Almanac Footy: How will the Richmond Tigers go in the year of the horse (2026)?By JuneeJunction
The Footy Almanac
February 2, 2026After the excitement of beating Carlton in Round 1, 2025 with a remarkable comeback (only bettered by St Kilda beating Melbourne) – which in hindsight (given the performance of the Blues last year) was not necessarily a great achievement – it’s time to move on.
After saying goodbye to Kamdyn who was a warrior in every respect for the club and a personal favourite of mine since I took a selfie with him at the mighty Gabba in celebrating our last flag (which as a Queenslander I still can’t believe I was able to attend only 8km from my home) in the midst of COVID 19 and other things…but I digress…back to reality), now for the mighty Tigers comes the dawning of the new year kicking in with only a handful of players left with premiership experience and nous.
New facilities on the way, a sensational group of men and women ready to work together and to hopefully achieve prolonged success on and off the field.
What with a car manufacturer now proudly back on our jumper, surely that is a good omen given the Jeep-powered Tigers’ performance post 2016. Can our defence act like a Great Wall to keep the goal count down from our opponents?
What can the Tiger faithful expect? Well with Lalor being given Dusty’s trusty number four, a lot of expectation has been placed upon him and his fellow Tiger cubs from the last two drafts. Winning a handful of games last year has placed pressure on Yze and his staff to keep going and yet all the pundits (whatever that means) have said that the Tigers will finish last again.
Despite my yellow and black eyes, I’m not so sure that will happen, due to the following reasons:
1) Culture – ever since we changed the colour of the sash to Puma bright yellow the culture has been positive…we need to honour the vision of Benny Gale and Peggy O’Neal of what they did to bring us into a new positive way of treating people and being vulnerable and honest. Just look at other clubs who have struggled and are envious of our culture and how it is so life giving.
2) New ideas – with the Jack Dyer stand being demolished goes a lot of old scars from the days of pain and the culture of Richmond eating its own, such as KB and Neville Crowe amongst others. Even playing extra games in Tassie is an example of trying something new as well as the sensational new facilities to complement all the initiatives that have placed into the fabric of the Richmond story.
3) Utilizing the draft – Honouring the process of actually picking and sticking with gun players and using our low table finish to advantage.
4) The draw – having the unfair advantage of playing most games 1,500m from Punt Rd is something that we should enjoy – just ask interstate clubs how they feel about the draw!
5) The supporter base – being one of the big four clubs means that there is a guarantee of reasonably good crowds no matter the ladder position, with marquee games like Dream Time and Anzac Eve the Tigers are lucky in that respect and can rely upon the degree of pride and expectation that goes with that as a collective within the footy club.
So, here’s to 2026 may I be proven right!
https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/how-will-the-richmond-tigers-go-in-the-year-of-the-horse-2026/
