from this as our Nathan Jones unless he escapes and, really, who'd blame him for trying?
Ellis is also improving while people drop off around him and Cotchin, Jackson and Maric all crashed in despite all three looking at times like they shouldn't have been playing. They've got some mates who should take some notes during the video review.
Given everything the Dons have on their plate, it's amazing that their players aren't all in padded rooms, I shudder to think what would have happened at Punt Road if our group was dragged through the crud like this.
Get on the phone please Brendan, I like the sound of a Worsfold-Knights-Giansiracusa-Clarke ticket.
This pretty much sums it up:
Official announcement; I have asked the club to be traded, club should get a 40-year fan of a non-expansion club plus picks 12 and 30.
— Man2Big4Boat (@4Boat) June 1, 2014
Votes
5: Dustin Martin
4: Brandon Ellis
3: Troy Chaplin
2: Bachar Houli
1: Trent Cotchin
Not a single soul is unlucky not to be on that list.
Leaderboards
The Benny
17: Dustin Martin
16: Jack Riewoldt
14: David Astbury and Trent Cotchin
13: Shaun Hampson
11: Brandon Ellis
10: Daniel Jackson
9: Ricky Petterd
8: Reece Conca
6: Steven Morris
4: Matt Thomas, Sam Lloyd, Brett Deledio and Shaun Grigg
3: Ty Vickery, Troy Chaplin and Shane Edwards
2: Nick Vlastuin and Bachar Houli
1: Ben Griffiths, Orren Stephenson and Ben Lennon
Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
13: Shaun Hampson
9: Ricky Petterd
4: Matt Thomas and Shaun Grigg
3: Troy Chaplin
2: Bachar Houli
Anthony Banik Best First Year Player
4: Sam Lloyd
1: Ben Lennon
Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot
4: Shaun Grigg
3: Troy Chaplin
2: Bachar Houli
Greg Tivendale Rookie Medal
4: Matt Thomas
1: Orren Stephenson
Championship belt
Incumbent
|
Winner
|
Streak
|
Wins
|
NA
|
Cotchin
|
1
|
1
|
Cotchin
|
Astbury
|
1
|
1
|
Astbury
|
Riewoldt
|
1
|
1
|
Riewoldt
|
Astbury
|
1
|
2
|
Astbury
|
Petterd
|
1
|
1
|
Petterd
|
Ellis
|
1
|
1
|
Ellis
|
Conca
|
1
|
1
|
Conca
|
Martin
|
1
|
1
|
Martin
|
Riewoldt
|
1
|
2
|
Riewoldt
|
Martin
|
1
|
2
|
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