The positives and negatives for each AFL team who missed the eight in 2024Andrew Slevison
SEN
29 Aug 2024
POSITIVESRichmond was smashed by injury in Adem Yze’s first season at the helm, basically derailing the 2024 season just a handful of games in.
Early on the Tigers knocked off minor premiers Sydney which showed what they could have been capable of with a full list to choose from.
The injury curse then struck, but with crisis comes opportunity and Yze was forced to blood plenty of youngsters while using a total of 42 players across the season.
They unearthed a gem in Mykelti Lefau who showed plenty of promise before his season-ending ACL injury, Rhyan Mansell stepped up as a small/medium forward to finish with 21 goals and Hugo Ralphsmith took significant strides as a hard-running wingman.
Tom Brown looks settled at the level with neat ball use off half-back and the ability to play forward and impact on the scoreboard. Ben Miller was thrown into the fire but held his own as a key defender and Seth Campbell showed signs.
The Tigers got some invaluable games into developing players which is important for the future.
NEGATIVESThe Tigers were at times competitive, but there was enough rock-bottom footy to frustrate fans.
The 91-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in Round 9 and the 119-point smashing at the hands of Brisbane the week after were astonishingly bad.
Yze’s side scored the least points for in the competition (1505 at 65.4) and had the second most kicked against them (2364 at 102.7). Only North Melbourne and West Coast had less inside 50s. Those numbers are utterly substandard.
It is somewhat contradictory to our positive, but the fact there were no players in the 22Under22 squad is a bit of a worry.
And the overriding negative is the mass exodus that is about to take place.
On top of the emotional retirement of superstar Dustin Martin and the departures of former captain Dylan Grimes and 2019 Grand Final hero Marlion Pickett, a handful of senior players want out.
Liam Baker, Daniel Rioli and Shai Bolton want to leave Punt Road and Jack Graham could also be on the way out. That is a disaster for the fabric of the club.
But hopefully the Tigers can put a positive spin on all of this drama by loading up at this and next year’s drafts as the rebuild commences.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/08/29/the-positives-and-negatives-for-each-afl-team-who-missed-the-eight-in-2024/
