BARRETT: 'Full-on rebuild' looms, but tame Tigers have lost their edgeThe hunger for success that drove Richmond's 2017-2020 era is long gone, and a disastrous 2024 season has been the result, writes Damian Barrett
By Damian Barrett
afl.com.au
7 Aug 2024DUSTIN Martin's immediate retirement, as sad as it is, ultimately creates less headaches for a lot of people in football.
Less for opposition coaches, who even this year, and despite Martin's impact and desire to play being dramatically reduced, continued to stress in preparing for a game against Richmond.
And less for those in charge of the mess that Richmond's list has become in the four seasons since winning the 2020 premiership.
From a pure football perspective, a hard decision on Martin's future at Richmond was going to have to be made by Tigers' football department bosses, had he not this week reached it himself.
A hard focus now needs to be applied to several other big-name players on the Tigers' list who, like Martin in 2024, have also at times displayed wavering desire and form in a badly struggling team now coached by Adem Yze.
There can be no sugar-coating of Yze's first season as coach. It has been disastrous. Injuries, and the management of some of those injuries, have ravaged his playing list, and the loss of a ruthless off-field business edge hasn't helped. There have also clearly been problems in his assistant coaching ranks, with David Teague already out of next year's plans.
Richmond in 2024 has not been run like the Richmond of 2010-23. People key to the success of 2017-20 have checked out, officially and in attitude, with no one able to properly "sell" the organisation to players already listed or those being targeted from other clubs.
Three-time premiership coach Damien Hardwick, clearly aware of the impending on-field crash which has arrived in 2024, bailed in-contract in mid-2023 for a perceived brighter future at Gold Coast.
CEO Brendon Gale announced in May he too would be leaving – to take up the same role at Tasmania Devils.
Extraordinarily, the John O'Rourke-led Tigers' board allowed Gale to stay. As I said as far back as May and regularly since, none of this is personally directed at Gale, who was as crucial as any person in the establishment of the Richmond dynasty – but in my view, when a CEO has already been appointed to a new venture, they have fully checked out of their current one.
Given Martin's hatred of media, Gale was left to publicly handle his retirement announcement on Tuesday, and as always, handled the moment with class. But when he talks of the future being bright at Richmond, it sounds hollow. He has, well within his rights, chosen not to be part of that future, and is already considering football and business deals that will shape the birth of the Devils and even impact adversely against the Tigers.
The forced transformation of Richmond may take in a huge involvement in this year's national draft. An enormous bounty of 2024 draft selections is up for grabs, should the club choose to engage meaningfully with suitors of big-name contracted players – mainly Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli, and maybe even Tom Lynch – and crunch a hard deal for the out-of-contract Liam Baker.
Already in possession of their own last-on-ladder position picks in the first and second rounds, the Tigers also have access to another lucrative second-round selection.
There would be huge national draft capital attached to agreeing to trade Bolton to one of the WA clubs, as there would be in letting Hardwick reunite with Rioli.
And Hardwick doesn't merely want Rioli to join him on the Gold Coast; he also is interested in Tigers' general manager of football performance, Tim Livingstone.
Bolton is contracted until 2028, and Rioli until 2027, so Richmond would have full control of these negotiations. Baker is out of contract, and like Bolton, has been open to heading to one of the WA teams.
Gold Coast and Fremantle between them have five 2024 first-round draft picks as trade currency. If the Tigers were to engage in trades for Bolton, Rioli and Baker, it is not inconceivable they could have access to seven picks inside the first 25.
The seven-season deal that Lynch signed when he left Gold Coast at the end of 2018 is to expire next year. It has been heavily back ended, meaning he will be owed up to $1.5 million on 2025 accounts. There would be more potentially lucrative draft currency for trading him out, depending on how desperately a Collingwood or Melbourne may want a banged-up, albeit brilliant full-forward on big money.
Then there are decisions to make on the out-of-contract Dion Prestia and Jack Graham.
Of course, Richmond's chief list strategists Blair Hartley and Chris Toce may not want to even consider allowing a mass exit of high-end talent, but with the Devils' introduction to the AFL in 2028, this would be an ideal season for a full-on rebuild before national drafts again become heavily compromised.
The most recent team to go from a premiership to wooden spoon in four seasons was West Coast (2006, 2010). With three matches of the 2024 season remaining, the Tigers are last, a game shy of North Melbourne.
That Richmond has officially known since May, and unofficially a whole lot longer than that, that Gale was leaving, it is staggering that it is yet to identify his replacement.
The Tigers' operations have badly stagnated at a time when business vibrancy is required. The club desperately needs a CEO who can outline the type of plan Gale famously did back in 2009.
https://www.afl.com.au/news/1190346/barrett-full-on-rebuild-looms-but-tame-richmond-tigers-have-lost-their-edge
