Experienced Richmond defender Troy Chaplin has strongly refuted suggestions that the Tigers are playing the blame game, as they search for answers to their poor first half of the season.
Chaplin told SEN this morning that there was no finger pointing taking place at Tigerland.
“We’re all in this together,” he said.
“We speak about the four walls at the footy club, and we’re inside those four walls, obviously.
“What matters to us the most is what’s going on within those four walls.
“We don’t worry about outside influences because, if we start worrying about them, then it just affects the camaraderie of the group.
“The group’s actually been extremely positive, given the circumstances.
“Monday, and a Tuesday, it can be pretty tough, obviously, going through the reviews. But when we hit the track on Tuesday it’s, forget about that, let’s get on with it.
“There’s no use dwelling on it because, otherwise, we’re just going to fall into a greater hole.”
Chaplin expressed considerable empathy for coach Damien Hardwick, with regards to him publicly trying to explain the team’s form slump . . .
“We feel for ‘Dimma’ because he’s got to go in and face the media when, as a player, you feel like we should be facing the media,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we’re the ones out there that are letting the Club down.”
The 28-year-old veteran of 172 league games, admitted his own form had, overall, been well below expectations throughout the first half of the 2014 season.
“Individually, it’s been a pretty poor start to the year,” Chaplin said.
“The last couple of weeks have been pretty good . . . the GWS game and then again on the weekend, was pretty consistent, which was good.
“Probably the Melbourne game, my first half was atrocious. It was just one of those games where everything just went against me. But the second half, it started to turn a little bit, and the last couple of weeks have been good.
“It has been a slow build-up, and probably my form reflects the team’s form as well. There are a few of us like that at the moment, and we’re trying to find a way out of it.”
Chaplin, however, remains confident that the Tigers’ fortunes will turn.
“We just have to continue to take the game on, and we can’t go back into our shell,” he said.
“That’s the only thing that’s going to get us out of it . . .”
