Universal Love Adem Yze - Extension Until 2028

[Tiger2709]

I think if we had less wins next year but our % was up in the 70s and we were clearly playing better for longer periods than this season than that would be about par and ok.

Can’t end next season with a worse percentage though.

Definitely a better judgement of where you are at than using points alone.

 

[Tiger2709]

what a load of crap that Baker & Bolton were always returning home. They left only once the wheels fell off.

If we were Geelong, would Baker & Bolton would have left? Of course not. they left as they no longer could get success here

To say how he "comes across to us vs the playing group is different" - sure. However, we have had a clear exodus of former Premiership players leaving the club in droves, while not a single player from another team has chosen to come to Richmond. Where is your proof of any of this heresay?

Why would players come to us now, particularly as we are not looking for other clubs rejects at the moment instead bringing them in through the draft, its not the right time for that yet. Most of our exodus were via retirements the others were possibly encouraged by Richmond as much as the players, I feel we gained more than we lost.

I think Yze speaks just fine, most coaches aren't that good at public speaking imo, they're ex players not college professors, the players seem to be on board which is the important thing and he kept them trying all season I hope we stick with him as we did with Dimma and let Yze and the team develop together.

 

[captain cotch 9]

what a load of crap that Baker & Bolton were always returning home. They left only once the wheels fell off.

If we were Geelong, would Baker & Bolton would have left? Of course not. they left as they no longer could get success here

To say how he "comes across to us vs the playing group is different" - sure. However, we have had a clear exodus of former Premiership players leaving the club in droves, while not a single player from another team has chosen to come to Richmond. Where is your proof of any of this heresay?

Do some research mate.
Blair said post trade period last year that he expected Bakes to go back 2-3 years ago but he kept signing short term deals because he loved the Tigs. They always knew he'd go back at some point.

Shai was simular. Blair had to convince him numerous times to stay. His 2nd kid was the clincher on going home.

 

[Muddiemoose]

They will make mistakes, sure, but our list was getting dire and bare for the last 5 years, and we did nothing. Now we expect a bunch of kids to get us out of the mess? With a few more to come, older quality, just plain old. Geelong kids look like pros compared to ours, as their system just works.

Agree to an extent as in they do tend to draft very well but they also never carry a huge amount of inexperienced players at any one time either

They blood one or two every year and that’s about it so the balance between seasoned players and kids never shifts too much

They are extremely good at playing the free agency and trade game

Not to mention they always seem to be able to get guys at below market value

What did they give up for Smith again?
Picks 17 and 38… for a guy who could be winning the Brownlow tonight

It’s the guys like Bailey Smith that gets the headlines but let’s not forget Jack Martin and guys like Henderson and Toey before them

 

[tigerfan1961]

Agree to an extent as in they do tend to draft very well but they also never carry a huge amount of inexperienced players at any one time either

They blood one or two every year and that’s about it so the balance between seasoned players and kids never shifts too much

They are extremely good at playing the free agency and trade game

Not to mention they always seem to be able to get guys at below market value

What did they give up for Smith again?
Picks 17 and 38… for a guy who could be winning the Brownlow tonight

It’s the guys like Bailey Smith that gets the headlines but let’s not forget Jack Martin and guys like Henderson and Toey before them

Said it at the time that the Bullduds were crazy accepting that deal for Smith. Should have played real tough and said two firsts in last years draft or go away. Thought it was a bad trade back then and still think the same.
Mind you, they made up for it in the Daniel to Norf trade, that was hilarious

 

[The Vaucluse]

It’s really tricky to make a call on whether Yze is a good or bad head coach. He hasn’t really had the list to make that call. In his first year he had a horrendous run of injuries. In his second year, we committed to a belts and braces rebuild.

However, I can see an improvement in players such as Banks, Campbell and Brown which shows they are invested and taking ownership of their careers. That means we are creating a good environment within the club.

There’s also the beginning of a game plan coming through which we could see in the wins against Carlton, Essendon & West Coast games.

The problem Yze has faced is that he doesn’t have the players to drive his game plan week in and week out., particularly against stronger opponents. Listening to his press conferences he tactfully acknowledges the weaknesses in our midfield, which in my mind is where the game starts and finishes.

Anyway, success or failure of the team can’t solely rest on Yze’s shoulders. As we know, footy clubs are multi faceted organisations. It starts with player identification, list analyses, player development, player welfare, conditioning and strength training, injury management, game plans, line coaches, in game adjustments etc…

I genuinely believe we could win 6-8 games next year. I don’t think that’s unrealistic or shooting for the stars. If we have a reasonable run with injuries, there is going to be a genuine competition for places in the team across all the lines. The only area I’m worried about, is a lack of a back up ruckman to cover for “Nank the Tank”.

 

[Ralll]

An interesting takeaway from the SEN interview and others was Yze mentioning how he had to coach the new coaches (pre-Christmas) the game plan before they could instruct the players post Christmas.

I always envisaged multiple round table discussions of the coach presenting the ideas to the assistants + advisors (Balme types) who give some feedback and discussions happen. After which the coach considers it all and finalises the game plan, with the assistants in the discussions the whole way through to the point they are all ready to go well before the 1st day of training in November.

 

[Tiger2709]

Agree to an extent as in they do tend to draft very well but they also never carry a huge amount of inexperienced players at any one time either

They blood one or two every year and that’s about it so the balance between seasoned players and kids never shifts too much

They are extremely good at playing the free agency and trade game

Not to mention they always seem to be able to get guys at below market value

What did they give up for Smith again?
Picks 17 and 38… for a guy who could be winning the Brownlow tonight

It’s the guys like Bailey Smith that gets the headlines but let’s not forget Jack Martin and guys like Henderson and Toey before them

 

[_RT_]

There are 2 keys to whether our % improves.

Firstly it will be how our team defense improves more than just our back line. If we're allowing transition from our F50 to the oppositions F50 as easily as we did this year then it's not going to make much difference as our back 6 will be under all sorts of pressure. This is where Yze needs to get the mix right in terms of our midfield and small/medium forwards to be able to apply pressure when we turn the ball over either inside F50 or in the midfield.

Secondly and more obvious is how well our forward line functions and that is going to rely on Lynch being available for 20+ games and a settled support crew alongside him where 2 of Armstrong Faull Fawcett Lefau or Sims jump up and become settled as the 2nd/3rd option. I think we will get a big improvement when we get to see the likes of Campbell Hotton Lalor & Smillie spend time inside F50 to provide us with the ability to clean up ground balls or be more mobile marking options that provide a point of difference that we've been missing for a couple of years now.

If we can improve in both these areas and play more consistently from quarter to quarter & game to game then I believe we can beat our 5 wins from this year and maybe even push for 7-8 wins especially if we have some luck on the injury front as well.

 

[wegetpumped]

Agree to an extent as in they do tend to draft very well but they also never carry a huge amount of inexperienced players at any one time either

They blood one or two every year and that’s about it so the balance between seasoned players and kids never shifts too much

They are extremely good at playing the free agency and trade game

Not to mention they always seem to be able to get guys at below market value

What did they give up for Smith again?
Picks 17 and 38… for a guy who could be winning the Brownlow tonight

It’s the guys like Bailey Smith that gets the headlines but let’s not forget Jack Martin and guys like Henderson and Toey before them

I know about the corruption at that club, somehow getting top players for nothing. I'm just impressed by their youth system. There is no other club that can bring relatively unknown kids like they do. If you look at us since Rioli in 16, which youth have we brought in that send shivers? The only decent recruitment we've done is middle-aged players, eg, Young Broad, and even that is limited. On Geesook, you watch them get Yamarra and Curnow lol

 

[SunshineBoy]

I attended an event in Perth and noticed how close the Bolton and Baker family was to their loved ones. When children are involved, it’s always the right thing to do. You just dislike Yze, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else says. I know if I left family for an extended time, it would be difficult. So, to say it’s awful unless you have an understanding of the situation, your view will never change.

TBF the moment baker bought his 5 million dollar house he was gone , Bolton missus wanted to go home to family you’re right about kids etc etc etc, Graham we (supporters) wanted him gone .

The worrying bit is no players gave expressed interns in coming to us , although im not sure we are in that window yet , but even in the beggining players wanted to come to s under Dumma

 

[SunshineBoy]

I know about the corruption at that club, somehow getting top players for nothing. I'm just impressed by their youth system. There is no other club that can bring relatively unknown kids like they do. If you look at us since Rioli in 16, which youth have we brought in that send shivers? The only decent recruitment we've done is middle-aged players, eg, Young Broad, and even that is limited. On Geesook, you watch them get Yamarra and Curnow lol

And all under the celery cap amazing accountants

 

[Truetiger]

TBF the moment baker bought his 5 million dollar house he was gone , Bolton missus wanted to go home to family you’re right about kids etc etc etc, Graham we (supporters) wanted him gone .

The worrying bit is no players gave expressed interns in coming to us , although im not sure we are in that window yet , but even in the beggining players wanted to come to s under Dumma

Players usually express going to a lower club for a lot of money or to a successful team. Def not in that position

 

[Boxo004]

Players usually express going to a lower club for a lot of money or to a successful team. Def not in that position

FA don’t build your squad they top your squad off. We won’t be in that position for another 12-24 months before we even start considering. No one is wanting to come to us because we’re not asking the questions yet.

 

[THE THIN MAN]

There are 2 keys to whether our % improves.

Firstly it will be how our team defense improves more than just our back line. If we're allowing transition from our F50 to the oppositions F50 as easily as we did this year then it's not going to make much difference as our back 6 will be under all sorts of pressure. This is where Yze needs to get the mix right in terms of our midfield and small/medium forwards to be able to apply pressure when we turn the ball over either inside F50 or in the midfield.

Secondly and more obvious is how well our forward line functions and that is going to rely on Lynch being available for 20+ games and a settled support crew alongside him where 2 of Armstrong Faull Fawcett Lefau or Sims jump up and become settled as the 2nd/3rd option. I think we will get a big improvement when we get to see the likes of Campbell Hotton Lalor & Smillie spend time inside F50 to provide us with the ability to clean up ground balls or be more mobile marking options that provide a point of difference that we've been missing for a couple of years now.

If we can improve in both these areas and play more consistently from quarter to quarter & game to game then I believe we can beat our 5 wins from this year and maybe even push for 7-8 wins especially if we have some luck on the injury front as well.

I’d say our top priority is getting a better break from the injury gods; we need to keep players on the field.

 

[Muddiemoose]

I know about the corruption at that club, somehow getting top players for nothing. I'm just impressed by their youth system. There is no other club that can bring relatively unknown kids like they do. If you look at us since Rioli in 16, which youth have we brought in that send shivers? The only decent recruitment we've done is middle-aged players, eg, Young Broad, and even that is limited. On Geesook, you watch them get Yamarra and Curnow lol

I think that’s more because our bias that we only focus on the ones who have made it and have no idea about the others for eg
Jamaine Jones, Sam Simpson, Charlie Constable, Ben Jarvis, Jacob Kennerly, Cooper Stevens, Toby Conway and the list goes on and only cherry picked names at random

Like most clubs they Miss more than they hit it’s just we don’t hear or care about the misses


We know the ones we missed because we follow every one of our kids

 

[JackNah_8]

TBF the moment baker bought his 5 million dollar house he was gone , Bolton missus wanted to go home to family you’re right about kids etc etc etc, Graham we (supporters) wanted him gone .

The worrying bit is no players gave expressed interns in coming to us , although im not sure we are in that window yet , but even in the beggining players wanted to come to s under Dumma

Players were keen to join us when we won the premierships.

 

[Infamy]

The worrying bit is no players gave expressed interns in coming to us , although im not sure we are in that window yet , but even in the beggining players wanted to come to s under Dumma

That's certainly a little bit of revisionist history
We had no players come in via trade in Hardwick's first 2 years
Only Bachar we picked up in the PSD as we couldn't get a trade done in Hardwick's 2nd year

 

[Michaels]

There are 2 keys to whether our % improves.

Firstly it will be how our team defense improves more than just our back line. If we're allowing transition from our F50 to the oppositions F50 as easily as we did this year then it's not going to make much difference as our back 6 will be under all sorts of pressure. This is where Yze needs to get the mix right in terms of our midfield and small/medium forwards to be able to apply pressure when we turn the ball over either inside F50 or in the midfield.

Secondly and more obvious is how well our forward line functions and that is going to rely on Lynch being available for 20+ games and a settled support crew alongside him where 2 of Armstrong Faull Fawcett Lefau or Sims jump up and become settled as the 2nd/3rd option. I think we will get a big improvement when we get to see the likes of Campbell Hotton Lalor & Smillie spend time inside F50 to provide us with the ability to clean up ground balls or be more mobile marking options that provide a point of difference that we've been missing for a couple of years now.

If we can improve in both these areas and play more consistently from quarter to quarter & game to game then I believe we can beat our 5 wins from this year and maybe even push for 7-8 wins especially if we have some luck on the injury front as well.

Agree with all of this.

Even an improvement of 10-15% will see a dramatic difference coming from such a low base, forward scoring wise.

My concern though is making sure we have the right Key forward mix up front that can compete in the air to bring the ball to ground to allow the Hottons, Lalors, Campbells etc to get to work.

too many times last year we basically eliminated our own small / medium forwards from the game cause we'd kick it long and none of our forwards could compete in the air across 4 quarters.

This was mostly due to experience, and that part of the game flipped when we put Balta and Lynch down there rather than Lynch and 2 x youngsters.

it's a real tricky one.


If we want to go with Lynch and 2 x youngsters then we need to change our method of ball movement.

 

[wegetpumped]

Players were keen to join us when we won the premierships.

We only got Lynch can't recall anyone else.

 

[SleepingGiant]

There are 2 keys to whether our % improves.

Firstly it will be how our team defense improves more than just our back line. If we're allowing transition from our F50 to the oppositions F50 as easily as we did this year then it's not going to make much difference as our back 6 will be under all sorts of pressure. This is where Yze needs to get the mix right in terms of our midfield and small/medium forwards to be able to apply pressure when we turn the ball over either inside F50 or in the midfield.

Secondly and more obvious is how well our forward line functions and that is going to rely on Lynch being available for 20+ games and a settled support crew alongside him where 2 of Armstrong Faull Fawcett Lefau or Sims jump up and become settled as the 2nd/3rd option. I think we will get a big improvement when we get to see the likes of Campbell Hotton Lalor & Smillie spend time inside F50 to provide us with the ability to clean up ground balls or be more mobile marking options that provide a point of difference that we've been missing for a couple of years now.

If we can improve in both these areas and play more consistently from quarter to quarter & game to game then I believe we can beat our 5 wins from this year and maybe even push for 7-8 wins especially if we have some luck on the injury front as well.

I honestly can't see where we improve at all next season. I think we will see slight improvement from the 2024 draftees and our senior guys like Lynch, Prestia, Vlastuin, Short, Nank, start to drop off further to counter that. I think 2026 is another hard year for us while we re-set our young core and get games into them. I just don't see how Hotton, Smilie, Trainor, Lalor, Armstrong, etc dominate games in their second season.

Yze will have a tough year next year I think. From 2028 onwards I am expecting big results.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

I honestly can't see where we improve at all next season. I think we will see slight improvement from the 2024 draftees and our senior guys like Lynch, Prestia, Vlastuin, Short, Nank, start to drop off further to counter that. I think 2026 is another hard year for us while we re-set our young core and get games into them. I just don't see how Hotton, Smilie, Trainor, Lalor, Armstrong, etc dominate games in their second season.

Yze will have a tough year next year I think. From 2028 onwards I am expecting big results.

Improving in 2026 seems more likely than not to me.

We have quite a few of our senior players play all or almost all games in 2025. But we had the following availability from our mature players:

1 game Lefau
7 games Young
11 games Dow
12 games Prestia
12 games Ralphsmith
13 games Balta
16 games Lynch
16 games Short
20 games Mansell

So there are 86 games missed there by players who were probably best 22 plus another 5 games missed by fully established players, 1 each Nankervis, Broad, Vlastuin, Taranto, Banks. That is 91 games just from established senior players and not including Dow from the list above.

For comparison, taking Geelong's PF team as their best 23, their established senior players 22yo or older missed under 40 games. It is a big difference. I think the average a team's best 23 misses is around 70-75 games in a season. So we are comfortably over that average just from the ranks of our established senior players 22yo and older.

Then we move to the most talented young players:

Gibcus essentially missed the whole season.

As did Smillie.

McAuliffe played 5 games, and was not available for too many more.

Hotton played 7 games.

Lalor played 11 games.

Armstrong or Faull, one of these played most games but Faull did not have a full pre-season, and Armstrong missed half the season.

The team had very poor player availability and also weak continuity as a result. No ability to rest players without it effecting performance. 8 players played who had not even had the benefit of one full pre-season on the club's list. For Geelong to compare again, the corresponding number was zero.

So from where I sit there should be substantial immediate improvement in our performance if just those issues normalise. Let's say this team is able to take the field early season and gets good continuity:

B Gibcus Miller Balta - alternatively Young
HB Broad Vlastuin Banks Brown - alternatively Short
C Ralphsmith Taranto Ross - alternatively wings Trezise, Dow
R Nankervis Hopper Smillie - alternatively McAuliffe, Prestia
HF Campbell Hotton Lalor - alternative Mansell, Rioli, Malcolm Jnr?
F Lynch Lefau Sims - alternative Armstrong, Faull, Fawcett


Not saying we'd be in contention with that side but it is not that tough to see us improving on 5-18 and 66%.

 

[sabso]

What are Indian pacific offering starcevich apart from go home factor? They surely don’t have st kilda money

 

[Forensi Tiger]

Improving in 2026 seems more likely than not to me.

We have quite a few of our senior players play all or almost all games in 2025. But we had the following availability from our mature players:

1 game Lefau
7 games Young
11 games Dow
12 games Prestia
12 games Ralphsmith
13 games Balta
16 games Lynch
16 games Short
20 games Mansell

So there are 86 games missed there by players who were probably best 22 plus another 5 games missed by fully established players, 1 each Nankervis, Broad, Vlastuin, Taranto, Banks. That is 91 games just from established senior players and not including Dow from the list above.

For comparison, taking Geelong's PF team as their best 23, their established senior players 22yo or older missed under 40 games. It is a big difference. I think the average a team's best 23 misses is around 70-75 games in a season. So we are comfortably over that average just from the ranks of our established senior players 22yo and older.

Then we move to the most talented young players:

Gibcus essentially missed the whole season.

As did Smillie.

McAuliffe played 5 games, and was not available for too many more.

Hotton played 7 games.

Lalor played 11 games.

Armstrong or Faull, one of these played most games but Faull did not have a full pre-season, and Armstrong missed half the season.

The team had very poor player availability and also weak continuity as a result. No ability to rest players without it effecting performance. 8 players played who had not even had the benefit of one full pre-season on the club's list. For Geelong to compare again, the corresponding number was zero.

So from where I sit there should be substantial immediate improvement in our performance if just those issues normalise. Let's say this team is able to take the field early season and gets good continuity:

B Gibcus Miller Balta - alternatively Young
HB Broad Vlastuin Banks Brown - alternatively Short
C Ralphsmith Taranto Ross - alternatively wings Trezise, Dow
R Nankervis Hopper Smillie - alternatively McAuliffe, Prestia
HF Campbell Hotton Lalor - alternative Mansell, Rioli, Malcolm Jnr?
F Lynch Lefau Sims - alternative Armstrong, Faull, Fawcett


Not saying we'd be in contention with that side but it is not that tough to see us improving on 5-18 and 66%.

Your comment is logical but quite a few are C grade or past it and so now C grade so even with them not sure we improve much

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Your comment is logical but quite a few are C grade or past it and so now C grade so even with them not sure we improve much

Still think we'd need a pretty bad run of things to go as bad or worse.

Gibcus, Lefau, Young, Smillie, Hotton and potentially McAuliffe played about 20 games between them. Collectively they could add 3-4 best 23 players in 2026 on top of the 2 x top 5 picks we are due to take. And including Hotton and Smillie, a massive 8 players doing their first full pre-season since coming onto the list.

You can't overstate the impact of Gibcus, Lefau, Hotton and Young entering the season rehabbing ACL's, that is a very unusual situation.

Put it another way, if we recruited Gibcus, Lefau, Young, Smillie, Hotton and McAuliffe from other clubs this off-season, with no player losses, would we expect our performance to improve?

The other thing is 79 games were played by players who didn't get to do the full pre-season due to being drafted weeks into the off-season. That figure in 2026 is likely to be closer to 20 games.

Combine those also with players like Ralphsmith(12 games,) Young(7) Lefau(1) McAuliffe(5) Gibcus(1) who had no real pre-season, there were on average 5 players on the field each match who had not done a full pre-season.

So there are two concurrent effects acting here, likely a lot more talent available, and hopefully less of that talent with badly restricted pre-seasons. The combined effect will probably like taking our average team from last year, removing the weakest or worst prepared 5 players and replacing those guys with more talented and better prepared players. As I said in my earlier post, it is not enough to bring us into contention, but should be enough for us to expect a very noticeable improvement.