Review Richmond - A Year In Review

[prodigy]

Wanted somewhere to get my thoughts out about the season as a whole. Post your reviews in the comments below as well.

I went into the year mentally prepared to win zero games but come the end of the year I'm now thinking we could have won a few more. I'm okay that we didn't though as I'm happy with our draft position.

There were a lot of positives to take out of the year but also a lot of frustrations that I feel could have been avoided.
The positives are obvious but here's a snapshot -

• All first year players bar one getting AFL exposure.
• The ACL bunch getting back to full fitness and pretty much all of them getting a taste of AFL footy.
• Natural progression of some of our middle of the road types.
• Our backline in general all season
• Older players stepped up after struggling in some of the earlier rounds
• Beating Carlton round 1 and ruining their entire mental for the balance of the year
• Almost finishing ahead of North who traded their future 1st to us LOL
• Lynch and Prestia getting through the year without any injury reoccurrences
• Continued strength of the VFL program

And the negatives...

• The unwillingness of the coaches to change the midfield mix for the majority of the year and when we did it would be like one or two centre bounces in a quarter.
• The lack of functionality of our forward line - comfortably the worst in the competition
• Juddy doing another ACL - felt avoidable... Bloody Beaconsfield
• The Smillie injury/conditioning saga (hope he gets up for VFL finals)
• Lefau post-ACL soft tissue issues
• Continued poor form of Jayden Short
  15

  Jayden Short

  Age

  29

  Ht

  178cm

  Wt

  75kg

  Pos.

  Def

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  17.4

  4star

  K

  13.3

  5star

  HB

  4.1

  3star

  M

  4.3

  4star

  T

  1.5

  3star

  MG

  430.8

  5star

  D

  19.0

  4star

  K

  14.1

  5star

  HB

  4.9

  3star

  M

  6.3

  5star

  T

  0.8

  1star

  MG

  447.1

  5star

  D

  7.8

  2star

  K

  6.4

  3star

  HB

  1.4

  2star

  M

  3.2

  4star

  T

  2.4

  4star

  MG

  185.2

  3star

Our off-season is going to be very interesting, I can see us just taking our two top 5 picks to the draft but I can't say with any certainty that will happen.
I really hope we can get all of Lalor, Smillie and Taj playing 20+ games together next season.

 

[copthat]

5 wins about right in the end. Bank the two WC wins, played well against GC. Carlton shat the bed a bit and if we played any other team in the last 100 years against Essendon we lose. However, probably deserved it against the Giants and played well enough to beat North.

I am not as high on the year as others although that's not to say we aren't on track. If you look at 2010/11 we had future premiership players in Jack, Cotch, Dusty winning us games off their own boot with a sprinkling of Edwards and Rance. If you look at our wins this year, you could argue Lalor was the difference in Round 1. The rest of the games we relied on Taranto, Hopper, Lynch, Vlastuin to drag us over the line, all of whom won't be there when contending next. The wins themselves are still important for providing a reward for effort, learning how to win and keeping the media at bay.

If we repeat next year with a similar amount of wins but all our young guns are heavily involved then we'll be heading in the right direction. If they continue to not get on the park then clearly their development keeps getting pushed back.

It means this pre-season becomes really important. We need them fit and firing and playing games. The longer they take to get their bodies right the slower our progression becomes. Serpell has his work cut out for him.

Otherwise, I think the natural improvement from some guys in the tier below has been a positive. Banks, Brown, Miller, Campbell, Young, MRJ all took steps. You could argue there were question marks on all of those guys. MRJ probably the one we're still unsure about while another good year from the others will solidify their spots as AFL players you'd think.

Some may be delisted but big years coming up for Sonsie, Hugo, Trezise, Green, Fawcett, Dow, Smith if they all remain to see if they can nail down spots as role players.

I agree the lack of midfield creativity has been a source of frustration but admittedly the ones we really want to see haven't been fit. Hopefully we see a big change in this area next year.

 

[Le RickyBobby]

5 wins about right in the end. Bank the two WC wins, played well against GC. Carlton shat the bed a bit and if we played any other team in the last 100 years against Essendon we lose. However, probably deserved it against the Giants and played well enough to beat North.

I am not as high on the year as others although that's not to say we aren't on track. If you look at 2010/11 we had future premiership players in Jack, Cotch, Dusty winning us games off their own boot with a sprinkling of Edwards and Rance. If you look at our wins this year, you could argue Lalor was the difference in Round 1. The rest of the games we relied on Taranto, Hopper, Lynch, Vlastuin to drag us over the line, all of whom won't be there when contending next. The wins themselves are still important for providing a reward for effort, learning how to win and keeping the media at bay.

If we repeat next year with a similar amount of wins but all our young guns are heavily involved then we'll be heading in the right direction. If they continue to not get on the park then clearly their development keeps getting pushed back.

It means this pre-season becomes really important. We need them fit and firing and playing games. The longer they take to get their bodies right the slower our progression becomes. Serpell has his work cut out for him.

Otherwise, I think the natural improvement from some guys in the tier below has been a positive. Banks, Brown, Miller, Campbell, Young, MRJ all took steps. You could argue there were question marks on all of those guys. MRJ probably the one we're still unsure about while another good year from the others will solidify their spots as AFL players you'd think.

Some may be delisted but big years coming up for Sonsie, Hugo, Trezise, Green, Fawcett, Dow, Smith if they all remain to see if they can nail down spots as role players.

I agree the lack of midfield creativity has been a source of frustration but admittedly the ones we really want to see haven't been fit. Hopefully we see a big change in this area next year.

The difference is in 10/11 Cotch, Jack, Dusty and Rance were in their 3rd or 4th year of footy.

 

[copthat]

The difference is in 10/11 Cotch, Jack, Dusty and Rance were in their 3rd or 4th year of footy.

Dusty wasn't, the others on average were about a season and a half ahead on games played. The extra maturity definitely crucial which is why it's a big pre-season.

 

[Coach_Required]

5 wins was a good result considering we were tipped to go winless.

Breaking down this year and last year:
Losses:
1-20 we had 4 losses same as last year
21 -40 points we had 4 losses last year 7 times
41-60 points 2 losses last year 6
61 points plus we had 8 losses but only 4 last year.

However last year we had a 118 point loss to Brisbane this year we never lost by more than 100.

Maybe a few of our wins were over inflated, we had a few heavier defeats compared to last season but a lot of that could be the loss of Rioli, Baker, Bolton & Graham could have impacted that.

 

[DustinsGuns]

The wins was a positive. The main negative is we didn't get anywhere near the amount of games into Lalor, McAullife and Smile as we should have.

Need a real clean bill of health this preseason and sort out these soft tissue injuries to the youngsters.

 

[Ralll]

Positives:
Blowing up the Bigfooty servers vs Carlton Rd1
5 wins, I wanted 6 preseason but too many injuries/suspensions.
Lynch's body holding up, Gibcus back.
Most of the new kids showing promising signs.
Ben Miller's improvement.
Vlas another great season.
Backline did well considering the lack of midfield pressure.

Negatives:
Persisting with the slow midfield all season causing many knock on effects.
Injuries.

 

[Tiger_4_Life]

Wanted somewhere to get my thoughts out about the season as a whole. Post your reviews in the comments below as well.

I went into the year mentally prepared to win zero games but come the end of the year I'm now thinking we could have won a few more. I'm okay that we didn't though as I'm happy with our draft position.

There were a lot of positives to take out of the year but also a lot of frustrations that I feel could have been avoided.
The positives are obvious but here's a snapshot -

• All first year players bar one getting AFL exposure.
• The ACL bunch getting back to full fitness and pretty much all of them getting a taste of AFL footy.
• Natural progression of some of our middle of the road types.
• Our backline in general all season
• Older players stepped up after struggling in some of the earlier rounds
• Beating Carlton round 1 and ruining their entire mental for the balance of the year
• Almost finishing ahead of North who traded their future 1st to us LOL
• Lynch and Prestia getting through the year without any injury reoccurrences
• Continued strength of the VFL program

And the negatives...

• The unwillingness of the coaches to change the midfield mix for the majority of the year and when we did it would be like one or two centre bounces in a quarter.
• The lack of functionality of our forward line - comfortably the worst in the competition
• Juddy doing another ACL - felt avoidable... Bloody Beaconsfield
• The Smillie injury/conditioning saga (hope he gets up for VFL finals)
• Lefau post-ACL soft tissue issues
• Continued poor form of Jayden Short

Our off-season is going to be very interesting, I can see us just taking our two top 5 picks to the draft but I can't say with any certainty that will happen.
I really hope we can get all of Lalor, Smillie and Taj playing 20+ games together next season.

Awesome review, definitely some early question marks on serpell, early doors though.


Goal kicking needs plenty of work too.

 

[T4P]

Outcomes are pretty solid for the season. I'm really curious how we will attack the off season, as it will be a big one for us.

The question marks I have are decision-making and defensive pressure/tackling. Some of our efforts have been woeful.

 

[_RT_]

With the 2025 season done and dusted I guess it's time for a bit of a review of how the team performed across the board.

Points For Season/Per Game: 1449/63 (ranked 18th)

Points Against Season/Per Game: 2197/96 (ranked 16th)

Disposals per game: 338 (ranked 17th) Opposition Disposals per game: 390 (ranked 1st)

Marks per game: 88 (ranked 11th) Opposition Marks per game: 106 (ranked 2nd)

Marks I50 per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Marks I50 per game: 14 (ranked 3rd)

Tackles per game: 52 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles per game: 62 (ranked 8th)

Tackles I50 per game: 8 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles I50 per game: 11 (ranked 8th)

Contested Possessions per game: 122 (ranked 17th) Opposition Contested Possessions per game: 129 (ranked 12th)

Total Clearances per game: 33 (ranked 17th) Opposition Total Clearances per game: 38 (ranked 8th)

Centre Clearances per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Centre Clearances per game: 11 (ranked 16th)

Stoppage Clearances per game: 24 (ranked 17th) Opposition Stoppage Clearances per game: 27 (ranked 5th)

Turnovers per game: 63 (ranked 13th) Opposition Turnovers per game: 59 (ranked 16th)

Intercepts per game: 60 (ranked 16th) Opposition Intercepts per game: 63 (ranked 13th)

When you have a deeper look at the numbers it certainly doesn't make for great reading. Ranked in the bottom couple in a lot of areas no doubt coincides with being a bottom 2 side and the apparent strengths that we were trying to build our game around aren't really as strong as we might like to believe as supporters and definitely indicate that there is a lot of work to be done to turn things around.

Hopefully the next phase in the development of the side will help us start to climb up the rankings and ladder as we get those highly rated kids from last year up and running together and also get the continued development from our fringe players who are in that 40-100 game range as they slowly become the core group of the team moving forward.

I'm not going to name a possible best line up, but I will say that getting to add in Lalor Smillie Hotton(full preseason) & McAuliffe to the midfield unit and having Faull Armstrong & Sims (all 3 working with Lynch & Sims with Nank as well) on developing as KPF & KPF/ruck will definitely help us improve our performances as a team. Unlike some posters, I'm quite keen to see how Yze drives us forward in 2026 and there is certainly enough potential on the list to be optimistic about what next season can bring.

 

[chriso11]

With the 2025 season done and dusted I guess it's time for a bit of a review of how the team performed across the board.

Points For Season/Per Game: 1449/63 (ranked 18th)

Points Against Season/Per Game: 2197/96 (ranked 16th)

Disposals per game: 338 (ranked 17th) Opposition Disposals per game: 390 (ranked 1st)

Marks per game: 88 (ranked 11th) Opposition Marks per game: 106 (ranked 2nd)

Marks I50 per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Marks I50 per game: 14 (ranked 3rd)

Tackles per game: 52 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles per game: 62 (ranked 8th)

Tackles I50 per game: 8 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles I50 per game: 11 (ranked 8th)

Contested Possessions per game: 122 (ranked 17th) Opposition Contested Possessions per game: 129 (ranked 12th)

Total Clearances per game: 33 (ranked 17th) Opposition Total Clearances per game: 38 (ranked 8th)

Centre Clearances per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Centre Clearances per game: 11 (ranked 16th)

Stoppage Clearances per game: 24 (ranked 17th) Opposition Stoppage Clearances per game: 27 (ranked 5th)

Turnovers per game: 63 (ranked 13th) Opposition Turnovers per game: 59 (ranked 16th)

Intercepts per game: 60 (ranked 16th) Opposition Intercepts per game: 63 (ranked 13th)

When you have a deeper look at the numbers it certainly doesn't make for great reading. Ranked in the bottom couple in a lot of areas no doubt coincides with being a bottom 2 side and the apparent strengths that we were trying to build our game around aren't really as strong as we might like to believe as supporters and definitely indicate that there is a lot of work to be done to turn things around.

Hopefully the next phase in the development of the side will help us start to climb up the rankings and ladder as we get those highly rated kids from last year up and running together and also get the continued development from our fringe players who are in that 40-100 game range as they slowly become the core group of the team moving forward.

I'm not going to name a possible best line up, but I will say that getting to add in Lalor Smillie Hotton(full preseason) & McAuliffe to the midfield unit and having Faull Armstrong & Sims (all 3 working with Lynch & Sims with Nank as well) on developing as KPF & KPF/ruck will definitely help us improve our performances as a team. Unlike some posters, I'm quite keen to see how Yze drives us forward in 2026 and there is certainly enough potential on the list to be optimistic about what next season can bring.

Luckily with only west coast probably below us in most of those stats categories, we can say the only way is up from here

 

[Truetiger]

Considering we were picked not to win a game by the media and some of our own fans, a pass mark would be five wins, which could have been seven or eight. All our draftees, except Smillie, got an opportunity in the seniors. Wins against Carlton and Gold Coast were the highlight, even though wins shouldn’t be judged based on our season. Looking forward to more game time for the kids next year as we continue to develop our side in the years to come. Personally, I think Vlas will win the B&F and should be in the All-Australian side. The low point of the season was yet again the injuries to many of our players, where we could only field two or three senior-listed players in our VFL side over a few weeks. This made it difficult to change our midfield set-up in the seniors.

 

[THE THIN MAN]

It's really tough to shift the midfield dynamic when you can't even get players on the field.

We need to raise the soft cap spending for the medical sciences and conditioning departments to ensure players are fit to play.

AFL Soft Cap policy changes

AFL Chief Executive Andrew Dillon has announced further increases to the 2026 and 2027 Football Department Soft Cap

www.afl.com.au

• Updated Soft Cap Limit increases for 2026 ($750,000) and 2027 ($350,000)
• 20% of Senior Assistant or Coaching Director salary to sit outside the cap
• Senior Coach marketing service agreements up to $100,000 to sit outside cap
• AFL to invest $500,000 per year into AFL coach support across increased professional development grants and career transition programs.

 

[wegetpumped]

With the 2025 season done and dusted I guess it's time for a bit of a review of how the team performed across the board.

Points For Season/Per Game: 1449/63 (ranked 18th)

Points Against Season/Per Game: 2197/96 (ranked 16th)

Disposals per game: 338 (ranked 17th) Opposition Disposals per game: 390 (ranked 1st)

Marks per game: 88 (ranked 11th) Opposition Marks per game: 106 (ranked 2nd)

Marks I50 per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Marks I50 per game: 14 (ranked 3rd)

Tackles per game: 52 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles per game: 62 (ranked 8th)

Tackles I50 per game: 8 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles I50 per game: 11 (ranked 8th)

Contested Possessions per game: 122 (ranked 17th) Opposition Contested Possessions per game: 129 (ranked 12th)

Total Clearances per game: 33 (ranked 17th) Opposition Total Clearances per game: 38 (ranked 8th)

Centre Clearances per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Centre Clearances per game: 11 (ranked 16th)

Stoppage Clearances per game: 24 (ranked 17th) Opposition Stoppage Clearances per game: 27 (ranked 5th)

Turnovers per game: 63 (ranked 13th) Opposition Turnovers per game: 59 (ranked 16th)

Intercepts per game: 60 (ranked 16th) Opposition Intercepts per game: 63 (ranked 13th)

When you have a deeper look at the numbers it certainly doesn't make for great reading. Ranked in the bottom couple in a lot of areas no doubt coincides with being a bottom 2 side and the apparent strengths that we were trying to build our game around aren't really as strong as we might like to believe as supporters and definitely indicate that there is a lot of work to be done to turn things around.

Hopefully the next phase in the development of the side will help us start to climb up the rankings and ladder as we get those highly rated kids from last year up and running together and also get the continued development from our fringe players who are in that 40-100 game range as they slowly become the core group of the team moving forward.

I'm not going to name a possible best line up, but I will say that getting to add in Lalor Smillie Hotton(full preseason) & McAuliffe to the midfield unit and having Faull Armstrong & Sims (all 3 working with Lynch & Sims with Nank as well) on developing as KPF & KPF/ruck will definitely help us improve our performances as a team. Unlike some posters, I'm quite keen to see how Yze drives us forward in 2026 and there is certainly enough potential on the list to be optimistic about what next season can bring.

Really great stats for a non-stats person f me, and people say we did well in a season that's been crap from top team to bottom. Can you give us the woman stats so far, also I'm asking for a friend lol

 

[sabso]

Marks I50 per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Marks I50 per game: 14 (ranked 3rd)

Tackles I50 per game: 8 (ranked last) Opposition Tackles I50 per game: 11 (ranked 8th)

Total Clearances per game: 33 (ranked 17th) Opposition Total Clearances per game: 38 (ranked 8th)

Centre Clearances per game: 9 (ranked last) Opposition Centre Clearances per game: 11 (ranked 16th)

Stoppage Clearances per game: 24 (ranked 17th) Opposition Stoppage Clearances per game: 27 (ranked 5th)

I think these are the main stats to take away from the perspective of an inexperienced watcher like myself. As in these are deficiencies that are easy to see - our lack of numbers and presence inside 50 and our tendency to create stoppages because of our slowness in the on ball division.

We’re 11th in the comp for hitouts per game , 10th for hitouts to advantage and 6th for ruck hard ball gets per wheelo ratings - so about average or thereabouts. But our advantage disappears from then on because we have people who can’t get the ball or see where to move the ball or themselves. Opposition mids know they can hold our players off the ball at stoppages without penalty but if we try the same thing we give away frees. We have to try not to kill the contest but when we do and say hopper gets the ball he gets done for holding the ball.

We know we can’t have hopper and Taranto in the same midfield but the question becomes which one do we keep in there? It seems like this season both players have auditioned for the main midfielder role and I don’t reckon either one has stood out statistically. Put hopper in at or forward of centre then put Taranto in the back half.

Massive disconnect delivering the ball forward. Looks like we have no players taking up the space between the front of the centre square and 30 metres out from goal. Now maybe the oppo always man that part of the ground up as we always come in from the wings but we sag off the arc leaving a massive gap delivering inside 50. Goal kicking is another thing we need to fix but that is simple drills.

 

[SunshineBoy]

How come no one talks about the long periods between goal even against crap sides , we a really don’t like looking at some stuff

 

[Bojangles17]

I’d give it an ok , prob a couple a wins shy of saying very bloody good . At say r14 it looked like we were poised to do that and found ways to blow it . Our defensive ability improved , the metrics show that . It’s on the offense that we lack
Creative mids ,,, where ?
Creative forwards ,,, where ?
Hopefully our talls with another pre season will look more threatening next year and we fill some gaps in the midfield space . Our defence structure is very good and allows us to focus elsewhere . My ambition would be for us to win 8+ games next year

 

[THE THIN MAN]

How come no one talks about the long periods between goal even against crap sides , we a really don’t like looking at some stuff

It is a two-fold problem:

• The forward line is still in its early stages, with injuries and rookie players making it difficult for them to build chemistry.
• Midfielders are uncertain about the forwards' leading patterns, causing the ball to be kicked high and wide repeatedly. This leads to minimal forward pressure, allowing the opposition to rebound out of defence with ease.

This will be resolved through experience in the midfield and the forwards.

 

[voorhees]

Biggest negative was Judson Clarke going down again with another knee..kid was so close to the return.
and now it's a 50/50 call what is next...
The year Smillie had aswell, we just couldn't get the steps going and for him not to debut the whole year was a let down

 

[voorhees]

positive - getting Lynch and Hopper both up and out of the injury bay.
Young - coming back and stepping forward with his career.
Benny miller - playing with strength and self confidence, great to see
I had Rioli on the scrap heap, but he faught back and proved me wrong in the back end of the year..good work jnr.

 

[DickieKnee]

positive - getting Lynch and Hopper both up and out of the injury bay.
Young - coming back and stepping forward with his career.
Benny miller - playing with strength and self confidence, great to see
I had Rioli on the scrap heap, but he faught back and proved me wrong in the back end of the year..good work jnr.

Yeah if junior can come back from the break fit and not overweight we may see a real breakout season from him next year.

 

[Barunga Bullet]

Obviously there was a few disappointments in a few of the games this year, plus a few injuries and the balta saga but overall the growth of some players in campbell, brown, banks and even whipping boys mrj and sonsie was a positive, as well as the guys drafted last year. Still a long way to go but its not all doom and gloom.
And just want to say i called us winning 5 games back in December

 

[THE THIN MAN]

Yeah if junior can come back from the break fit and not overweight we may see a real breakout season from him next year.

 

[tiger_tough]

Bit rough on Short. He was fine, at worst, after he returned from injury.

 

[Dr Tigris]

Positives

• Lots of new draftees played good minutes - except Smilie
• Overperformed
• Older players stood up, and provided leadership to the kids - and protected them
• the 3-5 year players are coming on. Starting to look like we will have a solid core of players around 25ish year old soon.
• The fundamentals of the game plan are starting to come together.
• Defence really good
• The North pick
• Lots of $ available to fill holes and create a contending squad

Overall we have taken a solid step forward, and all of our kids look good - some excellent/elite. The future looks like it will be good, even without new draftees and trades/FAs.

Beat Carlton, starting a crap year for them

Negatives

• Injuries
• Still a bottom 2 team
• Reliant on the older guys - see above, a double edged sword
• Forward line sucked
• Not much else.

At the start of the year we beat Carlton and looked good, but then looked pretty poor. By the end of the year, round 22, we had a solid game and looked good. Our young players really started to come on, and draftees look very good. Lot to build on.