'In the top one or two at our club': Yze backs Tiger amid criticismAdem Yze has little interest in the criticism directed at Tigers midfielder Tim Taranto
By AAP
26 March 2025RICHMOND coach Adem Yze has gone into bat for Tim Taranto, declaring he couldn't care less how others rank the under-fire midfielder.
Taranto, 27, has faced criticism after he was limited to 17 disposals, including just one effective kick, in Richmond's thumping loss to Port Adelaide.
"Our players are gonna get criticism left, right and centre – so it's just how much you want to take in," Yze said on Wednesday.
"What we do know is Tim's an amazing player, a strong leader around our footy club and when he plays well, we're in most games.
"You saw that in round one, he got coaches' votes, he was a really important player to us and one of the main reasons why we win that game against Carlton.
"I think if you ask Carlton, they'd be saying that he's a pretty important player.
"So all the outside noise, we just try and block it out and help him with that. But that's always going to be there. But we know how much we love him and how good of a player he is."
Yze wouldn't buy into where Taranto sat in the AFL after former Port Adelaide midfielder Kane Cornes said he wasn't in its top 150 players.
"Well he's in the top one or two at our club. That's all I care about," Yze said.
"Rankings and things like that – we don't really care.
"He's a great teammate. He's tough, and he's a vice-captain for a reason, so he knows that we'll just wrap our arms around him and make sure we help him with blocking out that noise."
When asked if the scrutiny was unfair, Yze said: "Well I think most players are dealing with that scrutiny. Some of it is unfair.
"(West Coast young gun) Harley Reid's going through it at the moment. He's an amazing player, and there's just a lot of scrutiny, left, right and centre.
"That's just the landscape we live in."
https://www.afl.com.au/news/1286869/we-dont-really-care-richmond-tigers-coach-adem-yze-unbothered-by-tim-taranto-criticism
