Tigers keen to ease the Punt Road squeezeJennifer Phelan
afl.com.au
Oct 3, 2018SECURING a second training ground is part of Richmond's plans to expand the club's facilities to help house the Tigers' five football teams and growing administration.
The Tigers have already outgrown the revamped facility they moved into in 2012 and are lobbying for state and federal funding to expand again.
CEO Brendon Gale said on Tuesday there was also a need for an additional training venue, given their growing repertoire of teams.
"In 2020, we'll have four football teams – five if you include our wheelchair team – using Punt Road," Gale said at the club's best and fairest.
"It's going to be incredible pressure on it … I think we need to [think of a secondary venue].
"We need to develop Punt Road to make sure we can accommodate the needs of elite football, men's and women's.
"We may need to look at other complementary training venues to take the pressure off Punt Road."
The Tigers became the first AFL club this July to record 100,000 members, off the back of their 2017 premiership triumph.
Gale confirmed they were also looking to grow their Punt Road home.
"We've got a number of plans we're working through, we're talking to the government," he said.
"We need to grow – we simply can't accommodate that growth in our current set up.
"I'm confident we'll be able to develop a great training and administration facility for our players and staff and coaches but we'll still only have one ground."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-10-02/tigers-keen-to-ease-the-punt-road-squeeze