‘Now is the time’: Why Tigers must ‘get aggressive’ as Tassie threat looms largeDylan Bolch
Fox Sports
August 6th, 2024 It’s time for the Tigers to get aggressive.
As the final siren sounded at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it all but sealed Richmond’s wooden spoon fate in 2024.
North Melbourne prevailed in Saturday’s ‘Spoonbowl’ and are now a game and percentage ahead of the Tigers going into the last few weeks of the season.
The Roos are likely to go in as favourites against West Coast in Hobart this week, while they will definitely give themselves a shot at ruining the finals hopes of the Western Bulldogs or Hawthorn.
The Tigers take on St Kilda, Hawthorn and the Gold Coast in their last three matches of 2024 and it would appear unlikely that they would do too much damage in that period, given they’ve won just two matches this campaign.
Even if they were to win a game or two, the message remains the same. Get aggressive.
The Tigers must simply get ahead of the curve before Tasmania’s impending arrival.
Having to rebuild when expansion sides are entering the competition can be incredibly painful, just ask the sides that were rebuilding when the Giants and Suns came in.
The Devils will be granted plenty of draft concessions which means stocking up on young talent now is a massive priority.
“They have to somehow stock up on those early picks… they’ve got no choice; they need to get into the draft and get some young talent. Get it in a cluster and get it before Tasmania come in and have the next wave work together,” St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“Now is the time, what’s the point in waiting,” North Melbourne champion David King replied.
“I think you have to get aggressive now.”
The good news for Richmond is that this draft is as even as it’s ever been and there is plenty of talent up for grabs.
QUESTIONS OVER CURRENT CROPIt’s youngsters who need to be the key drivers of a rebuild, but there are certainly question marks over Richmond’s current crop.
“They’ve got a lot of senior players and experience still there; they need to work through what their rebuild is going to look like,” St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
The Tigers have had the ninth oldest side on average across this season and the 11th most experienced. In contrast, North Melbourne have had the youngest and the least experienced and have showed far more positive signs.
But do the Tigers have the young talent on their list right now?
“We know all your talent generally comes in that first round of the draft,” Montagna said.
The Tigers have only two players on their list who are former top 20 picks and are 25 years and under.
One of those is defender Josh Gibcus, who was taken with pick 9 in 2021. Despite looking like he’ll be a player for the future, he’s been continually plagued by injury throughout his AFL career. He’s currently on the road to recovery with an ACL injury.
The other is Tom Brown, who was taken with pick 17 in the same draft as Gibcus. Brown has been one of the biggest highlights for Richmond this season, carving out a role in defence with his beautiful ball use. In recent weeks he’s been thrown forward and has shown he can do some damage there as well.
But that’s it. Successful teams always have a lack of gun youth in the wake of a premiership era, but the reality is, Richmond’s is bare.
Who else can the Tigers look to on their current list?
Ben Miller has come on in leaps and bounds this season as a key defender, while Rhyan Mansell cracks in each and every week. Seth Campbell has shown glimpses of his potential, while Steely Green is another who has shown promise.
Noah Balta is still only 25 and can be relied upon at either end of the ground. If Adem Yze could clone him he would.
In a year full of injury pain, plenty of Tigers have had opportunities, but how many others have stood up?
Thomson Dow is already 23 years of age, while Kane McAuliffe has been unable to lock down a spot in the midfield despite the injury carnage.
Mykelti Lefau looked the goods as a forward but unfortunately suffered an ACL injury mid-year.
Tyler Sonsie, Sam Banks, Noah Cumberland and Samson Ryan are other names to get opportunities, but the jury is still out on those guys.
THE ‘PUNT ROAD ABATTOIR’The Tigers need to do something about their midfield mix and it’s up to Yze to spin the magnets, according to King.
While Taranto, Hopper and Prestia put up strong numbers regularly, it’s time that the Tigers find out which of their next crop have what it takes at the level.
“The slaughterhouse that is the midfield at the Tigers, the Punt Road abattoir,” King began.
“I’m looking at the coach, you cannot play Taranto, Prestia and Hopper for the bulk of the day at centre bounces and have them run your midfield,” he said.
King highlighted how the Tigers trio butcher the ball, Prestia going at just 20% kicking efficiency on the weekend, Taranto at 36% and Hopper at 37%.
“It’s not a one-off, it’s a trend and a pattern of behaviour,” he stated.
“They’re honest and they’re triers, but they kill you.”
King implored Yze to be bold with his team selection and try some things in the last three weeks of the year.
“The coach’s role is to place his talent in areas that can maximise the group, he’s not doing that, he sat on his hands for 30-40 minutes at the end of that game without meaningful change.”
TRADE BAIT
Four names have been linked to potential moves in the upcoming Trade Period, but should the Tigers let them all go? It might not be the worst idea.
There’s been talk of Daniel Rioli reuniting with former coach Damien Hardwick up at the Gold Coast. As good as Rioli has been, if the club can get two first round picks in return for Rioli, should they pull the trigger? Surely. He’ll be 28 early next year and is unlikely to be around when the Tigers are contending for their next flag.
West Australian pair Shai Bolton and Liam Baker are also rumoured to potentially want a move back to their home state and would likely fetch a similar draft haul as Rioli in return, if not more. Both are 26 years old now and would definitely add something to another club. A trade for both could legitimately be a win-win for all parties involved.
Midfielder Jack Graham could also head west, with recent reports linking him to the Eagles. The South Australian product is a dual premiership player but is more often a role player in the midfield, rather than the out-and-out star.
Then there’s Dustin Martin, arguably Richmond’s greatest to ever pull on the jumper. He might stay at Punt Road; he might head north to join Dimma on the Gold Coast or he might call time on his career. No one really knows and perhaps he doesn’t either.
King believes the Tigers need to pull the trigger now – or risk getting left behind.
“Are they really going to make a premiership difference to this list if they exist for another six years or so? I think you have to get aggressive now,” he said.
If a few of these more established players were to depart, Richmond would be looking at a plentiful draft bounty, that could form the nucleus of their next premiership side.
According to Champion Data’s AFL Player Ratings, captain Toby Nankervis is the best player on the list, ranking 58th in the competition.
Midfielder Tim Taranto is the only other player in the top 88.
The next best is Bolton, Baker and Rioli, after that is veteran duo Dion Prestia and Nick Vlastuin who are in the twilight years of their careers.
Miller is the next highest ranked player, coming in at 141st.
If the Tigers were to trade out the likes Bolton, Baker and Rioli, they’d well and truly be gutting their list.
But short-term pain for long term pain might be the best way forward.
THE DRAFTWho do the Tigers target at the draft? The reality is every aspect of Richmond’s list could do with an injection of youthful talent.
As it stands, the Tigers currently hold picks 1, 21, 33 (tied to Fremantle), 39, 41 (tied to West Coast), 51 (tied to Fremantle), 57, 64 (tied to Collingwood) and 72 (tied to Port Adelaide). The most number of selections of any AFL club for this upcoming draft, worth a total of 5860 draft points.
That would be an even healthier hand if they were to cash in on some of the previously mentioned talent.
This year’s draft crop is extremely midfield heavy at the top, but there’s talent on every line this year.
There’s no clear number one pick like there has been in years gone by, so it’s unlikely that Richmond will land a ‘generational talent’ like Harley Reid or Nick Daicos.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
They’ve had a great look at midfielder Jagga Smith in recent weeks, as the Oakleigh Chargers midfielder has taken to the field for Richmond’s VFL side.
The ball magnet has fitted in seamlessly at the level, racking up a team-high 31 and 27 disposals in his two outings.
Victorian midfielders Finn O’Sullivan, Josh Smillie, Harvey Langford and Murphy Reid are other names at the top of draft boards as it stands.
In terms of tall timber, Sandringham Dragons duo Luke Trainor and Harry Armstrong are likely top 15 selections, Jobe Shanahan booted four goals for Essendon’s VFL side on the weekend, while Jonty Faull and the Whitlock brothers, Jack and Matt, are other promising prospects.
The Tigers should pick the best available talent when their picks roll around on draft night, but such is the evenness of the draft, it isn’t far-fetched to suggest they could get a steal or two later on.
DYNASTY OVERThe dynasty of the triple treat Tigers is well and truly over, but that is hardly breaking news.
After clinching the 2020 flag, the Tigers have now gone four seasons without a finals victory.
The similarities to Hawthorn’s list management after their three-peat in 2013-15 are eerily similar.
With the likes of Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge retiring, Hawthorn pillaged other clubs in search for their next wave of stars.
They recruited Tom Mitchell from Sydney and Jaeger O’Meara from the Gold Coast and gave up a bounty for former Port Adelaide excitement machine Chad Wingard.
The hope was that the sudden influx in established talent would offset the loss of their retiring champions, giving them another chance at some silverware a year after being knocked out in straight sets by the eventual 2016 premiers in the Western Bulldogs.
Richmond had a similar strategy when they recruited former Giants Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper to the club.
Both have struggled to stay fit during their time at Punt Road and the Tigers are now well and truly in rebuild mode.
You can’t knock a club for trying to maximise a list while they’re in the flag window, but it didn’t work for the Hawks and it seems as though it hasn’t for the Tigers either.
OFF-FIELD CHANGESSometimes off-field stability is just as crucial to success as what is happening on field. The flow on effects shouldn’t be underestimated.
Richmond have had bucket loads of change at the top since their dazzling premiership era.
First to go was club president Peggy O’Neal, who was instrumental in leading the club back to the promised land.
O’Neal, the first female president of a club in the AFL’s history, completed her maximum term in the role, finishing up at the end of 2022.
Not only did she oversee the success of the men’s program, but she was also a big advocate for the women’s game.
Senior coach Damien Hardwick called it mid-season last year, saying “it all became a little too much” and that he was conscious of not overstaying his welcome.
“The best thing for myself was to step aside, if I couldn’t give a 100% there was no way I was going to coach this football club,” he said when he announced he would no longer be coaching the Tigers.
Hardwick is the longest-serving coach of the club, having been at the helm for 307 games.
He made the move to the Gold Coast Suns in late August and will be the man responsible for trying to get the expansion club an elusive finals berth, though that will have to wait until 2025 it seems.
Chief executive officer Brendan Gale is set to be the latest name out the door, after he was poached by the Tasmania Devils to be the CEO for their inaugural campaign.
Gale is highly regarded in the AFL world and was reportedly among the candidates in line to replace former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan before Andrew Dillon got the job.
Gale, a proud Tasmanian, will begin his work with the Devils in 2025.
Both Gale and O’Neal were key figures in backing in Hardwick despite external criticism, before they won three premierships in four years, breaking a 37-year flag drought and reinstating Richmond as an AFL powerhouse.
John O’Rourke is in O’Neal’s seat now, Adem Yze was man entrusted to take the side forward as head coach while the hunt is still on for Gale’s replacement.
Regardless of who comes in, when you have three senior figures depart the club in such a short space of time, there’s bound to be some teething issues.
Tigers fans shouldn’t be too dismayed with their rebuild status given the euphoria of recent success, but it is clear they’re in for some down years.
While a mass exodus at Tigerland is on the cards, it might actually be the best way for the Tigers to fast-track their rebuild.
The message is simple for those at Punt Road.
Like the Tigers of old, be strong and be bold.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/richmond-tigers/now-is-the-time-why-tigers-must-get-aggressive-as-tassie-threat-looms-large/news-story/636a40c578ef6d2e2bd0f3e35fe17d57
