We're playing the long game by the look of it. Showing we care more about our players and their best interests even if they are leaving will be seen positively by any future free agents and recruits looking for a club to move to. They'll more likely choose Richmond over opposition clubs (eg: Tom Lynch) given the way we've gone about things on and off-field over the past 3 years which has built a reputation across the footy world of a strong happy club and culture that people want to belong to.
Compare us and our open honest approach to how other clubs have disgracefully treated their players during this trade period. We're not holding our players at our club against their will as pawns to ransom or sneakily out of the blue offering them up for trade behind their backs after publicly saying all year how much they were love and wanted.
Becoming No.1 in the AFL hasn't been a fluke. It has been a total positive cultural shift. If letting a couple of fringe players go for nix because that is in their best interests means we get another Lynch, Pickett, Stack, Soldo, etc ... all for free in the near future leading to another flag or two then I won't be complaining
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