We’re all nervously waiting for the outcome of Trade Week for the Tigers, and after day one a fantastic move was made. Steven Morris, son of Richmond premiership player Kevin Morris joined the Tigers, grouped together with Greater Western Sydney’s Pick 15 in the 2012 AFL National Draft. GWS in return receive our Pick 14; this was a unique way to pick up Morris who had been linked to the club for months. He was also looked closely by Port Adelaide, whom were supposedly willing to part with their second round draft pick to attain him. Under the AFL’s Father/Son rules, Richmond would need to match that offer by Port and subsequently our second rounder that was offered to Adelaide for Ivan Maric wouldn’t have been available to us.
I frequently speak with many passionate Richmond supporters, and it’s safe to say none of them saw this coming, brilliant move by Blair Hartley, Francis Jackson and the team. Let’s hope before Trade Week ends, we can reel in a few more of our targets. Now back to the 2011 report card, unfortunately the university assignments have been piling up, and exams are around the corner, but with Trade Week radio, it’s impossible to concentrate for too long, so I thought why not get something done?
Two categories
• Consistency - A player will receive 7.0 points out of ten if he has played 16 games or more this season. If he’s played over 20 than he’ll receive 7.5, this of course excludes injured players. To achieve higher than an 8.0 each player will be assessed on my own personal view of his performances throughout the 2011 season.
• Impact - A player will receive a 7.0 automatically if he’s scored 4 goals or more in three matches this season, and if he’s collected 30 or more possessions on three occasions this season. It won’t hurt a player’s tally if he’s blanketed some of the toughest forwards in the competition either! Any result above an 7.5 will be determined on my own personal view of each players performance.
8. Jack Riewoldt - The living legend has had an underwhelming season even by his expectations - and it’s scary to think he still came equal second in the Coleman medal race. It’s a testament to Jack’s talent that he managed to get through the season despite the injuries that were bringing him to the ground. I am hopeful that next season he can play at 100% and actually bring one of those spectacular marking attempts down to the ground with him. Next year will tell us a lot about Jack Riewoldt, and I’m making a bold prediction he will win another Jack Dyer medal, and take us to the finals. This season however? He’s played most games, and played decent/good, whilst sometimes playing very great. His kicking is phenomenal, one memory I have is of Jack turning on his right side, whilst on the wing and drilling a pass fifty meters away, right on Robin Nahas’ chest. Despite the positives, he needs to build on his stellar 2010 season, because that’s the minimum we should expect from this guy, and that’s the minimum he should expect from himself. Jack still manages a high rating simply because his ‘good’ is better than most players ‘great’, but he’s capable of attaining a rank in the nineties, so a seventy-five isn’t earth shattering.
Jack Riewoldt - 75 (B+)
41. Nathan Foley
What a thrill it was to actually see Axel playing again! I treated him as a first round draft pick because he rarely played during his series of setbacks. He had a good season, but again he can get better. He came equal 20th in the competition for most tackles, averaging more than five a game, but I’m not sure if it’s only my opinion but he seemed to handball too frequently. For the entire season he had 22 more handballs than kicks, and when you are playing in the guts, and you’re Nathan Foley, I would like to see more run and more kicking. That’s the way he plays though. Throughout 2007, which was widely regarded as his best season, he still managed more handballs than kicks. I thought that he was a little faster back then however, and managed to cover the ground at a rapid rate. Those injuries would be difficult to recover from, and may have slowed him down. I expect him to only improve next season, and if he can return to that form, he may just help us reach the finals.
Nathan Foley - 73 (B)
44. Troy Taylor - It feels like I’m on a Beatles forum, and I’m writing about Yoko Ono. Every opinion, whether it be of absolute anger, empathy, agony, disappointment or sadness has been expressed about this young fellow. I’m going to take a philosophical approach with this. Troy Taylor is a young kid, who lives on the other side of the country, which I have never been too. So I simply reserve my judgment, I can’t relate. But what I can relate to, is the fact that I want to live a good life and sometimes life overall is bigger than football. Sometimes we all have those moments in our existence where we’re unsure of what’s good, bad, great or sad. I wish Troy the best, and I hope he can learn about himself everyday until he’s ready to contribute to society at the best of his ability, he definitely has the talent to make a good football player.
Troy Taylor - UG (Ungraded)
23. Daniel Jackson - He’s ‘The Brain’ of Tigerland because of his intelligence off the field, however he can also be ‘The Brain Fade’ due to lapses in concentration on the field. There have been countless incidents that have had the seats in front of me at the G’ grooved with a fat Greek knuckle. A weak bump on Adam Goodes that served no purpose, which resulted in a free kick and a few little things at our last home match against North Melbourne spring to mind. He gave away 24 more free kicks than he received this season, that’s definitely a negative in his game that needs to be controlled. Other than that, I like Daniel Jackson, he’s been consistent with his role this season, he almost won the game against St. Kilda for us and he does love using his presence to protect the kids on field. You need guys like that in your team; he can also be quite a decent tagger. Unfortunately statistically he played considerably better in 2010, averaging less disposals & tackles this season. When I do these ratings, the improvement from season to season is a big deal to me, I genuinely like to see our players improve themselves, and if that’s lacking, then it will show on their ranking. Let’s bring on 2012, because a lot our boys have quite a bit to prove, and Daniel Jackson is no exception.
Daniel Jackson - 64 (C)
Next Time
Brett Deledio, Mitch Farmer, Chris Newman, Angus Graham, Luke McGuane, Jeremy Webberely, Matt White & Dylan Grimes.
Eat THEM’Alive!
Con Bouliopoulos
