Injuries and the tipping point.

[CURLY]

“Heartless”?

Tell that to Dan McKenzie or Highmore who played most of the game with a broken hand.

It was a 2 goal loss against a top 4 team who we have hardly beaten the last ten years. Hardly a heartless performance.

Incredible.

Yes he’s one of those supporters. There not trying there giving no effort they don’t care. You know the type.

[Gershwin]

Ideally we wouldn’t have been playing Clavarino, Byrnes, Connolly, Kent, Hunter and Long yesterday but injuries have hit us very hard.
We nearly got away with it and the 3 young kids we played will hopefully benefit from it.

[Sainter_Dad]

Look at it this way, is it because of injury Higgins kicked 1.6 vs Sydney? Or we kicked 5.17 vs Geelong? Or we lost against a bottom 4 side after being 6 goals to none up? Or we give that heartless performance against Port after our best win in a long time the week before?

No, injury had nothing to do with those.

Our season should well and truly still be alive despite our injury woes. No excuses for those above performances.

Sorry Dud - those games gave ME the biggest injury of all - a Broken heart

[SaintPav]

“Heartless”?

Tell that to Dan McKenzie or Highmore who played most of the game with a broken hand.

It was a 2 goal loss against a top 4 team who we have hardly beaten the last ten years. Hardly a heartless performance.

Incredible.

I think he was talking about the spanking that Port gave us earlier this year

I don't think he was Scollop. The “week before” in the earlier game against Port this year was a spanking to Richmond.

[The_Dud]

“Heartless”?

Tell that to Dan McKenzie or Highmore who played most of the game with a broken hand.

It was a 2 goal loss against a top 4 team who we have hardly beaten the last ten years. Hardly a heartless performance.

Incredible.

I think he was talking about the spanking that Port gave us earlier this year

I don't think he was Scollop. The “week before” in the earlier game against Port this year was a spanking to Richmond.

Yep, the game against Port was a very poor performance by the team in context. Of course there were individuals who played well (as there always is) but as a team it was lacklustre. Port were there for the taking and we served up rubbish.

[Impatient Sainter]

I’d have liked to have seen Clavarino play a bit more this season (and last).
Like the look of him and is a much better prospect than Joyce . How did ppl rate him ?

He is worth persisting with - took a huge intercept mark early in the game. His two turnovers by foot were poor, but I think with more game time his confidence will grow and he can become a solid player. Lets not forget he held Oscar Allen to zero influence, no score. He has a huge reach, I would have liked to see him used a the second ruck and bring in Sharman as another forward target.

Posters on BF believe we desparately need another big key defender, perhaps we do. With Highmore & Clavarino developing this year plus Battle we have CHB and the third tall covered the only missing link is if Howard goes down we dont have an immediate replacement. Battle has played at Full Back before and I would give Joyce another year as he has been improving this year. I dont think we have to sell the farm to get another key defender, but if an upgrade is available take it!

I do agree with Curly that injuries have cruelled our year, but the positives are we have found several players:

McKenzie & Dunstan have been playing the best football of their careers.
Byrnes & Connolly will be a rippers.
Highmore has huge room to improve into a key intercept marker.
Wood was playing career best footy before being injured.
Sinclair has continued to grow.
Even Clavarino & Joyce have been showing big steps forward in their development.
Plus we have found two players of the future at the MSD in Max Heath & Cooper Sharman.

Without the injuries a number of these players wouldnt have got an opportunity (possibly delisted at years end). So through adversity comes a huge year of growth that will set us up in coming seasons. We will go to the National & Rookie drafts and get an elite 1st round midfielder, plus 2 or 3 NGA players and another 2 or 3 younger players & perhaps a SSP.

On the down side a few players have had below their standard years when they needed to step up - Coffield, Membrey, Billings, Butler, Bytel, Long & Hill early days.

The moral to 2021 is every sucessful club needs foot soldiers as depth and we have found numerous, that wont adversely effect our TPP going forward.

[Viscount Jeremiah]

Injuries are the second most important factor in success in footy

Agree but have a feeling this injury riddled season will help us in the long run... i.e. getting games into Brynes, Connelley, Highmore

[B.M]

Always is a silver lining

Opportunity means you find some players

[bigcarl]

If you think replacing top end talent with novices or C graders shouldn't have an impact on performance then you ain't thinking. Based on that logic, during the 1990s, if you took Glen McGrath and Shane Warne out of the Australian cricket team and replaced them with a couple of state level trundlers Australia's bowling attack would have kept on being just as potent

It’s true. I think you’ve just got to be able to cover your stars structurally.

Whoever comes in to replace Marshal, for instance, you don’t expect him to be Rowan Marshall or impact like Rowan Marshall.

The understudy just needs to be good enough to compete and make sure you are not exposed structurally in that position.

[B.M]

Look at what injuries have reduced Richmond to

And it’s injury to your most important assets is the key

Many of Richmonds critical players have remained injury free for years.

StK have been one of the most injury effected clubs this season