Our midfield

[ajGreen]

End of season - CBA stats -


Toby Nankervis   457   83%   31yo his style of play likely means when the end comes it will come quickly.
            
Jacob Hopper   466   81%   29yo Hopper a good inside mid but has little pace and is found wanting on the spread    
      
Tim Taranto   428   81%   28yo See Hopper total liability defensively too often because of his lack of pace.    

Dion Prestia   189   68%   33yo  been a great servant but is  slowing and it kills us again on the spread and unable to run defensively. up its time to delist or make sure he is there only for cover and depth.    trouble is when clubs keep these types they cant help themselves and they play all year just look at McIntosh. Mid numbers are horrible reckon all of Dow Ross and Prestia will stay not because they are going to take us anywhere   but for depth due to those poor numbers.
                                       
Kane McAuliffe   70   59%   A kid who has very good pace who crunches tackles and should become a good player.                              
                                          
Samson Ryan   25   56%   Looks a flop atm he will enter his 6th season next year and turns 25 this december.
                                                                  
Thomson Dow   130   44%   Slow battler has no real weapons and kills us on the spread.   
                           
Jack Ross   194   34%   25yo 92 game plodder who needs to go. He is typical of clubs making the same mistake over and over and not making a tough call. will be another very ordinary player we have got to 100 games. Early days it was okay but now we need to use games he is getting on kids and actually replace him with a mature mid WHO CAN ACTUALLY PLAY CONSISTENTLY WELL..

Kamdyn McIntosh   135   24% delisted.

Can see all of them being retained this year bar McIntosh obviously. but we sure as hell need to not only replace them but get our mid numbers up to a sustainable level without them on the list.
In Three years time it is not inconceivable, indeed likely all of them are gone bar McAuliffe hopefully  and probably Taranto maybe Hopper as well as vets..

This year lets say we dont cut any genuine mids at all i would go something like this in this draft.

2024 crop
Lalor
Hotton
Smillie
McAuliffe

Pick 2 2025 mid
Pick 3 2025 mid
f/s Kellaway 2025 mid.
ND pick that we get in. Use on a ruckman. so there is a young ruckman.

F/A 2025. mature bodied mid if available or small forward or ruckman.
PSSS , MSD , PSD  and Rookie Draft  2025.Utilise at least 2 of the rookie sytems  Target a few state league types may not be on mids but flankers. Get 8 new faces in make sure we get 5 mids of differing types a ruckman and a small forward

Our mid numbers would then be where they need to be .
The current mids we have plus 5 this off season would equal 15. Pretty sure we are going to take at least three regardless and we would still have to cut the likes of ross dow Sonsie and retire Prestia over the coming seasons so still work to do over a three year period.

Lalor
Hotton
Smillie
McAuliffe
Cumming.
Grlj.

*Kellaway pending*

 + Retschko.


Filled the small forward X2 NRT & Pucker. No ruck yet. Maybe Hayes-Brown

[camboon]

 Should be able to find a winger or two from this years draftees IMO,

[ajGreen]

Should be able to find a winger or two from this years draftees IMO,

Reckon Hotton and Grlj look fun as wings.

If the idea is

Lalor
Smillie
McAuliffe
Cumming.

As developing inside mids.

 + Retschko.can be a other option / back up.

Looks like backline will be many options so balta/brown/banks type could push up wing also?

[the claw]

Pretty sure the idea is
Lalor
Smillie
McAuliffe
Cumming
Hotton
with old heads
Taranto
Hopper.

For me Grlj starts on a hbf.
Campbell and Retschko if he shines in preseason the wings. Would have loved to add Hunter Holmes into this mix.

[ajGreen]

Pretty sure the idea is
Lalor
Smillie
McAuliffe
Cumming
Hotton
with old heads
Taranto
Hopper.

For me Grlj starts on a hbf.
Campbell and Retschko if he shines in preseason the wings. Would have loved to add Hunter Holmes into this mix.

Vlastuin. Balta. Miller. Trainor. Brown. Banks.

Back line looks pretty full And you'd likely have gibcus and broad best 23.

Smillie...

Grlj looks better fit wing /mid/Hff short term

[Hard Roar Tiger]

That explosive speed of Gryl has me channeling Nathan Foley which I would love to see next year. Our bigger mids are the perfect types to release him, particularly from centre stoppages. I think our wingers might come from our half back depth with both Banks and Brown being good options. I think Banks in particular has good wheels, is a nice kick and has shown the balls to kick into space quickly which is so important when we have the ball on transition.

[one-eyed]

Every AFL team’s midfield ranked 1-18

We’ve unveiled our verdict on the competition’s best, and worst, midfields from the 2025 season.

Harrison McIlwaine
zerohanger.com
December 12, 2025

Richmond

Ranking: 17th

Much has been made of Richmond's commitment to youth, but the bulk of its midfield production was left to the ageing. Dion Prestia (33), Jacob Hopper (28) and Tim Taranto (27) joined ruckman Toby Nankervis (31) in the top four for total clearances for the yellow and black this year.

The Tigers struggled to get their hands on the pill, averaging 51.4 fewer disposals than their opponents this year, besting only the Eagles in this and many other metrics, including total clearances.

Adem Yze's men were the worst side for first possession to clearance rate, inside 50 differential, and centre clearances, leaving the former Demon under no illusions as to what needs addressing over the summer.

https://www.zerohanger.com/every-afl-teams-midfield-ranked-1-18-171649/2/

[the claw]

Pretty sure the idea is
Lalor
Smillie
McAuliffe
Cumming
Hotton
with old heads
Taranto
Hopper.

For me Grlj starts on a hbf.
Campbell and Retschko if he shines in preseason the wings. Would have loved to add Hunter Holmes into this mix.

Vlastuin. Balta. Miller. Trainor. Brown. Banks.

Back line looks pretty full And you'd likely have gibcus and broad best 23.

Smillie...

Grlj looks better fit wing /mid/Hff short term

For various reasons i Would not have thought any of Balta, Trainor, Brown or Banks are locks for the backline.

Grlj best position to start his career is simply H/B. In time i think they have an eye on a mid role.

Im not sold on Banks and dislike parts of his game a fair bit.  Brown needs to become more productive and find a bit of toughness..
Balta is coming of not just a horror year this year but was pretty ordinary the year before. Think second ruck and utility is the go with him. Its time to stop pandering to the older players and actually start playing younger blokes in roles we know they play best in.

I think to accomodate favorites Trainor could play wing again, who knows the thinking there. All of Balta, Miller Gibcus and Trainor will not play in defence. One will eithr miss altogether or find themselves in a different role. With the ruck changes and Balta's ability to play different roles he is an ideal choice for the second ruck role and can swing either forward or back providing great flexability. 

 we actually have several players with great attributes for the wing roles who would be a better fit than Trainor.
One who may surprise for a wing spot is NR-T. His outside game and run is quite good  he also has shown an ability to get contested ball as a mid and could be described as a genuine utility.

[ajGreen]

Yze seemed to say he wants taranto/hopper/prestia/Ross as our first choice midfield + next man in. ..

On the podcast recently

[the claw]

Didn’t we draft an explosive bull of a mid who can break away from packs and get forward???

Would be nice if we could throw him in there from time to time…..

Imo we have two of them with McAuliffe yet to show what he has fully but has shown some great glimpses, he too looks like he has the tools to become a formidable player.

 Things are looking bright. Just add Hotton and Cumming and hope Smillie can get over his freakin injuries.

From here on in its about adding depth we still remain in an overall list perspective a little bit light on for mids.

[Andyy]

Didn’t we draft an explosive bull of a mid who can break away from packs and get forward???

Would be nice if we could throw him in there from time to time…..

Imo we have two of them with McAuliffe yet to show what he has fully but has shown some great glimpses, he too looks like he has the tools to become a formidable player.

 Things are looking bright. Just add Hotton and Cumming and hope Smillie can get over his freakin injuries.

From here on in its about adding depth we still remain in an overall list perspective a little bit light on for mids.

Are we really light on still? I know we have a lot of kids but the numbers are there, between full timers and blokes who can rotate.

Prestia (last year)

Taranto, Hopper.

Ross (rotate)

Lalor
Smillie
Mccauliffe
Hotton
Cumming
Alger
Grlj

The one for me who should be given a go inside is actually Kaleb Smith.

[the claw]

Im actually talking about depth and list balance.
People may think it dumb but im a fan of copying what you do in the seniors in the reserves.

You have named 10  players.
I would not classify Alger or Grlj as mids at this point in time. Both should play but their primary roles should be h/b and hf.

That leaves 9 mids of which bar one will have to fit into the senior team. We need more mids if we are to mirror the senior team.

Seniors goes something like this

Vlastuin - Gibcus - Trainor
Grlj - Miller - Brown

Retschko - McAuliffe - Banks/Campbell
Nankervis - Taranto - Lalor

Hotton - Faull - Algar
Mansell - Lynch - Armstrong

Hopper - Cumming - Balta - Prestia -  Broad

Reserves

Trezise - Gray - Third tall
Smith - Fawcett - Short

Clarke - Smillie - Ralphsmith
O H-B - Ross - Sonsie

Rioli - Lefau - Green
Peucker - Sims - Ryan

N R-T - Mid - Mid - Utility - Mid.

Yep i think another 3 or 4 mids are needed. Especially with Prestia close to retirement and Ross and Sonsie being overtaken.

[the claw]

End of season - CBA stats -


Toby Nankervis   457   83%   31yo his style of play likely means when the end comes it will come quickly.
            
Jacob Hopper   466   81%   29yo Hopper a good inside mid but has little pace and is found wanting on the spread    
      
Tim Taranto   428   81%   28yo See Hopper total liability defensively too often because of his lack of pace.    

Dion Prestia   189   68%   33yo  been a great servant but is  slowing and it kills us again on the spread and unable to run defensively. up its time to delist or make sure he is there only for cover and depth.    trouble is when clubs keep these types they cant help themselves and they play all year just look at McIntosh. Mid numbers are horrible reckon all of Dow Ross and Prestia will stay not because they are going to take us anywhere   but for depth due to those poor numbers.
                                       
Kane McAuliffe   70   59%   A kid who has very good pace who crunches tackles and should become a good player.                              
                                          
Samson Ryan   25   56%   Looks a flop atm he will enter his 6th season next year and turns 25 this december.
                                                                  
Thomson Dow   130   44%   Slow battler has no real weapons and kills us on the spread.   
                           
Jack Ross   194   34%   25yo 92 game plodder who needs to go. He is typical of clubs making the same mistake over and over and not making a tough call. will be another very ordinary player we have got to 100 games. Early days it was okay but now we need to use games he is getting on kids and actually replace him with a mature mid WHO CAN ACTUALLY PLAY CONSISTENTLY WELL..

Kamdyn McIntosh   135   24% delisted.

Can see all of them being retained this year bar McIntosh obviously. but we sure as hell need to not only replace them but get our mid numbers up to a sustainable level without them on the list.
In Three years time it is not inconceivable, indeed likely all of them are gone bar McAuliffe hopefully  and probably Taranto maybe Hopper as well as vets..

This year lets say we dont cut any genuine mids at all i would go something like this in this draft.

2024 crop
Lalor
Hotton
Smillie
McAuliffe

Pick 2 2025 mid
Pick 3 2025 mid
f/s Kellaway 2025 mid.
ND pick that we get in. Use on a ruckman. so there is a young ruckman.

F/A 2025. mature bodied mid if available or small forward or ruckman.
PSSS , MSD , PSD  and Rookie Draft  2025.Utilise at least 2 of the rookie sytems  Target a few state league types may not be on mids but flankers. Get 8 new faces in make sure we get 5 mids of differing types a ruckman and a small forward

Our mid numbers would then be where they need to be .
The current mids we have plus 5 this off season would equal 15. Pretty sure we are going to take at least three regardless and we would still have to cut the likes of ross dow Sonsie and retire Prestia over the coming seasons so still work to do over a three year period.

All sounds good BUT we seem to have no luck in selecting young ruckman and developing them.
I think our last good draftee ruckman was Ottens??

We probably could have got Grundy 2? Years ago, who are the potential 25 y o ruckman going around? If we could target one of them that would be my preference, any comment??

I think we have not managed to bring ruckmen on simply because we don't seem to put much time into it. We tend to take them as an after thought and ultimately are forced to go after mature types. Imo i think this damning in many ways.

Ruckmen we have taken since Toby who we took  in a trade for pick 46 end of 2016. But first the list of ruckmen we had in 2016.

Hampson a right dud we traded pick 32 for him in 2013

I Maric another trade from 2011 with pick 37 Ivan was shot by the time we traded in  Nankervis.

Vickery more a forward than ruck imo.  we used a good pick on him with #8 in 2008 and we at least got 100 games out of him,  mainly because of where we drafted him. Was soon exposed when he went to the Hawks.


Ivan Soldo a cat (B) Investment. Was always a

So thats it we bought in Nankervis end of 2016 and the others we had would soon be gone or exposed.

2016 - Nankervis, trade #46
2017 CC-J #20. Was a 50 50 bet on what he was, a Forward or a ruckman we needed both and we hedged our bets.
2018 nothing
2019 nothing
2020 Ryan #40, Colina Cat (B)
2021 nothing
2022 nothing
2023 Naismith DFA aged 31. OH-B (cat B)
2024 Sims #28. A kpf who may be a second ruckman or fwd/ruck.
2025 nothing.

Thats our investment in ruckmen for the last 10 seasons little wonder we cannot find one to develop.