Speed focus in draft bonanzaRichmond added some much-needed speed to its side during last week’s National Draft.
Jon Ralph
HeraldSun
November 23, 2025 Richmond believes it has quenched its need for speed with a quartet of national draft picks.
The Tigers believe they have finally rounded out their next generation midfield after securing “combative” South Australian midfielder Sam Cumming and Oakleigh speedster Sam Grlj with picks seven and eight in the national draft.
Richmond added 179cm mid-forward Zane Puecker at pick 31 then fellow South Australian Noah Roberts-Thomson (pick 54) as a genuine small forward who can also put on the afterburners.
The Tigers overlooked Rowville bolter Sullivan Robey to instead secure Grlj, with recruiting boss Rhy Gieschen telling Code Sports that Cumming and Grlj were simply higher up on the club’s draft board.
That pair will add to last year’s draft haul which includes midfielders Sam Lalor, Josh Smillie and Taj Hotton.
Gieschen says that all of the club’s new batch of mids can hit the scoreboard but believes coach Adem Yze also has some serious speed to add to the ball-winning brilliance.
“They do complement each other, it’s been a real conscious effort,” he said.
“We have (Jacob) Hopper, Tim Taranto, (Jack) Ross and (Dion) Prestia who are doing a super job for us at the moment but the plan has been to really bring in that next wave of guys to learn under them and eventually make the midfield their own.
“Lalor is a powerful mid forward. He’s unique because he’s classy with ball in hand, Hotton is agile and has speed and can go forward, Smillie is the big bodied 195cm mid who is good at the contest and is a nice kick. We also have (Kane) McAuliffe who has that power, grunt and aggression and then Cumming compliments them.
He’s genuinely combative, aggressive and he’s got a defensive mindset. He loves contact and they can all go forward and take a mark and kick a goal and be dangerous one-on-one.
“We had a real emphasis on speed. We wanted to add speed to our mix. That balance of speed, power, agility, competitiveness, we felt like we got that with all four boys.
It’s something we value highly and to bring in four guys who had that, we felt like we really added to our list.”
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/why-richmond-overlooked-fatherson-prospect-louis-kellaway-amid-speed-focus-in-draft-bonanza/news-story/c34094f79646e4e91727cd4523357d6b#selection-663.0-853.283