Travelled down for the Round 1 Clash with Carlton hopeful of a good performance,realistic not to get optimistic
The margin was a fairly hefty 56 points in the end but Richmond were competitive at various stages
We were blown out of the water early by a Carlton team who used the ball well,everyone wondered where their goals were going to come from,but they were able to deliver the ball into the forward line with ease
and put the Richmond defence under pressure.
To their credit Richmond showed some fight and came back in both the first and second quarters but
petered out in the last two quarters.
Last quarter the game lost its spark and Richmond appeared to have no legs,quite possibly form chasing
the Footy most of the time.
There was an effort there but at times Richmond’s play was disappointing,accountability was a problem
as at times Carlton were able to move the ball at ease,and again whilst at times Richmond were hard at the
ball in close,there were numerous occasions where they fall off tackles badly.
Conversly Carlton pressured all night,their closing and tackling was very good,their skills were good,
I thought they looked pretty good.
Richmond’s best 6 on the report was the following-Deledio, Cotchin, Connors, Jackson, Riewoldt, Martin
and it’s hard to argue with that.
I also thought Ben Nason did some good things and Adam Thomson looks a good in and under player
but unfortunately there were too many passengers and you just can’t have that,so hopefully
selection time brings some deep discussion.
So not the start we wanted but this is the begiining of the journey,Western Bulldogs next week,doesn’t
get much harder,Richmond just have to go out and have everyone giving their very best.
Apparently a good crowd at Camelia Grove,thanks for your support.
The mascochist here will be down for the game,I must say that I was one of the few people in my area
to stay until the end,I know if the game can’t be won,people like to leave early to beat traffic and what not,
but I am a firm believer in staying until the end,it’s tough and sitting through the last quarter is pretty
tough to take,but I believe that hopefully when we start having some success all the pain will be worthwhile.

RICHMOND has suffered a heavy loss in its opening match of the 2010 campaign, going down to Carlton by 56 points at the MCG on Thursday night.

Questions about the Blues’ ability to kick a winning score in the post-Fevola era were answered emphatically, with nine players getting on the score sheet in the 18.12 (120) to 9.10 (64) win in front of 72,010 fans.

Setanta O’hAilpin, Eddie Betts and Chris Yarran found plenty of extra space to work in and capitalised with three goals each.

With skipper Chris Judd watching from the stands, Carlton’s engine room didn’t miss a beat.

Stand-in captain Andrew Carrazzo led the way with 40 possessions, while Heath Scotland (32 touches), Kade Simpson (28) and Brock McLean (26) were all prominent.

The Tigers simply couldn’t get their hands on the ball for long stretches of the contest as evidenced by the lopsided possession count that saw Carlton gather 137 more disposals in the match.

Jarrad Waite was prominent early in his first match back from a knee reconstruction. The star swingman started up forward and booted the first goal of the game in an impressive first quarter.

Richmond had three debutants on the night and all were serviceable with Dustin Martin the pick with of the bunch picking up 18 possessions in his first game.

A repeat of last year’s season-opening massacre was on the cards when the dominant Blues leaped out to an early 28-point lead.

The Tigers hit back, however, and gave themselves a chance with a stronger showing in the second term to cut Carlton’s half-time lead to just 19 points.

But that was as close as Richmond came with the Blues coming to dominate the second half, kicking four goals to nil in the final term to kick 2010 off in emphatic fashion.

Richmond 4.2 7.6 9.8 9.10 (64)
Carlton 7.1 11.1 14.7 18.12 (120)

GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 2, Morton 2, Deledio, Thomson, Hislop, Nason, Cousins
Carlton: O’hAilpin 3, Betts 3, Yarran 3, Murphy 2, Waite 2, Gibbs 2, McLean, Henderson, Simpson

BEST
Richmond: Deledio, Cotchin, Connors, Jackson, Riewoldt, Martin
Carlton: Carrazzo, Betts, Gibbs, Murphy, Kreuzer, Simpson, Yarran, Bower, Scotland

INJURIES
Richmond: Jackson (concussion)
Carlton: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Rosebury, H. Ryan, S. Ryan

Official crowd: 72,010 at the MCG

It all starts again tomorrow night,can’t wait.
Where will we finish 16th,12th,9th -not again.
Who can say,all we want is a group of players who will wear the Richmond
Jumper with Pride and play with passion and determination and fight
for every contest.

I am confident under Damian Hardwick if anything the team will be hard at it,
and will never give in,we just have to develop a winning culture.

I liked what Matthew Richardson said at the Season Launch

Here are some highlights of the ‘Richo’ speech:

“To me, wearing the jumper means you get to represent a proud Club, with a very successful last 100 years.
Regardless of what people want to say, and we know the last 30 years haven’t been great, but this Club has won 10 premierships.
We also get to represent our supporters, and there is no more passionate and emotional supporter base than the Richmond members.
When you run out in the jumper you’re not just representing yourself and the Club, you’re representing all those supporters and members that turn up every week, and that’s something I always remembered as a player.
You’re also representing all the greats that have gone before you, and our Club has some of the greatest players in AFL history.
These are all great players who have done great things for our Club, and when you run out there, you’re representing those guys.
But that’s all in the past, which is great, and we have to embrace that, but I feel like it’s time to embrace the new history of our Club.
It’s a fresh start. ‘Newy’ (Chris Newman) has an exciting team under him and a young leadership group.
You’re all starting at the same time, and that’s really important if you want to build a good club.
There would be no better way to start the season than by beating Carlton this week.”

Great words from a great man.

The game will be shown live at our Home Base Camelia Grove and is on Fox Sports

518 from 7-00PM.

Quite a few of us will be at the game,but there will still be a good crowd at the Pub

hope you can make it.

Finally thanks to all those who have entered our Tipping and Dreamteam competitions,

I have discovered that some people have trouble entering their tips on some

computers,possibly depending on your network,if you are having trouble

call Tim Frohlich 0400883747 our Tipping expert who should be able to help.

Here is the Richmond Tigers,go Tigers.

Richmond has finalised its team for the first game of the season 2010 against Carlton on Thursday.
Ben Cousins was named after overcoming a stomach complaint last week, while recently elevated mature age rookie Graham Polak was named as an emergency.
Four players will wear the Yellow and Black colours for the first time – Dustin Martin, Mitch Farmer, Ben Nason and Relton Roberts.
Richmond great Matthew Richardson will do a lap of honour of the MCG before the match, at 6.40pm.

Richmond v Carlton
Thursday March 25, 7.10pm
B: Edwards, Moore, Newman
HB: Farmer, McGuane, Thursfield
C: Martin, Deledio, Nason
HF: Hislop, Riewoldt, Tambling
F: Roberts, Morton, Nahas
Followers: Simmonds, Jackson, Cotchin
Interchange: Vickery, Cousins, Connors, Thomson
Emergencies: Polo, Polak, White

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/tigers-plan-a-new-era-20100319-qmce.html

Neville Crowe will finally “hang up his boots” this Friday (March 19), bringing to an end more than half a century of wonderful service to his beloved Richmond Football Club.

 Dear Tiger members and fans,

Recently, I addressed the Club’s Board, players, and all staff about the task facing us to become – once again – an AFL power.

It was a raw and challenging speech, not based on hopes or dreams, but on BELIEF, and what it means to build a competitive football team in the most competitive of competitions, in the most competitive era in our history.

I challenged everybody in the room to take hold of a plan to take the Club back to the top of the AFL table.

It is a plan that is based on true Richmond values – LEADERSHIP, UNITY, and PRIDE – all driven by a RELENTLESS approach to succeed.

We are truly grateful for your consistent and passionate support of our club throughout this disappointing era – but we cannot go on like this!

This is a plan based on the truth of success and on why things go right, and not just another “five-year promise”, or simply more rhetoric. 

We know that we have the support of our members and supporters.

We know that our corporate partners are with us every step of the journey.

Let’s make that journey better than anything we’ve seen before . . .

Together our entire club is motivated by the vision of our future in 2020. It’s a vision of greatness and leadership that we describe as THE POWER and THE GLORY. By 2020 we aspire to have won our 13th Premiership; consistently provide the most exciting and powerful match day experience in the competition; once again have the strongest support base in the nation, and enjoy the strongest emotional connection with our members and fans.

Together as entire club we acknowledge that we have an enormous amount of work to do if we are to realise our vision. Therefore, the next 5 years is about building the capacity or “horsepower” of our organisation to deliver. Our plan feature real goals with real measurements that need to be achieved along the way in order to succeed. These goals relate to our football performance, the strength of our relationship with our members, commercial popularity and financial strength. 

If we could boil the whole plan to its fundamental essence it means that by 2014 we expect to deliver 3-0-75

•    3 finals appearances (including 1 top 4 finish)
•    zero debt
•    75,000 members

This is a plan that aligns the efforts and expectations of everyone associated at the Club.

It is a plan to succeed.
Brendon Gale
Richmond CEO

Don’t miss a minute of the action. Tickets now on sale through ticketek

http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/Show.aspx?sh=SWANS0310

To view a map of the SCG please click on the link below

http://www.sydneycricketground.com.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/SCG.pdf

RICHMOND has embraced a vision for a golden decade with an ambitious plan to more than double membership, clear debt and play finals three times, all within five years. The Tigers are determined to rouse the sleeping giant of football and their dormant fans through their plan, which carries a motto of 3-0-75. The motto stands for playing finals three times, having zero debt and signing 75,000 members within the next five years.

The five-year plan is about positioning the club for where it will be by the end of the decade, with a vision for 2020 that they return not just to being one of the top four Victorian clubs, but the top Victorian club. Significant in the short term is the intention to play finals three times by 2014, which would require the Tigers to make the eight no later than 2012 – and stay there. Left unstated was if, when or how many premierships the club hoped to win by 2020. The five-year written plan, drafted by Brendon Gale after he took over as chief executive last year, pledges the club to the surprisingly bullish targets, which exceed the stated goals of any rival.

All staff at the club – players, coaches and administration – as well as the board gathered in the players’ gym at Punt Road on Tuesday night for the presentation, and all ‘’signed up” to the goals. The plan has been driven by Gale and reflects the belief at the club that, after two years of significant personnel change, the Tigers have the critical people in place to attack such broad goals. Gale has taken over as chief executive, Craig Cameron as general manager of football, Damien Hardwick is the new senior coach, Simon Derrick has been appointed commercial operations manager and Cain Liddle is membership manager. Richmond carries about $4 million in debt, although importantly the new final stage of its Punt Road redevelopment is being done without further capital input by the club. The existing debt would be wiped out and the club would enjoy strong profit growth after retiring the debt. The financial improvement would ride from a doubling of membership to hit a target of 75,000 members. The Tigers last year enjoyed a record membership of 37,000, which was primarily seen as a spike in response to the arrival of Ben Cousins.

The long-held belief at Richmond, and broadly in football, is that there is a huge reserve of support that has drifted from the club over the past two decades, which have been marked by upheaval and poor on-field performance. However, Gale reminded staff on Tuesday that Richmond was the first club in the VFL to attract one million fans to its games in a year – 1972 and again in 1973 – while the next club to do so, Collingwood, took until 1979. Essendon did not do so until 1993 and Carlton 1995. The belief is not just that Richmond can get back to being one of the top four Victorian clubs but that it can get back to being the top club. On the field, Richmond comes from a long way back in its push to make the finals, having finished 15th last year and being the bookmakers’ favourite for the wooden spoon this year.

Complicating matters is that to fill holes remaining in their list the Tigers confront drafts weakened by the concessions for the Gold Coast and Western Sydney. Gale last night declined to comment on the strategic plan, saying he wanted to send the information to members first.

Rising Richmond star Trent Cotchin has signed a new, three-year extension deal with the Club that will bind him to Tigerland at least until the end of 2013.

Cotchin, who turns 20 in April, revealed the decision to remain a Tiger was a fairly easy one to make . . .

“I am very, very happy that I am going to stay here,” he said.

“One of the things you want to be as an AFL footballer is a one-club player. 

“Another factor for me, was seeing how much support the Club has outside, from members, as well as from people inside the Club . . . It’s just a good place to be.

“I was having dinner with a friend last night and was saying how you probably couldn’t find a bad person (at the Club).  You’d be happy to catch up with any of them outside the Club and hang out with them.  That’s not only the players, but the staff, whether it’s in administration, in development, or the coaches . . . They’re all good people and very easy to get along with.

“You can share a lot of thoughts with them and work through things together.  That’s the best thing about it – the togetherness.

“I’m really confident we’ve got the right people in place to eventually achieve sustained success, and that’s what we’re working towards at the moment.”

Cotchin was particularly pleased to set the record straight on rumors that he may have secretly signed a confidentiality agreement to join the new Gold Coast club in 2011.

“I was disappointed that some people would actually think that I would do that behind the Club’s back,” he said.

“No, my plan always, was to be with Richmond and stay with the Club . . . it was just a matter of time until I signed.

“We spoke about it, initially, before Christmas and agreed that we’d see how the start of the year panned out.  But then, obviously, a bit of pressure came with the media speculation, although it didn’t affect my decision, or the way we were going about it.

“In the end, we decided that it was the right time, and I’m very glad it’s happened.”

Cotchin, taken by the Tigers as the second selection overall in the 2007 National Draft, was hampered by an Achilles injury throughout his first couple of seasons in the AFL, and managed just 25 games.  But he has shown enough in that time to suggest he’s more than capable of developing into one of the competition’s elite midfielders.

The modified training regime he’s been on over the pre-season has him in good shape to tackle the 2010 season.

“The conditioning staff has been terrific in managing my program and making sure that I got through the pre-season unscathed,” Cotchin said.

“I’ve been running pretty well and I’m feeling pretty fit. So, I’m just looking forward to getting the next couple of games under my belt and then, hopefully, hitting Round 1 full of steam with the side and, hopefully, we can have some wins.”