Tigers Negative Progress

The Richmond Football Club is looking at a win-less season. The really bad news for their fans is that it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. The AFL is expanding with two new clubs coming into the competition and playing stocks will be pushed to the limit with close to a hundred new players needed to fill up playing lists. What this means is that the Tigers won’t get the advantages of picking up the cream of the crop - unlike Melbourne, Carlton and West Coast who had their pick when they were struggling in recent years.

The other really worrying sign for the Tigers is that their kids appear to have limited ability as well as being horribly inexperienced. Outside of Trent Cotchin, you really have to dig deep to identify any talent that would see the Tigers improve in the years to come. That is not to say that they won’t get better as they gain more experience but the transition they would have to make to become a competitive team is enormous.

Hardwick was the best choice as head coach for the Tigers but there must be days when he wakes up and wonders what he did to deserve this baptism of fire. He appears up-beat at the moment as he will be given time, but in saying that there will come a time soon when he will need to make the Tigers a competitive team.

Having said that, they have been competitive in three games this season though only until half time. Against Adelaide last weekend they were even in the game until the final quarter when the Crows found their rhythm and put them to the sword. It must be heart breaking for the group to be competitive for so long in a game and then suffer a 50 point flogging that in truth wasn’t indicative of the match.

This weekend they face the hapless Hawks that haven’t been much better than the Tigers. The Hawks are desperate for a win and it will be a miracle if they don’t vent their frustration on the young kids wearing the yellow and black.