Coach Adem Yze [merged]

[one-eyed]

Young coaching minds driving Tiger growth

Adem Yze reveals how Richmond’s new coaching staff is fast-tracking player development.

By Henry Milic
Richmond Media
Feb 9, 2026

"We just expect to get better,” coach Adem Yze told SEN.

“There were KPI’s that we weren’t good enough at last year, and we just expect growth, whether that’s from our coaching staff or playing group.

“We went out of our way this year to bring in some younger coaches to really bolster our development space, so we brought in Luke Breust, Taylor Duryea and Jack Madgen.

“My job is to get our players better, so as a team, we want to improve systematically, but at the same time, individually, we want to improve.

“Last year we tried really hard. Our attitude and effort, I couldn’t question it, but at times it was our execution that wasn’t as good as the better teams.”

With the start of the 2026 season less than a month away, Yze was asked what the goal was for the Club as he embarks on his third season at the helm.

“For our younger group, you are teaching them about the process,” Yze said.

“Whether you have a really good win, we just have to be honest in the way we review every game.

“We aren’t going to put a ceiling on how many wins we will have, but we want to get better, and we expect our players to get better, and we expect to be really competitive.

“We want to be in games for longer. Against the good teams last year, we weren’t good enough. We were competitive against the teams who were around the same mark as us on the ladder, but we really want to test some of the better teams in the comp.”

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/1951657/young-coaching-minds-driving-tiger-growth

[one-eyed]

"100-something days off and train for 24."

Adem Yze doesn't think he gets enough time with his players during the pre-season.

#AFL | @SENBreakfast

https://x.com/i/status/2020652616288547175

“It isn’t long enough”: Tigers coach slams short pre-season, urges for greater access to players

“We’re not even allowed to send out information… our hands are tied until they walk in the building.”

Hayden Farquhar
Zero Hanger
February 9, 2026

Richmond Tigers senior coach Adem Yze has expressed his frustrations with the AFL's pre-season structure, believing AFL coaches are not able to access their players well enough ahead of a new season.

Currently, AFL clubs have players return to pre-season training around mid-to-late November, with first to fourth year players typically beginning their build into the new year a week or two before their more senior counterparts.

When quizzed by SEN Breakfast's Kane Cornes on the challenges of the shortened pre-seasons, Yze was quick to highlight the difficulties the significant time off presents, particularly for his young and inexperienced playing list.

"You're reading my mind. There's no doubt, to be brutally honest, that if you're a developing team, three or four weeks before Christmas isn't long enough," Yze said.

"We were quite fortunate that we got the majority of our players back mid-November. The majority of our list is that younger group, so we had 20-odd players training around that time.

"In saying that, the argument around first to fourth year players [starting earlier] and the five-seasons plus players starting on November 24 [doesn't make sense].

"Some of those five-plus-year players haven't really established themselves yet in the AFL. I don't know if it should be amount of time or should be amount of games that you have played that determines if you get a longer break.

"We're forever trying to access our players - if it was mid-November, then everyone could start based on when the players wanted to. I think it would be a lot easier."

Yze's biggest frustration was his inability to contact his players during their period of leave of "100-something days" with educational information regarding team systems and play style.

Entering his third year at the helm of the Tigers, Yze accepted that the CBA aims to minimise the over-training of players, but stressed that his side would come into the pre-season block at peak fitness regardless, and that is not his primary concern with the limited pre-season schedule.

"Originally, when it came in, it was based around the CBA, which is okay, we've got to look after our players and make sure they're not training too hard," Yze said.

"But we can't have access to them even with education; we can't even send things out to them.

"During their off-season, they train really hard, so they come back fit. They can run, lift weights, but when you've got a young list, you want to be able to educate and fast-track the development of their brains. If we can't do that, and we're not allowed to send out information, our hands are tied until they walk in the building.

"We're a developing club. To educate your players, you need time, so to have just three and a half weeks before Christmas and then another three weeks off over Christmas. I spoke to our players before they went away, and from the first day of their leave to January 8, they were going to have 100-something days off and train for 24."

Yze's solution to the issue is a simple one, but he admitted it would need to be signed off on by multiple parties.

"It's a coaches association and a players association issue," Yze said.

"Whether there's a slight adjustment about when we can send information out and start fast tracking their education around game style, even if that was a variation we could bring in for the younger teams, that would be handy."

https://www.zerohanger.com/it-isnt-long-enough-tigers-coach-slams-short-pre-season-urges-for-greater-access-to-players-172739/

[one-eyed]

'No ceiling': Yze on 2026 expectations

By Anna Pavlou
Richmond Media
Feb 12, 2026

Richmond coach Adem Yze is refusing to "put a ceiling" on what the Tigers can achieve in 2026.

Excitement is building at the Swinburne Centre as Round 1 gets closer, and after promising signs shown throughout the pre-season, Yze isn't buying into any expectations placed upon the Club leading into the campaign.

"We want to get back to Finals as quick as we can," Yze said.

"We don't want to put a ceiling on that. We don't want to put a timeline on that. Now there's an opportunity with the Wildcard Round...that carrot is a little bit closer.

"We've got some older players that are really leading the way with our younger group, so the quicker we can get back and challenge and start playing in September is my job, and we won't put a ceiling on it."

A blend of youth and experience will lead Richmond into the season, with the list including 12 players from the past two drafts and several of the Tigers' premiership stars from the 2017-2020 era.

Yze is looking forward to the growth of Richmond's youngsters, understanding the important role he will play in their development.

"You're constantly regenerating your list. We understand we went from a fairly old list to one of the youngest lists in the competition," Yze said.

"My job is to fast track the development of those younger players."

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/1952929/no-ceiling-yze-on-2026-expectations

[one-eyed]

The 18 minutes in Croatia that changed the game for Richmond

Michael Gleeson
The Age
February 13, 2026

Richmond coach Adem Yze stood on the edge of Croatian soccer club Dinamo Zagreb’s pitch and looked at his watch. Twelve minutes. That’ll probably be enough, he thought to himself.

It wasn’t.

Three minutes later, he checked his watch again. They must be done now? No.

Two minutes more, and Yze was agitated. He looked around, wondering who had stuffed up and left these blokes stuck on the same drill? Who was running this? Had they wandered off?

A minute later a whistle blew and the drill finally ended. The players ran to the next drill before main training started.

Later, after the training session, Yze spoke with the coaches. What had happened with that first drill? It was 18 minutes long, was that a mistake?

“I thought someone had stuffed up because it went nearly 20 minutes. And I was watching a senior team after an international break, so they have just got back from playing for their country but even within that, the touch of the ball is everything,” Yze said.

“And there is no way known every time they touch it is perfect. It might go 30 centimetres from their foot instead of 10, but they are looking for this pure perfection. We are never going to get it, especially in our game with an oval ball.”

But it is the pursuit of that perfection, the understanding that the game is predicated on skill that must be honed and not at the cost of tactics and structured movement, that was the key message.

Consequently, after Yze’s trip to two clubs in Croatia, things have changed at Richmond this summer. The focus on skill drills has changed, and they are longer. Previously, the Tigers spent a lot of time looking at drone footage from overhead at training, analysing ball movement. Now they spend longer analysing ground-level video of skill execution under pressure.

“Drone footage doesn’t show the technique of footwork, skill execution, handball, ball drop under pressure, marking technique; when you are using your body instead of your hands. You only learn them with repetition, no matter who you are,” he said.

“I could picture the whiteboard after each game last year and attitude and effort had massive ticks because the boys tried hard, but execution was a question mark, especially against the really strong teams who put you under more pressure, and their execution was better than ours.

“Our list profile has changed so our mindset has to change as coaches. There’s one thing of having the detail of the way we play but within that detail of offence and defence there is skill execution and handball technique and marking technique and just becoming automatic with the ball, and that takes time.”

It altered Yze’s attitude to how they train and redoubled the focus on skills and emphasis on development.

Now with more money in the soft cap, they have added more development coaches – all fresh out of the game – in Luke Breust and Taylor Duryea. Jack Madgen is the VFL coach. Richmond have returned to pre-COVID staffing levels.

Defying expectations

The deliberate draft-mining and list overhaul two drafts ago left Richmond expected to go winless in 2025. Consequently, externally at least, it was a free hit given the low expectations.

They won five games, far exceeding those expectations even though they finished the year with a percentage of 60. It was figure that spoke to the inconsistency of a young team.

Those five wins theoretically set the bar higher for them for this year, but as he was last year about others’ expectations, Yze is sanguine about any change in pressure.

“If you asked ‘Fages’ [Lions premiership coach Chris Fagan] … he would expect to get better. Top of the ladder or bottom, you want to get better year-on-year as a team and individually,” he said.

“Scott Pendlebury is in the game and going to play until he is 40 years old because he is working on his craft every day and trying to get better. He is not there because he is just highly talented, there is a reason why he is still in the game.

“I need to fast track how quickly we bounce back and how quickly we can get back up and compete against the best players and provide that environment.

“We can’t shy away from average performances, that is why our percentage was not good enough – because we weren’t good enough for long enough against the good teams. We need to be in those games for longer.”

Smillie’s evolution

Mention Josh Smillie and Yze smiles.

For a period last year the player and the club began to wonder if it was all in Smillie’s head. He had a hamstring problem and then a quad issue that denied him the chance of an AFL debut. The quad problems then lingered into the pre-season.

It was a tease. He could run at full pace and do all sessions but would then pull back complaining of quad pain when he kicked. No one could explain why, so began to figure it as phantom pain.

Eventually, they found there was something there and surgery could fix it.

“I am so excited we found the solution because there was something underlying it. It was almost to the point where even our staff were thinking it was a mental battle but then to find, no, there is an underlying issue with the tendon – that gave him some clarity.

”So it was like, ‘This isn’t a bad thing’. An operation sounds like a worst-case scenario and we have got nothing else we can do so we try surgery. It’s not. It was the way your body was healing – that part wasn’t healing. So the awareness [of pain] you have been having you have had. It’s not in your head.

“You could see his whole demeanour shift. It was like, ‘I knew there was something wrong and now we can fix it’.”

That is not the only reason for the smile. Smillie arrived at the club pick seven in the draft and built like Patrick Cripps. Now he’s not – he’s bigger.

“He grew three centimetres last year, now he is like 197 centimetres. Paddy Cripps’ size (in fact he’s taller than Cripps by two centimetres from the Carlton captain’s listed height). We are thinking should he be playing centre half-forward?

“It’s pretty cool. To have him coming in, he is almost into full training now. He is such an important person for our next 10 years.”

Smillie speaks to the Tigers’ still changing complexion. He will come into the midfield this year. Sam Lalor will play more games than the 11 he managed in 2025. And the Tigers picked up more midfielders in Sam Cumming and Sam Grlj with two draft picks in the top 10 last year.

Then there is Taj Hotton. He arrived at the club with a knee injury, but managed to play the last seven games last year as a half-forward. This summer he has been training with the midfield and is agitating to get up on the ball. He will get a chance.

“He’ll be similar to Shai Bolton with some centre bounce access, you see ‘Kozzy’ Pickett doing it, Cyril [Rioli] and Luke Breust used to do it at the Hawks,” Yze said.

“Getting him some access to centre bounces where you don’t have someone scragging you and stopping you kicking goals every minute, gives us a different look through the midfield.

“Now he is physically capable so hopefully we get some access to that at AFL level.”

He fits at the moment in a forward line that orbits around Tom Lynch, who played last year like he was searching for his place and wondering how to fit with these new teammates. He also played like a cranky old man at times, getting reported for whacking Jordon Butts and being banned for five weeks.

“He knew he stuffed up. The leadership he has shown our young forwards since then has been fantastic. If you look at our lines, our forward line is our youngest line and he is the godfather overseeing it all. He is carrying a lot of weight with that,” Yze said.

“He knows he let his teammates down, but he didn’t let them down after that, he became a coach for that crew.”

Tigers ‘went hard enough’ on Balta

If Lynch let the Tigers down, it was nothing on what Noah Balta did. Balta pleaded guilty last year to assaulting a man outside a pub, for which he was fined, given a curfew and an alcohol ban by the court. The club suspended him for four matches, and two pre-season games. In the context of suspensions for what occurs on the field, and given the severity with which the court considered his action, Richmond’s ban was light.

Still, the court imposed curfew meant he missed more games than he was suspended for and his season ended up gurgling away to just 13 underwhelming games.

“When he made that mistake it threw his whole season out of whack. And fair enough, you cop your right whack and he knows that,” Yze said.

“We think we went hard enough on him and that was not just my decision but a club decision. We went as hard as what we think we needed to.

“Based on the curfew and things it threw everything out of whack. He couldn’t get into any rhythm.

“We almost punished him by throwing him around after that. Because you are in and out your form might fluctuate because you are back one week and forward the next but you kind of have to do it because our forward line needs some support, so bad luck.

“Whereas this year he has earned the right to cement a position. He is doing everything we have asked. I don’t want to punish him any more than what he got punished for last year. He dealt with enough, I want to look forward and expect him to get better.”

Stand: a change is coming

The hard thing with coaching a young group is that you can redouble your focus on skills, you can drill them in how you want them to play and you can instruct where you want them to be at any one time on the field to play the game. But the AFL can also change the rules by which they play.

For a young team, rule changes are an extra load. Yze has already spoken of his frustration at the level of access to players in the off-season and the rule changes are an additional reason for wanting more time over summer to educate players.

This year there are a bunch of rule changes. The most contentious, Yze said, would not be the last touch out of bounds, but the stricter stand rule.

Now if you are within five metres of a free kick or mark, you have to stand the mark (unless there is a teammate also there, in which case only one of you has to stay put).

“The main one for the first few prac games is manning the mark, whether you should man it or not,” he said.

“If you are in a contest and land, then someone in that vicinity has to stand still. Your natural reaction is to run away and let someone else come in.

“Some teams would come into the mark then back out, but you are not allowed to do that now.That became a habit ... now if you don’t want to man the mark you have to stop yourself and let them mark it and stay outside five.”

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-18-minutes-in-croatia-that-changed-the-game-for-richmond-20260211-p5o1do.html

[one-eyed]

This is not a Richmond specific thing and I don’t want to single out Yze. But “no ceiling” is just an awful cliche that doesn’t say anything. Tell us what your internal pass mark is, or what your floor is, because not putting a ceiling on what can be achieved is self-evident.

https://x.com/DanielCherny/status/2022983485896724889

[Damo]

This is not a Richmond specific thing and I don’t want to single out Yze. But “no ceiling” is just an awful cliche that doesn’t say anything. Tell us what your internal pass mark is, or what your floor is, because not putting a ceiling on what can be achieved is self-evident.

https://x.com/DanielCherny/status/2022983485896724889

No ceiling is fine you simpleton
Means they aren’t limiting how high they can go

Imagine if Yze said “we will be happy to finish top 14”

[Hard Roar Tiger]

I like it. It would be easy to do a Brad Scott and just say we “are in a rebuilding phase” which immediately dampens expectations which in turn gives the coach an opportunity to negotiate another season of no pressure on them.
But Yze is opening himself up for some criticism if we happen to blow a gasket and have another 2 win season. Which is what a coach should be doing. Putting himself out there is admirable and shows great leadership.

First 8 rounds are going to be interesting - we play 5 of the top 6 (excluding ourselves) in the market for the wooden spoon so our limits will be transparent from that point.

[one-eyed]

Adem Yze on Richmond’s rapid draft build

Jon Ralph
HeraldSun
16 Feb 2026

When Adem Yze’s football staffers crunched the numbers last year as part of the exit interviews for his eight first-year kids, one number leapt off the page.

Twenty per cent.

Not one of those players had completed more than 20 per cent of the club’s pre-season as a group including seven top 28 selections eased into AFL life.

Taj Hotton was coming off a 2024 ACL tear, Sam Lalor had battled under-18 hamstring concerns and the rest were protected from the rigours of summer as Richmond separately rehabbed four players off ACL surgery.

As Richmond’s pre-season finally hits overdrive, welcome to Yze’s version of the Punt Road logjam.

With 24 days until Richmond’s season opener, that battle for spots just hit peak hour.

Josh Smillie is rehabbing his problematic quad and Tom Sims has a navicular stress reaction but consider the state of this burgeoning young Tigers list.

Every one of the club’s four draft picks from last November is a round 1 contender as top 10 kids Sam Grlj and Sam Cumming are joined by small forward Zane Peucker (pick 31) and speedy mid Noah Roberts-Thomson (pick 54) trying to push for that Carlton game.

Hotton and Harry Armstrong just dominated Friday’s intraclub clash with Lalor’s pre-season faultless so far.

Key back Noah Balta has not missed a single session of pre-season after last year’s disastrous self-inflicted dramas.

And if Richmond’s band of elite Ferraris will take time to mature, the nucleus of the list build is now complete.

Last year brought the midfield jets – Smillie, Hotton, Lalor – and key position types – Jonty Faull, Armstrong, Sims, Luke Trainor.

This year’s draft quenched Richmond’s need for speed in turbocharged Grlj, small forward Peucker, Roberts-Thomson and accomplished pick 7 Cumming.

“The guys we got in this year have been able to do everything to the point that we have had to slow them down,” Yze tells the Herald Sun only hours after that intraclub hitout.

“Last year it was a lot of management. It was a credit to what Sammy and Jonty and Taj got out of the pre-season but they did 20 per cent. Luke Trainor ends up doing well to play 21 games but it was off a low base. And so now those blokes are doing everything and then you add the other four (draftees).

“They are in a pretty good spot, those boys. We saw Grlj play some VFL games for us last year and he probably could have played (AFL) seniors. He just showed he was highly talented and his run off half-back suited the way we want to play. So his season was outstanding. Sam Cumming is built to play AFL footy. Sam Lalor is a highly talented kid but Sam Cumming is not too far behind him.

“He is a natural footballer, he can take a mark forward. He isn’t scared to take the tackle but Noah Roberts-Thomson and Zane Peucker are just good at footy.

“So we will manage our two practice games (against Essendon and Melbourne). The last one will be a full dress rehearsal and the older players might play a half against Essendon so we will give exposure to the younger players. We want to give them a taste and then their form will warrant whether they get a game.”

For all of its shock victories last year – upsets of Carlton and Gold Coast, a pair of wins over West Coast and besting a depleted Essendon – Yze is realistic that Richmond was non-competitive in too many contests.

In all they lost eight games by 60 plus points and a dozen by eight goals.

“There were a lot of positives,” Yze says.

“We were in some games and lost a few by under 12 points but against the bigger, stronger teams we weren’t good enough and we got blown off the park and we know it. We beat Gold Coast and were in the fight against GWS to the end but they were outliers. Geelong flogged us, Adelaide flogged us and the Bulldogs wiped us off the park. So it’s just being really honest with the way we review our season and understanding that five wins is never going to be enough for us.”

Two case studies exhibit why the improvement won’t only come from the kids getting games.

Maurice Rioli’s 2025 season included a stint in the VFL and that stunning chase-down tackle on West Coast’s Brady Hough but he still kicked only five goals in 13 AFL games.

He passed up an off-season in the Tiwi Islands to get AFL-fit for the first time in his career.

“When you walk in to start training on November 24 until December 17, it isn’t a long time. If you think that window will set you up you are kidding yourself,” Yze says.

“He trains so hard but whether it’s going home, the environment and facilities are really important. He made a decision to stay around this off-season and then worked out a time to go to Tiwi later. We gave him a window to go home and he’s come back fitter so he can start pre-season in a better position. I have seen the benefit of having (new development coaches) Luke Breust and Taylor Duryea because Maurice is getting reward for effort. He was high pressure, high speed but his execution would let him down.

“Now he’s getting rewards with ball in hand.”

Yze gave Josh Gibcus a late-season taste of AFL after a long ACL rehab and believes in time he can form a long-term key back partnership with Ben Miller and Noah Balta.

Balta’s four-game Richmond ban for a Mulwala ski club assault turned into a disastrous year when a judge slapped a curfew on him that saw him only able to play in sporadic back-end games.

He was titanic in the Gold Coast victory but otherwise mediocre being thrown to all parts of the ground.

“It’s funny, knowing how stop-start his season would be, we just used his magnet as needed,” Yze said.

“It was his own doing but he played back for four weeks, then forward, then second ruck, and then defence. His best footy is exactly what he produced in that (Gold Coast) game. He’s a hard player to play on and he’s a quality defender. His whole pre-season has been as a defender and hopefully we don’t need to use him elsewhere. Gibcus, Miller and Balta is a quality back three that if they can play together for a long time can be a very strong defensive trio for us.”

So how does Yze fit everyone into his back seven rotation given the long-limbed defender Campbell Gray impressed in three games and intercepting talls Tom Brown and Trainor will want to play alongside stalwarts Nathan Broad and Nick Vlastuin?

Then Grlj will hope to play round 1 alongside the likes of Sam Banks and Jayden Short.

“That’s where your club has to be,” Yze says.

“The VFL team needs to be strong. You ask the same of Chris Fagan. How does he not get a game? You want that pressure for positions. Samson Ryan got better last year playing long VFL minutes in the ruck. Maurice went back and played VFL footy and it held him in good stead. So VFL footy shouldn’t be a negative. You don’t want to do it but with 45 guys you have to. We can’t fit them all in, which is a good thing.”

Richmond is resolute that it made the right call on Balta’s four-week ban last year despite the public outcry.

Now Yze gets to see if the penny has dropped for Balta, contracted to 2032.

The summer signs all point in one direction.

“He has done 100 per cent of training this season and it’s all I can ask. He hasn’t missed a minute. In the end it is all about his actions. If you let a teammate down you grit your teeth and work hard. One mistake and you fix it with 100 positives in training and he’s done that.

“His leadership and voice down back is outstanding. His contest work and aerial craft with the young forwards and defenders is outstanding. It’s all I can ask. Be the best teammate you can be. Head down, bum up and earn our respect and he’s done that.”

Yze has always wanted to play an attacking style as a coach and believes it is this club’s DNA.

So he believes this side will relish a harsher interpretation of the stand rule, and is also largely unfussed about 31-year-old Toby Nankervis having to turn back into a jumper with new rules preventing grappling.

“It’s a funny one. Your natural instinct is to feel that because he’s older but being a left-hander is different. Nank doesn’t mind jumping, he likes hitting the bag. He likes to jump.

“A lot of the times before the rule came in other teams were (stepping across the line) so he couldn’t jump because he’s a left-hander. At the same time an extra guy on the bench can hopefully help prolong Nank’s career. I am not too stressed about the ruck rule impacting Nank much, it might be an advantage.”

Dion Prestia will front court on Friday over Sorrento assault allegations that also involve good mate Steven May.

Yze will not comment on those charges given they are before the court but does not believe that ongoing drama has distracted the club.

“Once you get all the information, he’s been really clear and honest about it. I feel for him over the timing because once it goes into that process it takes so long. The lingering element is realistically having to make sure the stress doesn’t translate into injury and maybe it did (with a recent low-level hamstring strain).

“It’s only a small hamstring but having those things in your head adds up to your training load. You ask him and make sure everything is OK but maybe we could have given him a chop-out. The honesty he has shown through the process means we trust him.”

Tom Lynch kicked 26.22 in 16 games last year (with just 41 per cent kicking accuracy) and had strong moments on field last year as well as the brain fade that saw him suspended for five weeks after striking Adelaide’s Jordan Butts.

“He’s such an amazing leader and he’s a quiet guy who walks around as the Godfather of that forward line but then he has white line fever and it’s why he’s a good player. I didn’t have to speak to him but I did. I spoke to our players and said we can’t condone it. The action was wrong but when we spoke to them I didn’t need to say it again,” Yze says.

“He apologised for the action and reaction. He lost his way for a bit. We do a lot of work around mental mastery and staying engaged. Individually and collectively. How do I stay engaged in a game and what is important right now. He’s had a good pre-season. We have managed him. He wants to do more but he did a bit (in the intraclub), will do a bit more against Essendon and then a full game and then he will get going for round 1. I can’t wait for the big fella to clunk a few against the Blues.”

Eventually those senior statesmen will be phased out but no one is in a hurry to force them out.

Richmond will know when it is ready when Faull and Armstrong are playing ahead of Lynch and Sims is pushing out Nankervis.

Right now those senior players are critical to this club’s growth as Yze tries to level out the highs and lows with that date against Carlton looming all the while.

New Tiger Sam Grlj tears up after being taken with pick eight.

TIGERS HUNT DRAFT FAIRNESS​

Adem Yze has urged the league to restore the fairness factor to the national draft after the club’s pair of top-three selections were shunted down the order by the AFL’s compromised draft rules last November.

Richmond is thrilled with the progress of its early draft picks in Sam Cumming (pick 7) and Sam Grlj (pick but in a non-compromised draft the Tigers would have had picks two and three after securing the North Melbourne-linked first round draft pick in a 2024 trade.

Instead the Tigers had to watch on as Carlton took Harry Dean as a father-son, West Coast was handed an early free agency compensation selection (Cooper Duff-Tytler) and clubs matched bids on three academy selections (Zeke Uwland, Dylan Patterson, Daniel Annable).

The Tigers had to wait to pick Sam Cumming and Sam Grlj at the draft. Photo: Morgan Hancock
The Herald Sun revealed last year the AFL was making changes to its free agency compensation to ensure clubs would not be so richly rewarded for a departing star.

The AFL Commission will next month consider a proposal to safeguard the top eight national draft picks from free agency compensation this year.

Yze told this masthead the league had to find a way to allow rebuilding teams to bounce quicker without being hit with teams already in finals calculations securing the cream of the draft crop.

“No doubt. I don’t know what the solution is but (list boss) Blair Hartley has got some notes for the AFL,” he said.

“It does make it tough when you finish down the bottom and teams who are playing finals are getting three or four first-round picks. They are getting stronger but they are already a strong team. It outweighs what the draft is supposed to be.

“You don’t want it to be luck. Three years ago when Gold Coast had those three or four top picks that was the draft we needed. The AFL have trialled things like protecting the top 20 picks from the NGA and that was probably the draft at its purest so that is a solution people higher than me need to come up with but it just needs to be fair.”

Yze said that while the Tigers were one of the teams asking the question of West Coast star Harley Reid last year it became apparent the draft haul would have been too big to justify.

Eventually Reid re-signed at the Eagles, with Richmond thrilled all four of its 2025 national draft selections are in th eframe for early games.

“I think Blair would have asked the question. You always want to be in those discussions,” Yze said.

“We had to be really mindful of the talent we could bring in and how much it was going to cost future-wise with picks. No doubt there would have been early days discussion but the minute it might have impacted on how many picks it would cost it, it was just like that’s not the plan. But you are forever looking at guys like that.

“He’s a superstar and at some stage who knows he might want to come back and play for us when we are in that window. You always want to get better but it needs to align with your plan.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/adem-yze-on-richmonds-rapid-draft-build-sam-lalors-midfield-ascension-and-noah-baltas-redemption/news-story/fc2e5e4502339b3ab348b68642258399