Richmond’s veterans have been warned to keep their “egos” in check as finals are now “off the agenda” following the loss to Sydney.
Three-time premiership Lion Jonathan Brown didn’t like what he saw from Shai Bolton, Kamdyn McIntosh and Marlion Pickett as they all coughed up 50-metre penalties.
Brown said his experience with the highs of premiership glory to the drop off that followed meant he had concerns for Richmond.
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“This is where you’ve got to get careful – the ego’s getting the better of you,” he said On the Couch.
“What happens is when players have been to the top of the mountain several times, all of a sudden they feel affronted when the opposition’s taking it up to you – especially a young opposition.
“I’ve been a part of it. That ego of being the premiership player gets the better of you.
“Things are not going your way, you get frustrated – you do undisciplined acts.
“They are in a challenging time.”
Richmond Tigers press conference | 03:01
Statistics show Richmond were ranked third between 2017 and 2022 for defensive half turnovers, but have sunk to 17th this season.
They are also ranked third for the most 3+ consecutive goals conceded, behind Gold Coast and North Melbourne (12), and narrowly ahead of Hawthorn (10).
“That’s not the company that Richmond normally keep,” host Garry Lyon said of those teams surrounding Richmond.
“They’ve been decimated by injury.
“They continue to try and play aggressively which has held them in great stead. (But) the personnel doesn’t match the game style for four quarters.”
Nathan Buckley said Tigers coach Damien Hardwick needed to put finals on the backburner in the coming weeks and just focus on improvement.
“Maybe they are not looking at winning every week but they’ve still got to play consistently and help these young blokes develop,” he said On the Couch.
Sydney Swans press conference | 07:46
“I think finals have got to be off the agenda now – I think they’ve got to play a month of consistent footy and try and get four quarters of their football up and running and then see what happens after that.
“Their young blokes are running really hard and they’re trying to play the way the coach has set it up.”
Brown agreed Richmond couldn’t be thinking finals if their leaders couldn’t “keep their cool”.
“They were in the game (against Sydney) … they need better from their leaders,” he said.
“They’re not going to play finals if they keep getting that sort of stuff from the leaders.”
