Richmond coach Adam Yze is dropping the handbrake on his young Tigers.
The Tigers are the only winless team in the competition after six rounds and face the rejuvenated Melbourne in the annual Anzac Day eve clash on Friday night.
They enter as outsiders but Yze, in his third season at the helm, is calling on his players to adopt a “nothing to lose” mentality.
“(Melbourne) have started the season really well and obviously still have a lot of premiership players in their side,” Yze said.
“It’s no secret they’re highly talented, they’ve got some younger lads playing certain roles that are helping and obviously their captain is in really good form.
“It’s going to be a big test for us, on a big stage, against a team that’s in form – they’ve just beaten last year’s premiers.
“Our boys are really looking forward to that, we’ve got nothing to lose, we’ve got some young lads playing.
“It’s an amazing game, we’re really privileged to be playing in it, we’ve got to do it justice.”
Richmond is unveiling debutants Sam Cumming and Tom Burton as well as regaining Tom Lynch’s experience.
Yze expects the hard-running debutants to take their opponents on “a tour of the MCG” while relishing in having Lynch’s leadership back in the forward 50.
“(Lynch) is ready to go, he was almost ready last week and the decision was to be really cautious with him,” Yze said.
“He would’ve been coming off a five-day break if we played him last week, so we took that extra week to get another week of training in him.
“We’ve obviously got a really young forward line at the moment, so to have him down there is one important for leadership.
“But his contest and the form he was in before he hurt himself was really strong. We can’t wait to see him back out there in our colours.”
Originally published as AFL 2026: Richmond coach Adem Yze says his side has ‘nothing to lose’