Sub-standard Tigers feel the pain, but one loss shouldn’t overshadow their progressMarc McGowan
The Age
June 10, 2025 The nature of the week-to-week AFL competition and proliferation of talking heads means reactionary takes are commonplace.
Richmond are an obvious target after going about two hours without a goal – while conceding 10 – in Saturday’s 44-point loss to a previously out-of-form Sydney at the MCG, after slotting three of the game’s first four.
A “really, really” disappointed Adem Yze, in his second year as Tigers coach, said that period was not “up to AFL standard” and his team’s second-quarter performance was likely its worst for the season.
But let’s go against the grain, and place more stock in Richmond’s larger sample size this year, which suggests they are in a much better spot than most expected.
Experts almost universally predicted doom and gloom for them, and potentially even a winless campaign in 2025, fresh from a wooden-spoon finish and losing the likes of Dustin Martin, Dan Rioli, Shai Bolton, Dylan Grimes and Jack Graham.
Instead, these youth-laden Tigers – who sent out six players with 20 or fewer games’ experience against the Swans – have beaten Carlton, finals-bound Gold Coast and bottom side West Coast, while two of their losses were by four and three points.
Richmond have done so despite naming seven debutants (behind only Essendon’s eight), including unveiling a bunch of tall prospects: Harry Armstrong, Luke Trainor, Jonty Faull, Liam Fawcett, Campbell Gray and Tom Sims.
It is a contrasting route to North Melbourne’s lengthy and ongoing reset, which focused on building from the midfield out. The Tigers’ other debutant was midfielder-forward Sam Lalor, who has demonstrated the toughness, skill, composure and X-factor that saw him be the dux of last year’s draft.
And don’t forget 196-centimetre interceptor Josh Gibcus, who has endured a horror injury run since an eye-catching debut season in 2022 – after being the No.9 pick – and is yet to appear this season.
As a result of the departures, Richmond made seven top-30 selections in 2024, but also snared a probable top-four choice from the Kangaroos in this year’s edition, for the No.27 pick last year and their 2025 second-rounder.
Something the Tigers need are more blue-chip midfielders to complement and eventually take over from Tim Taranto, 27, and Jacob Hopper, 28.
They are set to pick two of the best few teenage talents in November, even with top-liners Zeke Uwland (Gold Coast) and Daniel Annable (Brisbane Lions) tied to northern academies.
Richmond recruiters will be ogling potential top-five selections Dyson Sharp, Willem Duursma – brother of Xavier, Zane and Yasmin – Sam Grlj and Oliver Greeves, while ruck-forward Cooper Duff-Tytler, a No.1 pick candidate, is another option.
They have onballers Josh Smillie and Taj Hotton, both selected in the top 12 last year, waiting in the wings, too, so Blair Hartley and co. have identified their list building blocks.
It makes you think of ex-Tigers coach Damien Hardwick’s bold statement on joining Gold Coast, where he said he believed he already had 80 per cent of the Suns’ inaugural premiership side.
There is less evidence at Punt Road for Yze to make such a call about Richmond, but they should be pleased with the early signs.
The Tigers know key-position players take longer to develop and come with a higher bust risk than their midfield peers, but also how crucial they are, which was why they drafted so many, so early in this process.
They are hopeful the next Alex Rance and Jack Riewoldt are lurking within this crop, while Richmond are planning for life after Toby Nankervis, with Samson Ryan, Mate Colina and Oliver Hayes-Brown jostling to be his ruck successor.
Beyond the wins, competitive defeats and first-year draftees, another positive is that some other emerging Tigers have put their hand up to suggest they could be meaningful parts of a successful future, too.
Tom Brown, Seth Campbell, Sam Banks, Steely Green, James Trezise and Kane McAuliffe are chief among those – and that is as important as any other development.
Noah Balta, Jack Ross, Ben Miller, Rhyan Mansell and Thomson Dow headline a modest mid-20s group that needs to get stronger but offers a decent-enough plank for now between the kids and veterans.
Speaking on Fox Footy, Riewoldt, like Yze, was concerned with Saturday’s effort, saying too many of these types of losses can be “soul-destroying”. The coach himself mentioned there would be pain along the journey, yet the underlying evidence is that Richmond are ahead of schedule.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/sub-standard-tigers-feel-the-pain-but-one-loss-shouldn-t-overshadow-their-progress-20250608-p5m5rj.html
