One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on August 24, 2025, 05:46:23 PM
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The obligatory end of season poll.
How did you rate our season all up?
Was it above/on par/below expectations?
What went right?
What went wrong?
Who surprised/stepped up this year?
Who disappointed?
etc...
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Yze's comments after the final game yesterday:
Richmond ... finishes the year in 17th spot on the ladder with a 5-18 record.
It's been a bittersweet year for the Tigers, who haven't had many wins, but have been able to unearth some of their talent taken from last year's draft.
"Parts of the season, there's games that we weren't good enough and we're really disappointed in. But there's other games that we were in. For us as a club right now, we've just got to be in more games and limit the bleeding when we do have some lapses," Yze said.
"As a whole, we feel like we've got some growth. We've got some games into our younger players. Our first year boys showed some huge growth."
https://www.afl.com.au/news/1399133/chris-scott-shrugs-off-geelong-cats-cushy-fixture-noise-finals-venue-debate
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I gave us a 7/10, based on what I expected at the start of the year.
We got probably as many games into kids as I wanted to, less into certain ones and more into others.
The W-L ledger is better than I had hoped. I thought we'd win 1-4 games. Winning 5 with a few close calls is positive.
The obvious downside is the injuries. The soft issue problems are such that you really have to wonder if there's something wrong with our PRO surface, given we have a new S&C. Our recovery times and re-injury rates have been altogether quite poor. If we can address this for the next preseason I would be very happy.
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Fail. Not good enough again.
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Gave the cubs good experience, won a handful of games and nabbed picks 2 and 3 in the draft.
Biggest negative for me is the continued issues with injuries. The new head of s&c has only been in charge for 1 season so I don’t suspect anything to change but quite a horrible start for him.
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Fail. Not good enough again.
What would have made it good enough for you, given where the club is at in a rebuild?
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Fail. Not good enough again.
What would have made it good enough for you, given where the club is at in a rebuild?
I have 3 things:-
1) A better foundation on the basics being laid down - effective tackling being the main one
2) More time for younger talent to roll through the midfield for their development
3) Better, more transparent communication on rehab
4) A better handle on what to do tactically when things go wrong - exhibit A was the inability or lack of desire to tag oppo’s more effective midfielders like Daicos, Sheezel and NAS (last qtr)
These things cost us at times through the year and are avoidable.
Lot’s of positives but the own goals outweigh the positives - so it’s a 4 from me.
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Fail. Not good enough again.
What would have made it good enough for you, given where the club is at in a rebuild?
I have 3 things:-
1) A better foundation on the basics being laid down - effective tackling being the main one
2) More time for younger talent to roll through the midfield for their development
3) Better, more transparent communication on rehab
4) A better handle on what to do tactically when things go wrong - exhibit A was the inability or lack of desire to tag oppo’s more effective midfielders like Daicos, Sheezel and NAS (last qtr)
These things cost us at times through the year and are avoidable.
Lot’s of positives but the own goals outweigh the positives - so it’s a 4 from me.
All very solid points, although I can't help but feel like they chose bot to tag those players because the motivation to win and harm our draft hand was low - especially given we'd successfully tagged Merrett and Reid recently.
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I get it Andyyy but we’re not good enough to tank. Besides, tanking has not got anyone anywhere ever. It’s a loser mentality which I thought we’d finally shaken when Dimma joined.
We desperately need to get ourselves up to a 9-11 game season before our experienced premiership talent retires.
If we don’t, a lolnorf like era beckons where we develop good players, not a great team.
Their win over us was the perfect example where 2 players had 94 possessions - classic reliance on stars to win rather than a team system.
We will need to replace our current premiership players with clever choices from other clubs to try and get us back into finals from 2028. Hawks have played their list management beautifully and should be the model. Not lolnorf.
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I get it Andyyy but we’re not good enough to tank. Besides, tanking has not got anyone anywhere ever. It’s a loser mentality which I thought we’d finally shaken when Dimma joined.
We desperately need to get ourselves up to a 9-11 game season before our experienced premiership talent retires.
If we don’t, a lolnorf like era beckons where we develop good players, not a great team.
Their win over us was the perfect example where 2 players had 94 possessions - classic reliance on stars to win rather than a team system.
We will need to replace our current premiership players with clever choices from other clubs to try and get us back into finals from 2028. Hawks have played their list management beautifully and should be the model. Not lolnorf.
So...do you think we tanked a bit or was there another reason we didn't tag those players carving us to pieces?
Agree on the rest.
I just can't explain why we didn't tag and do more to win. I was at the pies and saints games. Saints game very winnable. We pooped the bed there and I had my oldest son for his first ever game so was quite annoyed.
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I don’t think we tag players because Uze thinks it stifles the kids development, he has said it a few times.
I think it might be what he wants to achieve ,but the result is the same , the opposition top liners have an early Christmas and we lose.
We had Macca tagging for a while which went ok but if it fast tracks the kids development it’s not a bad thing.
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I don’t think we tag players because Uze thinks it stifles the kids development, he has said it a few times.
I think it might be what he wants to achieve ,but the result is the same , the opposition top liners have an early Christmas and we lose.
We had Macca tagging for a while which went ok but if it fast tracks the kids development it’s not a bad thing.
Then why did Ross tag Merrett and Reid and we won both games?
I'm confused by this. These were games we could win, without hurting our draft hand, and this tactic was extremely effective.
It's like Yze suddenly decided not to bother tagging anyone again.
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Fail. Not good enough again.
What would have made it good enough for you, given where the club is at in a rebuild?
Higher standards.
We've seen what the acceptance of mediocrity has done to the club in the past and it's not great.
Also we can't get fall into perpetual self aggrandisement ie. cheats like Carlton and Essendon thinking they are above reproach. We saw some of this in the trade wars against the filth in the 80's that nearly broke us.
But it takes a leader to lead us toward greatness.
Benny Gale was able to do that for us and get everyone on board that eventually produced great results.
I don't know who that is currently.
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I really have enjoyed the green shoots and look forward to seeing what they bring next year .
But the midfield bores me to tears . I acknowledge Taranto and Hopper have had good individual seasons but collectively it feels so uninspiring. Hopefully they can introduce a little more sizzle into the midfield next year.
The tackling is weak - I’ve never seen so many broken tackles. An area in desperate need of improvement.
Backline is solid - Miller has been excellent. Young has impressed since recovering from his knee.
The back six is the least of our concerns.
Lynch had a stinker of a year . His accuracy was appalling. His brain implosion cost him 5 weeks .
I’m glad he’s going around for one more year - I just hope he plays with more discipline and stops leaving so many easy goals on the table .
5 wins looks good on paper , two against WCE , worst team in modern history makes it sound better than it actually was . Essendon victory was our worst win in recent memory.
Carlton and Gold Coast were unexpected delights .
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Fail. Not good enough again.
What would have made it good enough for you, given where the club is at in a rebuild?
Higher standards.
We've seen what the acceptance of mediocrity has done to the club in the past and it's not great.
Also we can't get fall into perpetual self aggrandisement ie. cheats like Carlton and Essendon thinking they are above reproach. We saw some of this in the trade wars against the filth in the 80's that nearly broke us.
But it takes a leader to lead us toward greatness.
Benny Gale was able to do that for us and get everyone on board that eventually produced great results.
I don't know who that is currently.
Me neither.
Without key figures like Benny, Penny, Balme, Hardwick and even Harckwick's wife to a lesser extent (lol) I'm concerned we may fall off the perch. Really hope not.
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I get it Andyyy but we’re not good enough to tank. Besides, tanking has not got anyone anywhere ever. It’s a loser mentality which I thought we’d finally shaken when Dimma joined.
We desperately need to get ourselves up to a 9-11 game season before our experienced premiership talent retires.
If we don’t, a lolnorf like era beckons where we develop good players, not a great team.
Their win over us was the perfect example where 2 players had 94 possessions - classic reliance on stars to win rather than a team system.
We will need to replace our current premiership players with clever choices from other clubs to try and get us back into finals from 2028. Hawks have played their list management beautifully and should be the model. Not lolnorf.
So...do you think we tanked a bit or was there another reason we didn't tag those players carving us to pieces?
Agree on the rest.
I just can't explain why we didn't tag and do more to win. I was at the pies and saints games. Saints game very winnable. We pooped the bed there and I had my oldest son for his first ever game so was quite annoyed.
I think the coach isn’t nimble enough to think on his feet match day. Remember he was schooled by Simon “one trick pony” Goodwin.
I think saying tagging stifles development is a cop out. Put a kid on them and they can learn for a day how to find it.
Instead we load up with one paced older plodders in the midfield - how is that helping development?
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I get it Andyyy but we’re not good enough to tank. Besides, tanking has not got anyone anywhere ever. It’s a loser mentality which I thought we’d finally shaken when Dimma joined.
We desperately need to get ourselves up to a 9-11 game season before our experienced premiership talent retires.
If we don’t, a lolnorf like era beckons where we develop good players, not a great team.
Their win over us was the perfect example where 2 players had 94 possessions - classic reliance on stars to win rather than a team system.
We will need to replace our current premiership players with clever choices from other clubs to try and get us back into finals from 2028. Hawks have played their list management beautifully and should be the model. Not lolnorf.
So...do you think we tanked a bit or was there another reason we didn't tag those players carving us to pieces?
Agree on the rest.
I just can't explain why we didn't tag and do more to win. I was at the pies and saints games. Saints game very winnable. We pooped the bed there and I had my oldest son for his first ever game so was quite annoyed.
I think the coach isn’t nimble enough to think on his feet match day. Remember he was schooled by Simon “one trick pony” Goodwin.
I think saying tagging stifles development is a cop out. Put a kid on them and they can learn for a day how to find it.
Instead we load up with one paced older plodders in the midfield - how is that helping development?
Doesn't add up.
He made a conscious decision to move Ross to Reid and Merrett and it had a profound impact on the result of those two games.
To suggest he suddenly forgot how to move magnets after those two examples doesn't make sense to me.
He's decided not to tag for a reason. I don't agree that it's about stifling development. I just genuinely think he didn't see the point in trying to win some of these games because it might impact our draft hand. That's the only reason I can see that makes rational sense.
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When we were good it was good but the bad was putrid and we were just putrid far too often in games.
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I thought we'd win between 4-6 games. And we did
We gave kids plenty of games which is what everyone wanted
I might be in the minority but I rarely walked out questioning their effort. For memory I reckon there was 4 possibly 5 games where I questioned effort
7 out of 10 from me
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What went wrong for AFL bottom 9... and who they must target to bounce back in 2026
— Jack Jovanovski
Foxsports
25 Aug 2025
17. RICHMOND (5-18, 66%)
Three word analysis
Better than expected
What went right
Some suggested Richmond wouldn’t win a game, or at least very few as one of the wooden spoon favourites. Yet the Tigers claimed five victories — four more than West Coast. Adem Yze sure blooded young talent in a youthful exuberance at Tigerland and reason for excitement. Richmond was the league’s least-experienced side based on average games played this year (52.7), while its average age was 23.9 years; the fourth-youngest in the competition behind only North Melbourne, West Coast and Essendon. Of Richmond’s eight draftees from last November, all but No.7 pick Josh Smillie got an AFL taste this year. Luke Trainor played 21 games, Jonty Faull played 16, Sam Lalor and Tom Sims 11, Harry Armstrong 8, Taj Hotton 7, and Jasper Alger 4. Yze’s Punt Road tenure will be judged largely on how he’s able to develop and utilise last year’s draft class, and it’s clear that the likes of Lalor, Faull and Hotton in particular have bright AFL futures. And as it pertains to on-field progress, as much as the Tigers had to cope most weeks with barrages of forward entries, towards the end of their campaign, they actually stood up well behind the ball. Across the last six rounds, Richmond sat ninth for points against, seventh for score-per-inside-50 against, and eighth for points against from turnover. Unheralded premiership stalwart Nick Vlastuin once again produced an All-Australian calibre season — will he finally receive his due recognition?
What went wrong
Richmond’s midfield combinations were problematic all season, as it sought to occasionally inject more pace into a core mix that was generally one-paced. Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper and Dion Prestia were the most frequent centre-bounce attendees, and while Hopper is capable of exploding from stoppage, they all lack overall speed and have the tendency to slouch when it comes to charging back in defensive transition. This year, Richmond ranked 17th for clearance differential, 17th for points from clearance differential, and 16th for contested possession differential. Forward stability is another thing the Tigers will look to improve on next year, with leading spearhead Tom Lynch missing seven games. Meanwhile Noah Balta, who had a tumultuous season, continued to be swung between attack and defence — neither of which helped young talls Faull, Sims and Armstrong in getting comfortable at the top level.
What they need
The Tigers would benefit greatly from a two-way midfielder — one who runs both ways — after conceding the third-most goals to opposition midfielders this season. And while they haven’t been one of the teams recently reported as in pursuit of him, out-of-contract Saints midfielder Marcus Windhager is a player in that aforementioned mould. They need Sam Lalor to be free of hamstring worries in year two after showing tantalising glimpses in his rookie season, and they need fellow top-10 pick Josh Smillie to get on the park after he failed to make his senior debut this year. As the playing group buys more into Yze’s style of play, it’d be fair to expect another jump in 2026 — 6-8 wins isn’t out of the realm of possibility if their veterans stay healthy and their up-and-comers continue to take strides.
What time is it on the premiership clock?
(2pm): The Tigers took another step in year two under Yze, and it means they’re one step closer to returning to contention. Winning five games was something very few pundits expected of Richmond this year, and its crop of exciting 2024 draftees should continue to inspire hope in the club’s fans that another era of premiership contention isn’t as far away as some might think.
Season grade
B
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2025-brutal-reviews-for-teams-that-missed-finals-trade-targets-season-report-cards-premiership-clock-analysis-of-every-club-latest-news/news-story/4b6b4bd84993bb6fa45cb103bb16ec2e
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Media and the afl psychothants always get it wrong.
It has nothing to do with win loss for a club in year one of a rebuild.
We managed five wins and played some horrid footy in most games,
yes part of the learning curve for kids you could say. Thats the problem, truth is we all year played an abaundance of our mid tier thru vets and it was not pretty.
Yes too many injuries but it was injuries to kids that we missed.It says a lot about just how poor our mid tier are.
Next year we may only win three or 4 games less than this year and actually improve.
Thats the point improvement for us should not be measured in meaningless wins against fellow battlers. Far more important parameters will determine improvement regardless of the win loss ratio.
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Positives: Brown, Banks, Campbell and Miller all showed improvement; didn't get the wooden spoon; got games into younger players like Trainor, Hotton, Faull and Lalor; Vlastuin's season; Gibcus back playing football and Hopper finally got a run at it. Negatives: injuries in particular to Armstrong, Faull, Lalor and Josh; lack of tackling; goal kicking inaccuracy; one dimensional midfield; Lynch's moment of madness; and Balta having the season he did.
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Positives: Brown, Banks, Campbell and Miller all showed improvement; didn't get the wooden spoon; got games into younger players like Trainor, Hotton, Faull and Lalor; Vlastuin's season; Gibcus back playing football and Hopper finally got a run at it. Negatives: injuries in particular to Armstrong, Faull, Lalor and Josh; lack of tackling; goal kicking inaccuracy; one dimensional midfield; Lynch's moment of madness; and Balta having the season he did.
Close thread. Nailed it.
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Promising signs but pain still to come for Tigers | Richmond Review
The Tigers showed signs in 2025 but the rebuild is far from over.
VIDEO: https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/promising-signs-but-pain-still-to-come-for-tigers-richmond-review/video/65d10850b0ed0d84850dc4bb7e57908f
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"I was just super impressed by the young talent and the way Adem coached this year."
Hirdy and Bartel are bullish about the future at Tigerland.
#9FootyFurnace
VIDEO: https://x.com/FootyonNine/status/1962134904797540643