Dr. Gonzo

Pedersen was rucking in that middle-end part of the 3rd

My thoughts are the coaches plan to curtail Brown's influence will be to win the midfield battle and pressure across half forward to keep the ball in our half and ensure no easy goals out the back or on the lead into an open 50. They won't want to bring in another tall at the risk of upsetting our team balance. They'll also be relying on our defensive zone to push back and create a 3rd man up against him.

Haven't read the whole thread but I see people clamouring for Frost. Is this a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder? Not saying he can't/won't improve but on what I've seen in his career to date he is nothing special, OK 1:1 has speed but also a tendency to run into trouble, no lateral movement/peripheral vision and poor disposal. He is like Hunt but taller so if he comes in for Hunt I guess that would be a like for like but give us more flexibility in matchups but no way he should come in at the expense of someone who would reduce our midfield rotations.

Meant to say MIDS not kids. And can't edit that post

Our kids were constantly scragged at ball ups too, not sure if it's just my bias (it may happen to all kids) but it seemed noticeable on the weekend

I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying - it's about the actioning of that mindset though. How do we as supporters be more demanding of the club? How do we put it in to action? How do we ensure we don't go the complete opposite route and become a destabilising stakeholder of the club (as Richmond supporters were for 30 years)? Most supporters don't go to club functions, aren't part of coterie groups etc (and this is the same of all clubs) they're just season ticket holders really rather than true "members". When board elections come up members rarely have any idea whether one person will be better than another unless it's a public one which only happens in times of crisis.

Agreed on all of the above. With regards to Oliver he is the best mid I have seen wear the red and blue (I started watching in 1988) and it's not even close. Others may have had better attributes but this guy does it week in week out. We've never had someone of his ability and consistency in the last 30 years

That's all just platitudes, this is a modern professional sport, supporters behaviour and expectations has very minimal influence compared to say 30 or 40 years ago. Plus these people who implore the supporters to be more demanding of the club are generally directing it towards people on here who would be some of the most dedicated supporters you can find. Again I don't really see how screaming in the outer/posting diatribes on here is going to impact the club in any way whatsoever. If recent history has taught us anything it's that clubs should be more conservative regarding sacking coaches/players/admin rather than going the typical route of sacking the board, CEO or coach in times of crisis. Where would Richmond be today if that laughable group Focus on Football had got their way in 2016?

5+ goals in a row is different to losing a quarter by 5+ goals. Which one is it?

I don't really understand what they expect us to do? Ring up talkback radio and act like a nuffie? Back up a truckload of chicken manure to Goschs Paddock? Turn up to board and/or FD meetings acting all Occupy MFC? What exactly do they mean by demanding more?

I'd say we use Hibberd in this role and Hunt for the run and carry. Neither have been as good as they have previously (and conditions weren't ideal for Hunt on the weekend) but Hibberd wasn't bad against the Lions.

That Jones kick up the line to a contest was stupid. That was the exact time we needed to chip the ball around and maintain possession for a minute or two to take some wind out of the Lions sails. We seem unprepared to do that, not sure if it's down to having no confidence in our skills to do it or what. It's one thing to be frenetic in your attack and pressure but when the opposition gains momentum your frenetic energy works in their favour. That's when you need to hold on to the footy, chip it back and forth across half back for a few minutes to frustrate the opposition and slow the game down. I don't really understand why we don't do this, we keep pushing ahead trying to wrestle back momentum through pure will but it's like the opposition uses our own momentum against us.

I was trying to look for him and barely saw him at all except for the odd handball here and there. He's such a great kick and only getting one per quarter he'd want it to be a bloody ripper

I agree, our tackling and pressure in the first half was really good. Had we converted some more relatively easy opportunities especially early in the game it would have been all over at half time.

Bombers haven't done much for almost 2 decades. Have a look at where their Whatever It Takes approach took them.

Agree Charlie Cameron and to a lesser extent Christensen were almost the difference last night. Cameron was ripping us up and we had no answer.

They got on top in the midfield when Pedersen was in the ruck as well. I'm willing to cut Lever some slack he looked good early but in the 2nd half everyone was slipping over due to the conditions, he wasn't on his own their.

I wanted Hogan pushed up around the ball, he did well early when pushing into the midfield and I thought he was wasted deep forward when we struggled getting the ball down there.

In the 3rd and early in the last we were getting killed in the clearances so I think it is partly what you say (our setup) but not because we're winning and kicking it down the opposition's throat. It's because we stream forward expecting to win the clearance and when we don't were caught on the back foot

I don't know what to think. This site is bipolar and I find myself agreeing with both sides. Like Nasher I'll never mourn a loss but I also see why people aren't happy giving up a 42 point lead. It's not because it's one game it's because it's a pattern that indicates minimal improvement since last year We still need to find a way to grind these teams down with 4 quarter efforts and I'm hoping that comes over the course of the season. Teams rarely rock up in round 1 completely altered from the year before it's often a process of development across a season and I'm hoping/expecting that's what will happen with us. We won by 4-5 goals which is about par if you were topping pregame. The bookies had us at -20.5 which is a pretty good indicator because they're often within a goal or so of the margin. The way we got the result is what is driving people crazy but the result is probably right. Conditions looked terrible out there, we ran ourselves ragged in the first half, our tackling chasing etc was top level. The second half seemed a lot treasure (rain?) and we couldn't seem to buy a centre clearances. The umpires were pretty one sided I felt as well several cheap frees right in front of goal and not a hell of a lot of 50/50s going our way. Hogan and Oliver were superb, Hogan really does love playing the Lions. I thought Hibberd did well too and Garlett hit beast mode in the last. Good result, let's move on to next week and get the kangaroos bogey of our backs.

They're not hopeless, they have some good kids coming through but I'm expecting us to come away with a 5 goal win

My thoughts precisely TU

Do you think it's possible some of our players may develop over the course of the season? Petracca, Oliver, Hogan, TMac, Viney, Lever etc Even if they're not at the very elite level yet they've shown that they have the tools just need to put it together with experience. Let's support them, never know what they might achieve.

Yep you're right, bottom 4 finish coming up for sure FMD

I don't have a problem with the balance of the side but those guys need to apply pressure, tackles and retain the ball in our forward half. Last week they didn't and when you have 3 or 4 guys doing that it hurts the side. Garlett wasn't great last week either, had an almost identical game to Hannan but has more runs on the board. Their positioning in marking contests was terrible too, looking for the low percentage pack mark or hanging out the back looking for cheapies instead of being front and centre and looking to apply pressure on the Cats rebounding defenders.