How do we all rate our 2025 recruiting effort?

[one-eyed]

How do we all rate our recruiting effort this year?

INS:

Trade Period:
Patrick Retschko                 186cm      28-02-2006        Geelong                                       Midfielder

National Draft:
7. Sam Cumming                184cm      27-07-2007        North Adelaide/South Australia      Midfielder
8. Sam Grlj                         182cm      26-07-2007        Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro         Midfielder
31. Zane Peucker                179cm      04-12-2007        Woodville-West Torrens/SA            Small Forward
54. Noah Roberts-Thomson  181cm      29-03-2007        Sturt/South Australia                    Midfielder

Rookie Draft:
2. Passed

-------------------------------------------

OUTS:

Pick 99 to Geelong
2026 5th rounder to Gold Coast

Tylar Young (traded to West Coast for pick 38 which ended up pick 31 on draft night)
Kamdyn McIntosh (not offered a contract)
Jacob Blight (not offered a contract)
Thomson Dow (not offered a contract)
Jacob Koschitzke (not offered a contract)
Jacob Bauer (not offered a contract)
Mate Colina (not offered a contract)

[one-eyed]

AFL Draft Report Card

Jack Jovanovski, Ben Cotton, Ben Waterworth and Will Faulkner
Fox Sports
November 21st, 2025

RICHMOND

It was hard for Richmond to go wrong with its opening pair of selections, having the choice of the open pool after Willem Duursma and Cooper Duff-Tytler were the first two non-club-tied players off the board.

In a telling pre-draft move, the Tigers — who’d been strongly linked to Sam Cumming, Sullivan Robey, Xavier Taylor and Sam Grlj with their first two picks — visited Cumming and his family in the days prior to the draft in a clear indication of the club’s interest.

And the Tigers got a good one in the North Adelaide product, who’s highly regarded for his class, power, speed, agility and competitiveness. Cumming has drawn Isaac Heeney comparisons due to his ability to go forward and hit the scoreboard.

Then Richmond swung a surprise, opting to take Eastern Ranges line-breaker Grlj with the eighth overall pick after it seemed he was destined to fall out of the top 10.

Could they have traded down from no.8 and still gotten Grlj? That’s a question worth asking.

“Was surprised, we thought maybe Sullivan Robey might get taken, but they have gone for maybe more of the need,” dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy.

“They have loaded up through the midfield and forward half of the ground, now they get the explosive half back that can set the game off on counter-attack.”

Passing on Robey and Taylor in particular was notable, but it’s hard to pick a fault in the two top talents the Tigers came away with.

Gieschen and company then took bolter Zane Peucker in the second round. The forward-midfielder averaged 25 disposals, 1.5 goals, and 5.5 score involvements this year for the Woodville West-Torrens under-18s.

They capped their work by pouncing on Noah Roberts-Thomson — cousin of former Sydney Swans dual premiership player Lewis — in the late third round.

Grade: B-


Club-by-club rating:

Gold Coast   A+
Essendon     A
Carlton        A-
North Melb   A-
West Coast  A-
Adelaide      B
Brisbane      B
Hawthorn     B
Sydney        B
Fremantle    B-
Melbourne   B-
Richmond    B-
St Kilda       B-
Geelong      C+
GWS           C+
W.Bulldogs   C+
Collingwood  C-
Port Adelaide N/A

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-draft-2025-fox-footy-report-card-every-teams-draft-picks-graded-and-analysed-who-your-team-picked-best-and-worst-selections-analysis/news-story/63a5611ac14f173e0fac823cbcb07ee0

[one-eyed]

Grading every club's selections at the AFL Draft

Jasper Chellappah
ESPN
Nov 21, 2025

Richmond

The direction of the draft was always going to hinge on the Tigers, who had kept everything in-house despite making their minds up over a week ago. After bids on Dylan Patterson and Dan Annable, Richmond landed on Sam Cumming and Sam Grlj.

Cumming is the perfect modern midfielder, applying himself defensively with intent and getting forward to set up scoring opportunities with speed and aerial ability. Grlj is the best athlete in the pool, burning off opponents with ease and running all day either off halfback, a wing or through the middle.

On night two they injected some excitement to the front half with Zane Puecker who plays above his 179cm height with marking exploits, and paired him with fellow SA prospect Noah Roberts-Thomson. A tall midfielder who can go forward, NRT is the cousin of Swans cult hero Lewis.

Grade: A-


Club-by-club rating:

North Melb     A+
Gold Coast     A
Carlton          A-
Essendon       A-
Richmond      A-
Adelaide        B+
Collingwood   B+
Hawthorn      B+
Brisbane        B
Geelong         B
St Kilda         B
Fremantle     B-
Melbourne     C+
Sydney         C+
W.Bulldogs    C+
GWS             C-
West Coast    C-
Port Adelaide  N/A

https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/47039558/afl-draft-2025-grading-every-footy-club-draft-grades-analysis-jasper-chellappah-west-coast-eagles

[one-eyed]

Winners and Losers of the 2025 AFL Draft (True Footy)

The AFL draft is done and dusted, Jesse and Dylan sit down and go over who were the winners and losers over all 3 days.

Richmond discussion:

https://youtu.be/eHregB5t16Q?t=5825


How did your club do? (Zerohanger | Craft of the Draft)

With the 2025 AFL Draft officially in the books, Mitch and Jonty look at how each club fared with their range of selections.

Richmond discussion:

https://youtu.be/QRhlYZuCdD8?t=2242

[the claw]

Wont know for two or three seasons.
Thought from a list needs perspective we have done well.

Grlj at hb for now makes for a great Rioli replacement and helps with pace issues.
Cumming as a mid is a perfect fit for us so we add more quality and depth to the area.
Retschko more pace and running power to a wing think he could be a great get for us. Our wings in recent years have been ordinary.

How poor has our list of small forwards been Peucker added to Algar and Hotton goes a long way to addressing this area.Campbell as well if he is played as a forward still think wing is the go for him.

NR-T another mid adding to a shallow list of mids.
Think the rebuild is going great even though i disagree with some things.

Think we have been a bit lapse in our use of F/A and trades for players since 2016. i think we are now in a position to start adding mature needs to the list especially thru F/A next year while staying involved in the Nd.

If we play as many kids as possible in preference to older players i think we will still be a bottom 4 team so id be going back to the draft well again hopefully we turn over another 8 - 10 players.

[Andyy]

Done well imo

Hit the draft hard again with 4 picks and grabbed someone we think may be useful in the Geelong kid

[one-eyed]

The Draft
Club by Club Draft Review

November 26, 2025
Tommy Wolfe
Reading the Play



Relative rating: -76 pts
Reading the Play Guide: B+

Summary:

Richmond were always tipped to be one of the more intriguing players in this year’s draft, and they certainly lived up to that billing. Rather than following consensus views linking them to Sullivan Robey or Xavier Taylor, the Tigers trusted their own board and backed the player they rated highest. Sam Grlj was their man. His early-season VFL form turned heads inside Punt Road, and with speed a clear list priority, the Tigers felt no need to overthink it.

As the draft drew nearer, the noise around Sam Cumming intensified. It was no real shock to see Richmond call his name with their first pick. Cumming is fearless, combative and relentlessly driven to win the ball. When he gets it, he can be damaging. Expect him to settle into a marking half forward role with midfield bursts as 2026 unfolds. Tigers supporters, and neutrals alike, will warm to him quickly. His playstyle fits seamlessly within the club’s evolving attacking structure and he profiles as an ideal complement to Sam Lalor.

Peucker’s rise through the National Championships made him an attractive option. He brings burst, power and an instinctive attacking mindset, all of which suit Richmond’s brand. The challenge will be sharpening his defensive work, which is critical for modern small forwards. If he embraces that aspect, he has every chance of carving out a long-term AFL role.

There was widespread expectation that Louis Kellaway would earn the final list spot, but Richmond went a slightly different direction, selecting Noah Roberts-Thomson. He is a smart mover with tidy skills and enough power to fit the Tigers’ need for run and dare. His development curve will be worth tracking closely.

Taken as a whole, Richmond’s draft was much more about list architecture than chasing pure best-available talent. After last year’s enormous haul, they had the freedom to draft for role and balance. In that respect, they succeeded.

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/club-by-club-draft-review/

[Hard Roar Tiger]

I reckon 2024 based on what we saw looked extraordinarily promising with the caveat that we can get Smillie’s body right.
On that basis, who are we to judge 2025 any differently?
Development and the conditioning team now need to bring them into a afl standard.

[WilliamPowell]

Overall I reckon we did well

But I find myself doing this  around the Retschko trade

Don't get that one at all

[Tiger Khosh]

What’s wrong with it WP? We gave up a pick we wouldn’t have used anyway or would have used to get him.

They rated him in last years draft but missed out on him. 19 years old with a full season of vfl under his belt and fills a position of need.

It did come out of absolutely nowhere and had never heard his name prior to a couple months ago lol.

[JP Tiger]

Overall I reckon we did well

But I find myself doing this  around the Retschko trade

Don't get that one at all

Yeah, ok.  But that trade has cost us pick 99, our smallest piece of draft currency to bring in a player.  What else was pick 99 supposed to bring us other than a hopeful?  At least we gained a player who looks to be a good fit that we monitored in the VFL for 12 months before we snapped him up.  I'd prefer this to some washed up retread ...     

Until he plays a game (firsts or seconds) we won't really know anyway.  But for pick 99 he doesn't have much to pay back.       

[WilliamPowell]

I understand that it was only pick 99 that we weren't going to use. THough that picked would have ended up closer to late 60s early 70s wouldn't it?

But ...

The reason I don't get it is

He was a rookie at Geelong who was getting de-listed. And from what I understand was no where near getting an AFL game down there (will stand corrected if I've read all that wrong)

I appreciate he fills a need I'm just not sold yet on using a primary list spot on him when we could have picked him up in the rookie draft for nothing

I wish the kid nothing but the best,  he's a Tiger now

[Tiger Khosh]

For all intents and purposes there is no difference btw the primary list and rookie A list. They both fall under the max total list (not including cat B) of 42. There is probably some monetary differences like minimum salary of a player on the primary list is higher than a player on the rookie list but I can’t imagine he is on much $$$ regardless.

The cat A rookie list just needs to be abolished at this point. 3 quarters of the rookie draft were just used on recycled AFL players who were delisted and then re-listed by the same club.

[ajGreen]

I understand that it was only pick 99 that we weren't going to use. THough that picked would have ended up closer to late 60s early 70s wouldn't it?

But ...

The reason I don't get it is

He was a rookie at Geelong who was getting de-listed. And from what I understand was no where near getting an AFL game down there (will stand corrected if I've read all that wrong)

I appreciate he fills a need I'm just not sold yet on using a primary list spot on him when we could have picked him up in the rookie draft for nothing

I wish the kid nothing but the best,  he's a Tiger now

So in this scenario we would have taken Burton or Krasnadamskis as our last national draft pick prob?

Then used the last spot on Retschko or had him as the train on player.

What difference would that make?

Gieschen says they were high on Retschko. He had a good season with the vfl team and they obviously rated him in his draft year. Getting another 24' crop player is very good idea.

[the claw]

Think he fits us to a tee.

WE not only saw him as a kid and liked him but we had the added bonus of seeing him at vfl and performing extremely well.
We take mature players from the vfl who tick most boxes and he does that along with a bigger body of work to judge him by.

Pretty  sure he did not get a game at Geelong because of higher rated senior players who they wanted to keep and he was delisted because they promised rookie spots to those players who had served them well. Think there is a tight squeeze on down at Geelong.

For me the interesting thing in this is Geelong Drafted Hunter Holmes he was one i wanted us to take to go with Retschko on the other wing

As for the nd as i have said we wont know for three or so years but we had a desperate need for mids, pace, wingers small forwards a HB Dan Rioli replacement and a ruckman or two the only one we did not address is the latter.

I think the top 10 were all fairly even wewent with a tough as nails well skilled quick inside out mid whats not to like.

For me the addition of just 5 new faces in just year two of rebuild  with even more  compromised drafts than we have now coming not good enough.But thats more a list management thing than recruiting.