Midfield 2026

[THE_GUN]

No, it's not finished, and like I said, it will take another 2 years to really see how it's progressing. The important thing is Hope that we got it right, cause with Tassie coming in, who knows how the corrupt AFL will go.

Tassie coming in is going to affect Richmond the least
We already have our next team by then with another 4-5 players in the 2026 draft

Next season we will be hunting free agents and our last lot of draftee's

 

[wegetpumped]

Tassie coming in is going to affect Richmond the least
We already have our next team by then with another 4-5 players in the 2026 draft

Next season we will be hunting free agents and our last lot of draftee's

Your basin, your basket will be full, and all will make it ok

 

[partycorolla]

No, it's not finished, and like I said, it will take another 2 years to really see how it's progressing. The important thing is Hope that we got it right, cause with Tassie coming in, who knows how the corrupt AFL will go.

They'll go very pro-Tassie for sure. We'll need to use some different levers in the ext 3 years - FA, trade, MSD rather than just draft.

 

[4tune8]

They'll go very pro-Tassie for sure. We'll need to use some different levers in the ext 3 years - FA, trade, MSD rather than just draft.

You can basically rule out FA in 2027 as well.

Tassie will have access to 18 OOC players, one per club.

 

[THE_GUN]

You can basically rule out FA in 2027 as well.

Tassie will have access to 18 OOC players, one per club.

They may have access but doesnt mean players will want to go there
for a 25/26 year old free agent it literally means they will be playing for a side that wont be any good for the remainder of their playing careers and have to live in shitty Tassie

 

[Shinrisker]

R1 Team

B: Vlastuin, Miller, Gibcus
HB: Banks, Balta, Grjl
C: Cumming, Lalor, Hotton
HF: Rioli, Faull, Campbell
F: Armstrong, Lynch, Lefau
R: Nank (oh boy), Taranto, Hopper
IC: Broad, Mansall, Brown, Sims, Prestia

Team Analysis
Speed - Hotton off the middle, Campbell/Rioli in the forward line, Grjl off half back.

Strength - Lefau as a midsized marking option, Taranto/Hopper in the midfield with the youth around them, along with Prestia, two on the field at once, not all three, and mix the third with Cumming/Lalor/Hotton/Campbell/Grlj for speed.

Height - Sims on the field to support Nank as he's basically gonna be a zebra amongst giraffes next year in the centre.

Pressure - Rioli/Mansall/Brown all bring pressure across the ground from sample size of 2025. Rewarded with list spots.

Experience - Vlastuin off the backline, midfield full of experience and Lynch leading the forwards, we are officially a youthful team however, we have experience on each line.

Depth
1. Luke Trainor (I can't find a position for him at the moment, I think some VFL time will be good to establish a position, as I think Grjl suits speed off half back, whilst Cumming and Hotton are exciting in the centre and completely strong bodied and slow Taranto/Hopper/Prestia combo.
2. Jayden Short (can be half forward goal kicker if he works on his game, no more backline)
3. Oliver Hayes Brown (will most likely replace Nank when we lose 90% of the hitouts and centre clearances cause Nank is 199cm and cant jump or wrestle anymore)
4. Liam Fawcett/Campbell Gray (Really should be playing, but can't fit them in)
5. Tyler Sonsie
6. Jack Ross (has had so much opportunity, unless he becomes a genuine tagger, i dont like his chances playing)
7. Josh Smillie (probably needs a year in the VFL, injured all the time and what I saw in the VFL I didn't like - needs to play though)

Lol, were not playing 5 tall forwards

 

[4tune8]

They may have access but doesnt mean players will want to go there
for a 25/26 year old free agent it literally means they will be playing for a side that wont be any good for the remainder of their playing careers and have to live in shitty Tassie

If they're not going to be any good for 6 years then that's no different to Carlton, Essendon, Melb. Norf, Saints, Pies etc.

The $5m sign on bonus might make living in Tassie easier to put up with. Besides, Tassie isn't too bad, out of the spotlight, great fishing and outdoors, fabulous seafood, down to earth people.

 

[THE_GUN]

If they're not going to be any good for 6 years then that's no different to Carlton, Essendon, Melb. Norf, Saints, Pies etc.

The $5m sign on bonus might make living in Tassie easier to put up with. Besides, Tassie isn't too bad, out of the spotlight, great fishing and outdoors, fabulous seafood, down to earth people.

I think people misinterpret the $5 mil sign on bonus
Its not all going to 1 player and will probably be distributed between 5-6 players so roughly around $1 mil each
When a player is getting $1.5 mil plus for 6-7 years ( $10 mil over 7 years)
Im not sure a player like Butters / Daicos / Sheezel are going to worry about the extra $1 mil and have to live in tassie for 7 years and miss out on what a club like Richmond could offer.

What would you take $10 mil at Richmond for 7 years or $11 mil living in tassie getting thumped

 

[rammmbo]

They may have access but doesnt mean players will want to go there
for a 25/26 year old free agent it literally means they will be playing for a side that wont be any good for the remainder of their playing careers and have to live in shitty Tassie

You do realise that Melbourne is shit place to live these days

 

[THE_GUN]

You do realise that Melbourne is shit place to live these days

Compared to tassie its still levels above

 

[Tzatziki_Man]

Lol, were not playing 5 tall forwards

Who are the 5 i listed?

 

[Meteoric Rise]

I am thinking more in terms of the future midfield that could hopefully take us to a flag starting to take shape in 2026, mainly playing limited minutes around some of the pre-existing midfield structure, or Prestia, Taranto and Hopper.

Cumming, Smillie and McAuliffe look specialist inside mids once they mature. Lalor and Hotton are really high class mid-forwards, who are very creative with the ball. That is basically a full inside midfield already on the list if they all develop well. Around that we should just need to find the players to perform the defensive midfield functions that stop our team from getting cut up by opposition midfields. From our previous gun teams the Lamberts and Jack Grahams of the world. There are probably some candidates on the list already, Mansell, Rioli, Steely Green perhaps Trezise. And we have quietly snuck Roberts-Thompson onto our list perhaps with this type of role in mind. It would be good to get a Rolls Royce model along the lines of a Dunkley, Rowbottom, Atkins type.

Whatever is the case, in 2026 we want to see some priority given to our future midfield spending time in the middle. A lot of these future midfield guys you want to see sharing maybe 160% inside mid minutes between them(of 300% total, Taranto, Hopper and Prestia sharing the other 140%.)

So the future players mixture might be:

50% each any two of McAuliffe, Smillie, Cumming

30% Lalor

20% Hotton

10% other - this would likely come from any of the small forwards or a Jack Ross

5

Jack Ross

Age

25

Ht

187cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.2

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

8.4

5star

M

2.2

2star

T

2.7

4star

CL

3.0

4star

D

13.7

3star

K

6.7

3star

HB

7.0

4star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.7

3star

CL

2.0

4star

D

17.8

5star

K

8.0

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.8

5star

CL

3.0

5star

applying a tag perhaps.

We have very suddenly gone from speculative types like Sonsie, Dow & Ross needing to fill out our midfield to it being full of high quality prospects. If we were able to use one or two of our big draft picks from 2026 & 2027 to swap say Hopper or Taranto for a really good mature mid 23-26yo range, I think we'd really be set.

 

[4tune8]

I am thinking more in terms of the future midfield that could hopefully take us to a flag starting to take shape in 2026, mainly playing limited minutes around some of the pre-existing midfield structure, or Prestia, Taranto and Hopper.

Cumming, Smillie and McAuliffe look specialist inside mids once they mature. Lalor and Hotton are really high class mid-forwards, who are very creative with the ball. That is basically a full inside midfield already on the list if they all develop well. Around that we should just need to find the players to perform the defensive midfield functions that stop our team from getting cut up by opposition midfields. From our previous gun teams the Lamberts and Jack Grahams of the world. There are probably some candidates on the list already, Mansell, Rioli, Steely Green perhaps Trezise. And we have quietly snuck Roberts-Thompson onto our list perhaps with this type of role in mind. It would be good to get a Rolls Royce model along the lines of a Dunkley, Rowbottom, Atkins type.

Whatever is the case, in 2026 we want to see some priority given to our future midfield spending time in the middle. A lot of these future midfield guys you want to see sharing maybe 160% inside mid minutes between them(of 300% total, Taranto, Hopper and Prestia sharing the other 140%.)

So the future players mixture might be:

50% each any two of McAuliffe, Smillie, Cumming

30% Lalor

20% Hotton

10% other - this would likely come from any of the small forwards or a Jack Ross applying a tag perhaps.

We have very suddenly gone from speculative types like Sonsie, Dow & Ross needing to fill out our midfield to it being full of high quality prospects. If we were able to use one or two of our big draft picks from 2026 & 2027 to swap say Hopper or Taranto for a really good mature mid 23-26yo range, I think we'd really be set.

It's also important to look at the defensive half stoppage and clearance structure. We look pretty stocked with the forward half structure and this year should tell us just how well they project.

The addition of Grlj will go a long way in generating clearances and setting up transitional play from the back half as well as providing outside run for centre clearances. Smillie is the other that I think will generate movement, he was named in defence in the AA U16 side and I think his disposal and stoppage craft absolutely suits that position. Retschko and NRT could well play pivotal roles linking our defensive half mids with the forward half mids, along with some contested marking or at least getting the ball to the ground from our tall forwards.

We were very poor in a number of areas this year, pretty much last in contested possessions, tackles, ground ball gets, clearances etc. The poor showing in those areas led us to having the lowest entries to inside 50 and consequently the lowest amount of scoring shots in the comp.

A well structured and competent whole of ground midfield group is what I'm most excited to see, combined with a solid defence and dangerous forward line.

 

[Dr Tigris]

In 2026 I hope we play a lot of our younger guys in the midfield for a reasonable amount of rotations, but probably none regularly. I want to see Lalor, Smillie , and Hotton play there regulalrly. But I really want to see Ross, MRJ, KMac and Campbell have regular stints inside. My other guy is Sonsie, who, if it clicks, can provide good contested ball and good delivery (But 'if it clicks' is a fairly large call). Cumming is an obvious choice, but I see no need to push him in unless they reckon he'll be fine and we have space on the list.

Aside from young guys I want to see get a much more dynamic and pressurised midfield set up. We are too slow and can't defend a break away. MRJ, KMac and Campbell provide that speed and dynamism. Pretty much 100% of the time I would like to see us having the ability to apply that second ball pressure. (Hopper and TT are fine for first touch pressure, but then they just don't have the legs needed).

And most importantly, I want us to focus on developing the 2028 midfield. I don't care if playing younger guys results in 2 extra losses if at the of season 2026 both the team and individuals have progressed. Don't bang them up such that it'll impact their long term career. But fast track development and give the pretty much mature guys (KMac, MRJ and Sonsie especially) a chance to show they have a future. 2026 is a year we won't win the premiership, but it might be a year we seed our next premiership.

So stay with TT, Hopps and Meatball as the main guys. But they are core around which 50%-60% of the midfield time is structured (i.e. I hope these 3 guys play no more than 50% of all the midfield time).

Outside mids might still be a bit more of a catch as catch can thing. Although I have very high hopes for Grilj - he can be a star.

 

[THE_GUN]

2026 should be an experimental year that is used to develop the midfield and foward line to see what we have and how it all works with the game plan whilst really having a good look at players like Sonsie , Green , Smith to see if any are worth persisting with in their preferred positions.

Would also be nice to see if players like Rioli , Campbell , Alger have any midfield weapons

 

[Coach_Required]

**** I'm going to be flat when r1 we line up with Nank, Prestia, Taranto and Hopper in the centre square.

At least it will mean another top 5 draft pick in coming at seasons end.

 

[DickieKnee]

**** I'm going to be flat when r1 we line up with Nank, Prestia, Taranto and Hopper in the centre square.

I saw a table detailing midfielders possessions and score involvements across every AFL team.
Hopper and Tarranto were at about middle of the road for possessions per game average and meatball further back. Score involvements had Hopper and Tarranto dead last with Prestia slightly above them, by far the worst midfield in the comp.

 

[Tackle Bag]

I saw a table detailing midfielders possessions and score involvements across every AFL team.
Hopper and Tarranto were at about middle of the road for possessions per game average and meatball further back. Score involvements had Hopper and Tarranto dead last with Prestia slightly above them, by far the worst midfield in the comp.

Hard to be involved in score involvements with a weak forward line

 

[Drunken Wookie]

Hard to be involved in score involvements with a weak forward line

theyre also mad hackers of the footy whenever they get it for a split second on the inside. neither try to break free and hit a target and that's their major flaw.

 

[Mr Unbelievable]

Mcauliffe needs to work on his tank and run out games, could be gun if he can

 

[Wooden Robot]

Compared to tassie its still levels above

And how many years, or even days have you lived in Tassie?
And how recent?

 

[Wooden Robot]

You do realise that Melbourne is shit place to live these days

Darn right it is.
The pits!