Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

[DOG GOD]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

If Ed’s desired position is half back, then why the need to recruit an abundance of half back types. This only causes Ed and the like to have to play wing/half forward to get a game and they aren’t being developed in their best suited role.

[GVGjr]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

I have watched our coaches get blamed for many things I disagree with this week on several threads but I can’t let this one slide.

Richards just isn’t very good at this stage and HE needs to address some major flaws in his game. Of course our development should be doing this as well but you can guarantee these parts of his game are being worked on.

I think many of us can see the upside and the potential in his game plus some flaws as well so given all that why has he been as good as an automatic selection each week in what wasn't a good season for him?

[comrade]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

I think many of us can see the upside and the potential in his game plus some flaws as well so given all that why has he been as good as an automatic selection each week in what wasn't a good season for him?

Exactly. His flaws are obvious yet he played all year, that is coaching.

[GVGjr]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Exactly. His flaws are obvious yet he played all year, that is coaching.

12 months ago, the consensus here was that we had struck the right balance in the playing list with our mids, KP (we recruited KP bookends) and ruck mix etc however, given Richards was played through the season does that now question the depth and quality of our playing list?

[Danjul]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

I have watched our coaches get blamed for many things I disagree with this week on several threads but I can’t let this one slide.

Richards just isn’t very good at this stage and HE needs to address some major flaws in his game. Of course our development should be doing this as well but you can guarantee these parts of his game are being worked on.

ft shouldn’t reflect poorly on our coaches. If it does then you would have to give them credit for Smith, Naughton and Dunkley?

Not sure you can hold this against the coaching team though because this applies to most players and we can’t play them all there.

Interesting that Richards, Naughton and Dunkley all come together here.

In the elimination final Dunkley had his equal worst number of possessions for the season. He equaled the 13 he got when playing second ruck against the Cats Another close loss, where rucking took him away from his natural game.

Naughton had 2 possessions to 3/4 time ( because Bruce was simply crashing the contests?) and Richards with 7 possessions was also very close to his worst game for the season. At least 3 others had their season worst number of disposals in that game.

And still they lost by less than a goal. St Kilda wasn’t very good. Who does that fiasco reflect poorly on?

[Rocket Science]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

12 months ago, the consensus here was that we had struck the right balance in the playing list with our mids, KP (we recruited KP bookends) and ruck mix etc however, given Richards was played through the season does that now question the depth and quality of our playing list?

Precisely. It's reasonable to assert Richards (and a gaggle of others) mightn't have been doing enough to retain their spots but we can only be as ruthless as the calibre of depth we can confidently call upon.

Not to mention dropping blokes this season was doubly problematic given no reserves tier competition.

Still, if you spell Richards a spell, who comes in?

[GVGjr]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Precisely. It's reasonable to assert Richards (and a gaggle of others) mightn't have been doing enough to retain their spots but we can only be as ruthless as the calibre of depth we can confidently call upon.

Not to mention dropping blokes this season was doubly problematic given no reserves tier competition.

Still, if you spell Richards a spell, who comes in?

Based on the ones that did come in they were mainly rookies.

I just struggle with the concept of having all the playing list up in the Hub and we couldn't locate a couple of players to replace the ones out of form. 4 games between Trengove Schache and Lewis Young, Hayes played just a couple of games and West, Greene, Lynch, Cavarra sparingly used if at all and Dale and Lipinski cycling in and out.

Given we had a close look at the group this year and obviously didn't rate a high number of them I will be interested to see who we shop around and let go from the group.

[jeemak]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Interesting that Richards, Naughton and Dunkley all come together here.

In the elimination final Dunkley had his equal worst number of possessions for the season. He equaled the 13 he got when playing second ruck against the Cats Another close loss, where rucking took him away from his natural game.

Naughton had 2 possessions to 3/4 time ( because Bruce was simply crashing the contests?) and Richards with 7 possessions was also very close to his worst game for the season. At least 3 others had their season worst number of disposals in that game.

And still they lost by less than a goal. St Kilda wasn’t very good. Who does that fiasco reflect poorly on?

The players who played poorly by their own standards?

[GVGjr]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

The players who played poorly by their own standards?

100%, we just need to make sure there is a valid reason why they aren't performing to their ability

[jeemak]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Specifically on Richards I'd view his output differently if he tidied up his kicking to the extent I think most of us believe he can with some concentration and attention to detail.

He does run hard and does try to run at the defence which is exactly what we need, though without using the ball well enough to hurt with the limited touches he is getting at present he's not effective enough. I wanted him spelled throughout the year because there's actually some merit in dropping players for repeated execution issues, but it didn't happen which tells me he has to be doing a body of things without the ball that I can't see that the coaches like in order to have kept his place.

Time is definitely on his side and I would not be moving him on until given the chance to mature. However, I would like to see some improvement in execution and production pretty quickly to keep the faith.

[GVGjr]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Time is definitely on his side and I would not be moving him on until given the chance to mature. However, I would like to see some improvement in execution and production pretty quickly to keep the faith.

We aren't likely to trade any player who is playing each week unless someone else is willing to pay overs and in the case of Richards that might be well overs.

[Rocket Science]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Based on the ones that did come in they were mainly rookies.

I just struggle with the concept of having all the playing list up in the Hub and we couldn't locate a couple of players to replace the ones out of form. 4 games between Trengove Schache and Lewis Young, Hayes played just a couple of games and West, Greene, Lynch, Cavarra sparingly used if at all and Dale and Lipinski cycling in and out.

Given we had a close look at the group this year and obviously didn't rate a high number of them I will be interested to see who we shop around and let go from the group.

Indeed, but you've forgotten one ... That the MC figured at one point 'hey, let's have another look at Billy' suggests a bit about the level of competition for spots.

[1eyedog]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

I think many of us can see the upside and the potential in his game plus some flaws as well so given all that why has he been as good as an automatic selection each week in what wasn't a good season for him?

Perceived ceiling and our desire to fast-track it.

[GVGjr]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

Perceived ceiling and our desire to fast-track it.

3 or 4 less games I don't think would have slowed down his development

He's another required player

[Mofra]

Re: Welcome to the Western Bulldogs - Ed Richards

12 months ago, the consensus here was that we had struck the right balance in the playing list with our mids, KP (we recruited KP bookends) and ruck mix etc however, given Richards was played through the season does that now question the depth and quality of our playing list?

Bailey Williams wasn't a lock in our best 22 12 months ago.
It seems Ed Richards and JJ are vying for the same position in the back half, the guy who runs the ball from defence and takes an opposition small. Ed's tougher than JJ but JJ has better agility.