Gieschen gives update on Tigers' draft plansBy Henry Milic
RFC website
Oct 9, 2025With the 2025 Telstra AFL Draft fast approaching, Richmond National Recruitment Manager, Rhy Gieschen, has outlined the Club’s strategy for targeting players already aligned with other teams through academy pathways.
Gieschen confirmed the Club will not shy away from placing a bid on academy players, if that prospect is atop of the Tigers' draft rankings, and available, when Richmond is selecting.
The Tigers currently hold picks three and four heading into the draft.
“I think it is well documented that it is compromised. There are some quality players linked to clubs, so we have assessed them as per every other player in the open pool,” Gieschen said on Trade Radio.
“We have been to all those boys’ houses and had great communication with them, and they are quality players, so we will just go away and rate them accordingly.
“Essentially, if they are at the top of the list when our picks are available, then we will place a bid.
“We have seen in recent years that clubs might not be able to acquire the points to match bids, or they might have other players rated, so we just have to do the work on each and every one of them.”
Having secured eight strong players in last year’s draft, Gieschen is confident that the Club’s recruitment team is well-positioned to acquire suitable talent with its two top-end picks.
“We have done a mountain of work, like all clubs have,” Gieschen said.
“It’s a pretty strong draft, and if you take those (academy) players out, we just have to work through our rankings and what the top end, from where we will be picking, looks like.
“It feels like yesterday that we were watching these players in the under-16s up in the Gold Coast, and we have been tracking them really strongly for three years.
“With having such a heavy hand of draft picks in last year’s group, we knew that potential offers might come to get back into this year’s draft, so it has been a focus for us and our team for a little while.”
When speaking on top-end picks, Gieschen addressed last year’s number one selection, Sam Lalor, reflecting on his incredible season despite it being derailed by a hamstring injury.
Lalor played in a total of 11 games this season and still took home the Club’s Bill Cosgrove/Harry Jenkins Best First Year Player Award.
With pre-season on the horizon, Gieschen is confident the 19-year-old will be roaring and ready to go for day one.
“Yeah, he is ready to roll, Sammy,” he said.
“The boys went away as a group overseas in the off-season, and he was back in the next morning.
“Our young guys have been really motivated to get back into it, particularly those young guys that have had some injury issues.
“He has been working with our high-performance team and has been back at the Club doing some work, so it’s exciting for Sammy.
“It’s really going to be his first full pre-season coming up, which is so exciting for him.
“We obviously saw what he could do this year. It’s a credit to him...he broke his jaw 10 days out from Round 1, where he was eating soup for nine days, then came out and won the Rising Star.
“We think with a full pre-season under his belt, he can take his game to the next level.”
https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/1912409/gieschen-gives-update-on-tigers-draft-plans
