Formula for success: How McLaren is helping Tigers fast-track rebuildBy Josh Gabelich
afl.com.au
14 Feb 2025EVERY second counts.
That has been Adem Yze's mantra across his second summer at Richmond, following an off-season personal development trip to McLaren's Formula One base in England.
Premierships aren't won in November, December and January, but progress is made in pre-season, especially for young, inexperienced lists like Richmond. Every session in summer has always been important, but seldom as valuable as they are right now.
Under the current collective bargaining agreement, pre-seasons are mandated to start later – Richmond's senior players started a week earlier than Brisbane, despite finishing their season five weeks earlier – access is restricted, and the season has been moved forward a fortnight since the pandemic. Every second actually counts.
Yze had a similar mentality heading into his first season at Punt Road, but the 47-year-old has sharpened that focus – out of necessity – across the past few months after the most dramatic off-season overhaul in the club's history.
The Tigers have transitioned from the fourth-oldest list in 2024 to the second-youngest – and least experienced – in 2025, following the departures of Shai Bolton, Daniel Rioli, Liam Baker and Jack Graham, plus the retirements of Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Marlion Pickett. Those seven players represented Richmond a combined total of 1204 times and collected 17 premiership medals collectively.
With Tasmania looming on the horizon, the Tigers armed themselves ahead of the 2024 AFL Draft, selecting six players inside the first round – Sam Lalor (No.1), Josh Smillie (No.7), Taj Hotton (No.12), Jonty Faull (No.14), Luke Trainor (No.21) and Harry Armstrong (No.23) – before taking Tom Sims (pick No.28) with the coveted first pick on night two.
By the time the draftees reported for pre-season at the Swinburne Centre on November 25, Yze had started embedding the marginal gains message he learned from his time spent inside McLaren's headquarters – home of Australian Formula One driver Oscar Piastri – into the program at Punt Road.
"Most teams, especially young teams, you expect to come in and get better every day. You've got to improve. We've got a theme at our footy club around getting better every day and what does that look like," Yze told AFL.com.au this week.
"We tried to peel that back to every minute matters, so every minute they walk in – whether its education, whether its gym, swimming, or out there on the track – every minute matters.
"Our pre-seasons are a lot shorter and every coach is talking about that now. The pre-season is getting condensed, you have less time with your players, so how do we maximise that time?
"McLaren looks at every second counts. Going over there and showing him this is what I've been preaching to our players, how can I then link that to Formula One. [McLaren director of engineering] Charlie [Hooper] was terrific and spoke about the way they train their pit crew. They are trying to break two seconds every time a car comes in to pit. Pit stops can cost them a race. They looked at that as a collective, not only the best car and the fastest drivers, but where else can we get incremental improvements. Every minute matters was magnified."
Yze knows it's a long way back to the promised land from here. The next generation needs to develop at a rapid rate to fast-track the rebuild. They need to expose the 2024 draft class to as much football as possible in 2025. They need Josh Gibcus to get back on the park and stay there. They need the likes of Tom Brown, Sam Banks and Seth Campbell to continue to make progress. There is no quick fix.
"The dynamic has changed (at the club), but nothing has changed with my focus: my focus is to win our next premiership. Right now, we've got a younger list, and it might take a little bit longer, but my job is to fast-track that and develop these boys as quick as we can," Yze said.
"It's been an exciting summer. I've got my hands dirty. Last year I tried to sit back a bit and make sure I didn't over coach. I got some feedback from other coaches that in my first year that was something I had to really think about.
"With a younger playing list that we've got right now, I've gone the other way and for the first couple of months I've been really clear with this is the way we want to play, this is the way we want to defend and then step back. Once the season starts, I'll let our assistants review and preview each game. It's been exciting, I'm getting my hands dirty as a development coach."
Richmond won only two games in 2024 – its lowest haul since 1960, when the Tigers won twice and drew two other games – to finish on the bottom of the ladder for the first time since 2007. Yze was not only forced to deal with an impending player exodus hovering above the club all winter, but an injury crisis that included five anterior cruciate ligament tears, as well as Tom Lynch being limited to just four games for the second year in a row.
Lynch is set to face Carlton in the traditional round one blockbuster at the MCG, but the Tigers will start the season with five players still sidelined following knee reconstructions – Mykelti Lefau, Tylar Young, Judson Clarke, Gibcus and Hotton – as well as a crucial piece of the backline.
Gibcus and Young aren't expected to be fit by then, creating a headache down back to start the new year.
Former Hawk Jacob Koschitzke has been training in defence across the pre-season, while mid-season recruit Jacob Blight is in line for more opportunities alongside Ben Miller to start the year.
Yze and the Tigers will head west with a young squad this weekend ahead of Monday's 75-minute match simulation session against West Coast at Mineral Resources Park.
Richmond will unveil Lalor – the club's first pick No.1 since Brett Deledio in 2004 – in Perth, while Smillie is expected to play some minutes against Collingwood in the AAMI Community Series.
The clock is ticking down on Yze's second pre-season at Punt Road. Time will tell if the Tigers have made every second count this summer.
AFL.com.au's full interview with Richmond coach Adem Yze will soon be uploaded to the Your Coach podcast feed. Subscribe now to hear from your club's coach ahead of the 2025 AFL seasonhttps://www.afl.com.au/news/1267882/formula-for-success-richmond-tigers-use-mclaren-mantra-to-fast-track-rebuild
