Important note: If you are looking for the TL:DR version, flick on down to the bottom for a very special announcement regarding The Benny.

To paraphrase our dear leader: ‘There has never been a stranger time to be a Richmond supporter’.

Undoubtedly this is the best Richmond playing list in my lifetime. The 1995 and 2001 versions were plucky and courageous, but great sides they were not. In 2013 we were growing, in 2014 we had growing pains and in 2015 we had built but the foundations proved a little shaky.

Hardwick is outwardly emotional but manages to keep his strategic cards frustratingly close to his chest. Looking at the makeup of the playing list, I can’t help but think the end game of his rebuild was the 2016-18 stretch. That isn’t to say that we’ll fall off a cliff after, rather if it’s happening, it’s happening in the next 36 months.

So, why am I not looking forward to this season? Because we’ve been to the well three times, and the well has been dry. We aren’t even little Timmy who nobody believed was in the well, we just upped and threw ourselves down it from an extraordinary height. Whatever you do, don’t watch that. No really, don’t.

I’m going to try and unpack a few of the reasons why this season is going to be super strange.

Although I wouldn’t have done it, I can see a few reasons why they got in early and re-signed Hardwick before a ball was bounced in anger. This is all assuming that 16 other clubs weren’t ringing his agent 24/7 to pinch him from us, 16 because we know that Collingwood are thrilled to pieces with Bucks. Watch that one, it’s much more fun.

Firstly, he and the playing group are ludicrously tight. They obviously look up to him as a mentor, leader and friend. Can’t you just feel old school coaches cringing? He’s very much part of the new generation of coaches who know how to work with Gen Y. Yelling, screaming and demanding people be better (hi Brendon Goddard) has, thankfully, gone the way of the dodo. A coaching contract is hardly a bullet proof vest, but it will shield Hardwick and the players from from old mate Robbo. His impact on us not losing anyone of note to date from free agency should also not be ignored.

Secondly, it just might be that he can coach. I know it sounds crazy but stick with me here? After inheriting an absolute train wreck of a list in 2010, Richmond have gone 52-38 over the last four years, hardly a shambolic strike rate. Three actual finals and two games against Melbourne who treat games against us like their grand final aside, his record stacks up.

So again, why aren’t we more excited? Because it’s all a phony war until we one that counts.

The most frustrating is that right now, with this list, we shouldn’t be aiming at simply cracking week two. There should be bigger fish to fry, but I’d be stoked to find a yabby.

Most definitely how we didn’t want to start the year was by doubling down on insecurities with an early season injury purge. Learning to win without Lids won’t be a bad thing but I’d have preferred to do that in round 18 rather than round one. Nor is our only (Shaun Hampson revival pending) viable ruck option limping into the season with a tight 30 year old back. Throw in Yarran, Conca and Grigg and that’s hardly flying out of the blocks in good health after three years of relatively good luck in that space unless your name is Chris Knights.

The glass half full view of things is that it is potentially a chance for the group to develop something that has proved to be lacking – resilience.

Rightly, wrongly or somewhere in between. The one person who won’t benefit from Hardwick’s contract extension is Cotchin. 2016 shapes as a referendum on his captaincy, a brutal examination for a 25 year old still finding his way. Against all the evidence that suggests otherwise (workload, injuries as a kid, played his best footy four seasons ago) I think (hope?) he’ll find his groove again. It’s undoubtable that the captaincy comes unnaturally to him but nine possessions in front of 90,000 people can’t have sat well with him over the summer.

For some reason the narrative of the pre-season is that 2016 will be an even one with 13 teams gunning for the eight.

For mine it’s going to be anything but that. A huge number of teams are either embarking on or still working their way through a rebuild and Father Time dictates that the real big dogs have to start coming back to the pack.

If they’re up for it, there is a chance Richmond can crack the top four of the ladder and then god help us find themselves in a prelim.

The question is, are they up for it?

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The future of The Benny

Way back in 2013 I took the Internet and started writing about Richmond, taking inspiration from the always brilliant Demonblog.

For the 9 people reading back then you’ll remember that I started off with a particularly weird and ultimately confusing voting setup that didn’t include Cotchin, Deledio, Riewoldt or Martin. The only logical explanation is that I was six pints deep when I thought up such a niche system and when 2014 I promptly ditched it in favour of somewhere where I could give votes to, you know, the best players on the team.

The highlight of this was when some bloke jumped on Twitter and called me a blind *%$ (the really bad one) after Jack kicked seven against St Kilda and I didn’t give him any votes.

Some weeks were easier to find time to write than others and all was going relatively well until Sunday 13 September 2015. After North beat us I opened the laptop more than once but just couldn’t type anything. The site still sits there waiting to be updated, but it’s not coming.

Unfortunately work means that I can’t commit to doing the site justice on a weekly basis this year. But after chatting to Chris and Dugald, I’m stoked that TTBB will be crowdsourcing The Benny for 2016 and beyond. My only condition was that I could come by and do a week every now and then, though I’ll have to work really hard to get Ricky Petterd into the votes seeing he has retired.

If you are ever thinking about kicking off a writing habit on the Internet then I couldn’t be a bigger advocate. Even better if you don’t have illusions of being one of the 45 sports journalists in paid work from 2020 onwards, it’s way more fun when you aren’t worried about the person reading being on the other side of a job interview in the near future.

But for it to roll over, I suppose that means I have to put the full stop on last year’s votes. Over the weekend I sat through the game for the first time, which I wouldn’t suggest to anyone, and came up with the below.

5: Jack Riewoldt
4: Anthony Miles
3: Dustin Martin
2: Alex Rance
1: Chris Newman

With finals votes counting for double the final tallies ended up as….

Leaderboards

The Benny
37: Dustin Martin
33: Anthony Miles
31: Alex Rance
27: Jack Riewoldt
26: Trent Cotchin
25: Bachar Houli
23: Brett Deledio
18: Shaun Grigg
17: Taylor Hunt
16: Shane Edwards
15: Brandon Ellis
13: Nick Vlastuin
12: Troy Chaplin
9: Kane Lambert and Ty Vickery
8: Dylan Grimes, Ivan Maric and Kamdyn McIntosh
6: Jake Batchelor
5: Ben Lennon and Chris Newman
3: Ben Griffiths
2: Sam Lloyd
1: Steven Morris and Shaun Hampson

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
33: Anthony Miles
25: Bachar Houli
18: Shaun Grigg
17: Taylor Hunt
12: Troy Chaplin
8: Ivan Maric
1: Shaun Hampson

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player
9: Kane Lambert
8: Kamdyn McIntosh

Joel Bowden's Golden Left Boot
25: Bachar Houli
18: Shaun Grigg
12: Troy Chaplin
6: Jake Batchelor
5: Chris Newman

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal
9: Kane Lambert

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And all that leaves the honour board:

The Benny
2015: Dustin Martin
2014: Brandon Ellis

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
2015: Anthony Miles
2014: Anthony Miles

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player
2015: Kane Lambert
2014: Sam Lloyd

Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot:
2015: Bachar Houli
2014: Bachar Houli

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal
2015: Kane Lambert
2014: Anthony Miles

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In short, eligibility criteria for the medals are as follows:

The Benny: free-for-all.

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award: have to have joined Richmond from another club.
Eligible 2016: Chaplin, Grigg, Hampson, Houli, Hunt, Maric, Miles, Townsend and Yarran.

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player: not just new draftees but anyone who is yet to debut before the start of this season.
Eligible 2016: Broad, Butler, Castagna, Chol, Marcon, McKenzie, Moore, Rioli, Short and Soldo.

Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot: for the leftys of the group, and not talking politically.
Eligible 2016: Batchelor, Chaplin, Grigg and Houli roll over from last year but will need to check footed status of new players and update down the track.

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal: upgraded from the rookie list during the current season.
Eligible 2016: Castagna, Chol, Marcon, Moore, Short and Soldo.