With Richmond facing some dark years ahead, will Adem Yze prioritise the club over his future?Liam Cole
Roar Rookie
19 hours ago
Clubs don’t award AFL senior coaching roles willy-nilly. Richmond coach Adem Yze completed a demanding apprenticeship of 12 years as an assistant coach, nine at Hawthorn and three at Melbourne.
For Yze, it hasn’t been the start he would have hoped for; at the end of Round 22, his Tigers are currently bottom place and are likely to finish with the wooden spoon.
But this early in his coaching career, Yze will have the biggest choice he will ever have to make: to trade the players who may not want to be there for the hard yards – Daniel Rioli, Shai Bolton, Jack Graham and Liam Baker – or to keep some and tread water on what already is an aging list.
The state of the Tigers list is not pretty. Letting go of some of their core group will only make matters worse and ultimately be career suicide for Yze.
In their loss to the struggling Kangaroos, they had 11 premiership players, featuring plenty of experience but most are in their twilight. Dusty said goodbye in his own way, Dylan Grimes is an injury-plagued 33-year-old, Kamdyn McIntosh is 30, skipper Toby Nankervis is carrying a hefty load and Tom Lynch has just played the four games this season.
Being at the top for so long has inevitably starved the Tigers of top-end talent. Trading three of their first-round picks for Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper in hindsight has clearly not worked.
In fact, they have not had a first-round pick at their disposal since 2021 when they selected Josh Gibcus.
Moreover, guys like Thomson Dow, Tyler Sonsie and Noah Cumberland, who they picked up later in the draft, haven’t developed the way the club would have hoped. The bracket of players between the ages of 23-27 is a huge gap for the football club and the players who are set to leave ironically would be in there.
This year, at this rate they will have pick one in the draft and the next pick would be 21 but is that enough to replenish the list? Clearly not.
The club song lyrics “we’re strong and we’re bold” will have to become a reality in their decision-making. Decisions on Shai Bolton, who is still contracted until the end of 2028, will have to be rethought if they can receive a couple of first-round picks for the 25-year-old.
Similarly, Daniel Rioli, tied to the club for another three seasons, could be moved on for a couple of early picks.
A Punt Road exodus is on the cards and if Baker, Rioli and Bolton all leave the club could have seven picks inside the top 30 this year.
As a cautionary tale, former Carlton coach Brendon Bolton had a huge list turnover of 45 players in his first three years in charge of the Blues (2016-19). Chris Judd, Andrew Carrazzo, Andrew Walker and Michael Jamison all went in the space of 15 months and the club didn’t play finals again until 2023.
Bolton admitted on 3AW earlier this year that the dramatic changes to the list was “professional suicide”.
Another club that attempted a rebuild like this was North Melbourne who are still struggling. North cut 14 players at the end of a disastrous 2020 season resulting in them having an average age of 23.7, the second youngest side the following year.
With Tassie coming in 2028, the Tigers will have to get as much top-end draft as possible but most importantly get them right.
Draft concessions will be coming in thick and fast as soon as 2027. In the 2011 national draft, the Giants were given the first five picks of the draft and included 11 picks in the top 15. The following year, they received the first three picks with five in total inside the top 15.
Players leaving off contract, like Liam Baker, are out of their control but what is in their control is fitness.
The Tigers in 2024 have been plagued by injury, at one stage they had only 26 available players to choose from. Integral players like Tom Lynch, Dion Prestia, Jacob Hopper, Jack Graham and Marlion Pickett all suffered soft-tissue injuries throughout the season.
Out of the 52 players on their list, they have used 47 of them for at least one appearance which is unheard of.
The club may need to seek out some new strength and conditioning staff with physical performance manager Luke Meehan under pressure. Next year their depth will be tested once again and getting players out on the park consistently will be vital.
High performance manager of the Adelaide Crows Darren Burgess would be on the top of the tree for the club to target, in attempting to reverse the curse. Burgess was one of the key men in helping the Demons break their 57-year premiership drought and is highly regarded around the globe.
Often, rebuilding coaches do not survive the climb back to relevance. That climb for Adam Yze looks to be a daunting one.
https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/08/14/with-richmond-facing-some-dark-years-ahead-will-adem-yze-prioritise-the-club-over-his-future/
