Tigers plan to stay upBy Richmond Media
23 March 2023New Richmond president John O’Rourke has outlined the Club’s ambition to beat the system and remain in premiership contention on a consistent basis.
O’Rourke, who took over the presidency from Peggy O’Neal this year, is adamant the Tigers will not be heading down the rebuild path any time soon.
“It’s a very tough competition that we’re in. It’s made to be very even . . . the rules are set up that way. It’s very hard to stay up.” O’Rourke said on this week’s episode of the Club’s Talking Tigers podcast.
“Your list management is critical. You’re not going to get the cream of those draft picks.
“I think where we’ve had significant competitive advantage through this successful era, has been our ability to develop talent and be patient with the talent . . .
“We’ve got so many incredible stories of players that came through the system the hard way. It’s just fantastic to see them then come through after two and three years of development.
“The challenge now is the AFL’s restricted your ability to invest in that development program through the soft cap. And we understand the rationale for the soft cap, but you’ve got to be very careful with your resources.
“I think the biggest challenge is we’ve got a defined amount of money we can invest in football, so how do we create the conditions where it can be used most wisely to keep that talent coming through the system, along with the recruiting of key players that fill a need. That’s what we’ve done this year.
“Our view is we’re not in the rebuild business. We want to be able to consistently contend.
“We do so much right here that we think we can put ourselves in a position, in a very tough competition, to be competitive, year in, year out . . .
“We’re conscious that we can’t just rest on our laurels. We’ve got to keep thinking of ways to grow and thrive, on and off the field . . .
“We’ve got some big plans over the next couple of years.”
https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/1288554/tigers-plan-to-stay-up
