‘Recognise what we’re seeing’: How Tigers are defying hot wooden spoon odds amid mega rebuild
Dylan Bolch
Fox Sports
June 5th, 2025 It’s time to give Adem Yze and his Tiger cubs their flowers.
Of the 35 Fox Footy experts polled pre-season, 28 predicted Richmond to claim the wooden spoon. Some in the broader footy world questioned whether the Tigers would even win a game this season.
Hasn’t that narrative now changed.
The Tigers have already won three matches in 2025 and have shown plenty of signs that give you the feeling that they’ll challenge a few more sides in the back half of the year.
Several experienced heads moved on from Richmond in 2024 — Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Marlion Pickett called it quits, while Liam Baker and Jack Graham headed west to join the Eagles, Shai Bolton was poached by Fremantle and Daniel Rioli reunited with Damien Hardwick on the Gold Coast — creating a gaping hole in their list.
The Tigers had a bit of a list cleanout, landing a stack of young talent via the draft.
They chose Sam Lalor with the coveted number one pick, while Josh Smillie and Taj Hotton were also selected with top-end picks. While we haven’t seen the latter duo, their young key position quartet in Jonty Faull, Luke Trainor, Tom Sims and Harry Armstrong have given glimpses of what they can become at AFL level. Jasper Alger is another who has impressed at VFL level and is waiting for his opportunity on the big stage.
But after such a big list turnaround, the initial consensus was it would take the Tigers some time to rise.
But they’ve exceeded expectations this year.
It started with a gigantic win over Carlton in Round 1, but they’ve also gone on to claim the scalps of Gold Coast and West Coast in the early parts of the season. In fact, they could’ve won five games if they had have been able to hold off the Giants last week and North Melbourne back in May.
“I think he’s done a terrific job and I think it’s time we recognise what he’s doing. When you take over a list at this stage, your gains are really marginal, really small, but we’re seeing it,” North Melbourne champion David King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack Preview.
“It’s a testament to what he’s been able to teach this group.”
Last year, the Tigers were the worst in the competition for possession to score, while they were ranked 17th for opposition possession to score. Since Round 7 this year, those rankings are 12th and 10th respectively.
“A lot of scope for growth. Look at the numbers since Round 7 this year and that’s a tremendous improvement. It still looks like poor numbers if you’re talking about a team you’re hoping to play finals or being in a finals race, but this team here isn’t there,” King continued.
“I think it’s time we recognise what he’s done. It’s done in different ways, there’s a lot of system involved in this, but I think when you look at time in forward half, it’s always a key indicator that the group is improving.”
Richmond’s time in forward half has improved out of sight in recent weeks. Between Rounds 1 and 6, the Tigers were ranked 17th in the competition. Since then, they’ve been ranked sixth. Additionally, the Tigers’ defence has gone from 16th to 12th over the same period.
“It’s a huge improvement… I just reckon we’ve got to recognise what we’re seeing with Richmond and then you can get to the individuals and the individuals are pretty obvious, but the coaching to this group has been terrific,” King said.
In last week’s clash against the Giants, Richmond denied the Giants the corridor, not allowing Adam Kingsley’s side to use short angled kicks. Their communication as a team was strong and they were up for the hunt.
“It’s clearly the mechanics of how they set this game up. They only had 14 disposals in the corridor for the first quarter and this was the quarter they got them into turnover,” King added.
“I take my hat off to (Nick) Vlastuin and (Nathan) Broad and these guys behind the footy, I reckon they’ve been terrific. They know there’s going to be some horror errors where they’re going to bleed and they’re going to hurt, but I think their back six are going really well.”
While Vlastuin and Broad have been mainstays in Richmond’s back half for a number of years, there’s a lesser known key back that has caught King’s eye.
Ben Miller has quietly put together a superb month, curtailing the influence of some of the game’s best forwards. He has restricted Jake Waterman and Nick Larkey to a goal apiece and held Peter Wright and Jesse Hogan goalless.
“I want to give a shout out to Ben Miller, when you play stuff in a team like this, you can be made to look really silly. I thought he was outstanding on the weekend against Hogan. Just dip your hat a little bit to these guys who are working hard and swimming against the tide,” King said.
“Everyone in the footy world is waiting to see, is Adem Yze the man? Has he got this group? It’s tough, we saw Matty Knights after Kevin Sheedy, we’re seeing Adem Yze after ‘Dimma’… it’s a tough gig. I just want to acknowledge what he’s doing and we just hope it continues that way.”
Richmond fans are yet to see burgeoning on-baller Josh Smillie at AFL level yet, while Lalor is currently on the sidelines with a hamstring problem. The Tigers are showing some extremely positive signs and their two brightest young talents aren’t even out there right now.
“When they come back we’re going to see some excitement, but let’s recognise what we’re seeing defensively,” King said.
St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna praised Yze’s ability to generate a game plan that the playing group has clearly bought into.
“They’re buying in defensively and you can see that. Offensively, it’s a really obvious plan. It’s build the ball up, be patient, set behind the ball and then get all the smalls inside 50, kick to a contest and then pressure the hell out of the opposition inside their defensive 50,” he said.
“It’s really working for them… there’s a clear plan which maybe you can’t say about some of the other teams that are sort of languishing towards the bottom of the ladder.
“It’s not perfect yet, but it’s something they can work towards.”
There’s a big burden on Richmond’s veterans this year and they’ve stood up to the challenge.
Midfielder Tim Taranto and Toby Nankervis are both ranked inside the top 50 players in the competition via the AFL Player Ratings system, while Dion Prestia was a “huge difference” in his first game this year against the Giants.
Jacob Hopper has had a strong campaign and key forward Tom Lynch’s leadership has been invaluable to teaching the youngsters.
But it’s the young talent that’s shining - and shining bright.
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