Mid-season report cardBen Waterworth, Jack Jovanovski, Ben Cotton, Will Faulkner, Catherine Healey and Max Laughton
Fox Sports
May 28th, 2025 RICHMOND (16th, 3-8, 69.2%)Three word analysisExceeded all expectations.
What’s gone rightMany thought the Tigers would struggle to win a game this season, let alone manage three in their first nine and exhibit genuine growth in Adem Yze’s second season. A lot of attention has understandably been focussed on the club’s eight highly-touted first-year youngsters, and while a few have already made an impression at the top level, it’s been players from the two-to-four-year bracket who’ve taken crucial steps in their AFL journeys; the likes of Tom Brown, Sam Banks and Seth Campbell. Banks is currently in the midst of the best patch of his young career; averaging 27.3 disposals over the past three weeks as Richmond’s preferred ball-user exiting the defensive half. His 19.7 disposal average is a whopping 7.7 jump on last year’s number. Brown, too, has flourished — and not only as a terrific kicker of the footy but as an intercepting presence; prompting coach Yze to liken the 21-year-old to premiership stalwart Nick Vlastuin. His 1.8 intercept marks per game are classed as elite among general defenders. Campbell, meanwhile, has been one of the league’s most opportunistic forwards, upping his goals-per-game average from 0.5 last year to 1.5 this year. Otherwise, structurally speaking, the defensive operation under Yze appears to be paying dividends. Over the past six weeks, Richmond has allowed its opponents an average of just 40.2 points from turnover; second in the competition over that time period. The return of Noah Balta, despite the on-again-off-again nature of his playing schedule, has undoubtedly propelled this improvement. And it’s come as former top-10 draft pick Josh Gibcus and 2023-24 first-team regular Tylar Young remain sidelined with injury. Also, the fact that the Tigers have unleashed seven debutants this year — the most in the competition — is also a positive, with five of them draftees from last November.
What’s gone wrongThe engine room is where the Tigers have struggled to really make ground. They lack game-changers between the arcs, and it’s shown in the metrics. In terms of differentials this year, Richmond ranks 18th for points from clearances, 17th for clearances and 16th for contested possessions. Tim Taranto accumulates and is the club’s hardest body at stoppages, but his disposal in open play still lets him down at times, while running mate Jacob Hopper isn’t doing enough damage with his disposals. No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor, ideally, would have been given more run at centre-bounces — attending only 24 per cent of them this year — before last Friday night re-aggravating the hamstring that cost him the back end of his draft year; set to spend four-to-six weeks on the sidelines.
Trade and contract prioritiesTom Brown was Richmond’s best uncontracted commodity before the club earlier this month secured his services through the 2027 season. It leaves Sam Banks — a flourishing 2021 draft pick like Brown — as the Tigers’ utmost retention priority, having been on a hot recent run. Thomson Dow is without a contract beyond this year, and while he’ll miss a substantial period due to a kneecap dislocation, he’s likely done enough to earn a new deal. Elsewhere, calls on veterans Dion Prestia, Kamdyn McIntosh and Tom Lynch will have to be made at some stage.
Mid-season gradeB+https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2025-midseason-report-card-every-clubs-trade-targets-grade-and-review-of-first-half-of-season-analysis-latest-news/news-story/64ec8056997fe1715c61a774d4ca875c
