‘Not good enough’: The key area Richmond plans to turn around in 2026 (ZH)

[one-eyed]

‘Not good enough’: The key area Richmond plans to turn around in 2026

The Tigers are in rebuild mode, and coach Adem Yze has looked at fixing one particular area this pre-season.

Aidan Cellini
zerohanger.com
December 8, 2025

Richmond's focus heading into the 2026 season will be heavily skewed toward stoppage craft, with coach Adem Yze saying, "our (midfield) metrics aren't good enough".

The Tigers are in full rebuild mode, welcoming eight first-round selections among 13 young prospects to Punt Road in the past two drafts.

Despite ranking 16th in average age, the Victorian powerhouse boasts an experienced midfield group, led by Toby Nankervis and Tim Taranto. Jacob Hopper also produced an injury-free season, while Dion Prestia and Jack Ross received prominent centre-bounce minutes.

However, it didn't translate to midfield dominance, sitting second-last in the competition for total clearances and disposals (only ahead of West Coast).

Yze has made it his mission to get his on-ball brigade up to speed on what's required of them to compete forcefully in the league.

"You're trying to score, and then you are trying to be defensively stable, and at the same time, be really potent around stoppage," Yze told Richmond Media.

"You are constantly evolving based on your list profile, so right now we are looking to really coach and hone in on our stoppage craft - we have a talented midfield, and I feel like we could have a huge advantage.

"I think it is our job as coaches to understand that and how that could be our strength, and I'm really looking forward to getting a spike in that, like where we sit in our metrics aren't good enough with the talent we've got in that area.

"So, there are subtle things that we are going to be shifting - we want to be defensively stable and hard to play against and then be really potent around stoppage."

Impressive youngsters Sam Lalor and Taj Hotton were played through the position to provide Richmond a point of difference, and will benefit from their first full pre-seasons in the top flight.

Multiple hamstring setbacks hindered Lalor's maiden campaign. Still, he is on the mend and will be treated cautiously ahead of a January return, while Hotton overcame an ACL injury in his draft season to play the final seven games of 2025.

Emerging brute Kane McAuliffe is expected to see more minutes to lessen the load on Taranto, Hopper and Prestia.

Seth Campbell could also feature in the midfield as a left-field option, given his line-breaking speed and creativity in traffic.

Yze was rewarded with a two-year extension (until the end of 2028) to see out the development of the young group.

In his first season in charge, the Tigers won two games and claimed the wooden spoon, but surprised many when they saluted five times in 2025, knocking off Carlton and Gold Coast in the midst.

"Contract extensions are something you try and sort out in the background, but to get that done before the start of the season, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to coach this Club for a few more years," he said.

"At the same time, I'm really excited about this journey that we started last year, and I feel like we are just scratching the surface.

"So, to be able to lock that away and really start to set a plan for the next two or three years as a group, I'm super grateful, and I'm really looking forward to the future."

Yze also flagged the three new coaches (Luke Breust, Taylor Duryea and Jack Madgen) as pivotal additions to the group.

All three proved their resilience in the early stages of their AFL careers, taking their time to debut, while Madgen was a category B rookie at Collingwood.

The Richmond coach believes the journey of the trio will be beneficial in fast-tracking the club, as well as adding much-needed skills to enhance the development.

"Our coaches have been amazing, we've obviously brought in a few new coaches and new voices," Yze said.

"One, they're fresh out of the game, which we haven't had. To add Luke Breust, a superstar of the competition and an amazing person. His story is really something that we wanted to get across as well. He struggled early and didn't play senior footy for the first three years, and neither did Taylor Duryea.

"All of that adds to their coaching profile."

https://www.zerohanger.com/not-good-enough-the-key-area-richmond-plans-to-turn-around-in-2026-171592/

[Stripes]

I'm glad they are making the midfield the fundamental focus over the preseason. The problem is that, looking at the raw numbers, Taranto and Hopper had career best seasons and racked up big contested ball numbers. Why is that a problem? Because it didn't equate to midfield dominance, clear entrees, scores and time in our forward half. Both players have a habit of winning the ball then just booting it long. This just creates shallow entrees and the ball rebounds out as quickly as it came in.

We need a change.

Best of all we need more variety in our midfielders. We need inside players either breaking out of congestion or feeding it out to outside runners. We need midfielders that defend and are two way runners. Too often the ball is turned over and our midfield is left ball watching.

Taranto and Hopper need to rotate from midfield to half forward. Both are dangerous forwards, are powerful ball winners at ground level and good marks & kicks for goal. Having them forward strengthens the team. It also allows us to rotate players through that spot that's freed up. Prestia is a midfielder only. He isn't a forward. At this stage of his career, he should be rotating from the bench and midfield. He IS a two way runner so having him in the midfield is an asset but we can't afford to run him into the ground.

We need one inside ball winner, one inside/outside mid and one explosive ball user. So, for mine, I would have midfield rotations such as -

1) Lalor, Taranto, Prestia
2) Hotton, Taranto, McAuliffe
3) Rioli, Hopper, Campbell
4) Prestia, Hopper, Cumming
5) Lalor, Taranto, Gryl

Balance in the midfield is key and getting ball to the outside of contest to allow better forward entrees, should be the highest of priorities.

[Andyy]

They had career best numbers because we had no Bolton, Dusty, Graham (lol) etc so they carried more midfield load which really is their job now. It's up to the kids to take the heat off them in the coming years.