Richmond’s 2014 campaign may be a write-off, but Brownlow Medal winner Gerard Healy has warned the AFL’s club in crisis not to lose sight of their long-term plans.
The Tigers, who finished 2013 one win short of the top four, have slumped to 16th on the ladder with a 2-6 record.
Veteran Brett Deledio insisted on Monday his club can still play finals this year, but given the Tigers’ current woes it is hard to imagine how.
Coach Damien Hardwick and Deledio are among those at Richmond struggling to explain why the side’s run and dare of 2013 has disappeared.
Hardwick signed a two-year contract extension in the recent off-season and his position is not considered to be in any jeopardy.
Whether an upset loss to Greater Western Sydney on Saturday would change that remains to be seen, but Healy said it would be foolish to make major changes at the club based on a third of a season.
“They’ve got a few things wrong this year, obviously,” Healy, winner of the 1988 Brownlow Medal, said on radio station 3AW.
“But they don’t want to all of a sudden just dismantle their long-term strategies.
“They need to have a look at their list again, but they have the core and the basis of a pretty competitive unit.”
Chief executive Brendon Gale, who played 244 games for Richmond, said it was wrong to blame the club’s current woes on its coaching staff.
“We have great people here of exceptional character and I have utmost faith of turning this around,” Gale told Fairfax Media.
“The only thing that matters at the club is the football and it’s not going as well as we would like it to be.”
Deledio will play his 200th match when the Tigers tackle GWS in Sydney.
The 27-year-old said he fully expected his side to improve in 2013 at the start of the season, but that it was too early in the year for the underachieving team to give up on finals.
“We know it’s going to be hard work but that’s what you play the game for,” he said.
“We’re training hard, we’re definitely staying united and getting around each other. I can’t explain (the drop off in form), if I could I’d be a genius.”
Terry Wallace, Hardwick’s predecessor who left the Tigers in 2009, said his old club needed to look past this year.
“It’s almost too late. That’s the reality, this season is gone,” Wallace told radio station SEN.
“What are you going to do? It needed to be done four weeks ago, and it probably was.
“But it hasn’t made any impact or effect.
“They seem to be completely void of all confidence, they’re playing really poor footy.”