It isn’t fair to question Adem Yze’s standing as Richmond senior coach, not yet two full years into a full-blown rebuild.
It is, however, plausible to probe his tactical direction and development capabilities, almost three seasons into his Tigerland tenure – and after arguably the club’s worst performance of the year.
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Unfortunately, Yze, who’s contracted through 2028, owns the worst record of any coach after 65 games in charge: 10 wins and 55 losses.
The former Demons assistant led the Tigers to two wins in his first campaign in charge in 2024, before the club offloaded Liam Baker, Daniel Rioli and Shai Bolton for prime draft assets.
That’s when the Tigers were at ground zero.
Last year – rebuild year one – they won five games, beating West Coast twice, Essendon, Carlton and Gold Coast. Their ‘xWins’, based on expected scores, was 4.8, and they won five.
But some believe that was an overperformance, given what’s transpired this season: two wins from 18 matches.
Context is crucially important.
It’s being lost a little bit because the cavalry is returning, but Richmond’s injury situation has been at cataclysmic levels for the majority of the year.
The team morale impact is one thing, especially when most of the ailments were to young and developing players, but the continuity piece on gameday is critical for a young team building brand foundations.
Still, two wins is two wins. And after a glaringly uncompetitive 70-point loss to Hawthorn last Sunday, an increase in fanbase frustration was inevitable.
With help from Champion Data, Foxfooty.com.au examines Richmond’s core game-plan and list problems.
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THE LOSS, IN ALL ITS IGNOMINY
Round 19 is right in the ‘starting to phone it in’ hitting zone for clubs with nothing to play for aside from getting games into youngsters.
But smart remarks aside, there was no excuse for what Richmond dished up against the Hawks, who were allowed to do anything they pleased coming out of defence.
And it’s not like it lacked experience on the day. Yze’s outfit had an average age of 25.5 last weekend, older than the Western Bulldogs (25.3) and Adelaide (25.3), and just a smidgen younger than Melbourne (25.7).
Jarman Impey won’t have another field day like that for a while, with the Tigers barely offering any resistance to Hawthorn’s uncontested game and back-half transition.
“No intent (on Sunday) from Richmond,” Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson, who covered the game for Fox Footy, said on First Crack.
“I’ve done a lot of games over the last couple of years involving the Tigers, and I’ve been really impressed with their development over the time.
“I don’t really let emotion get in the way of how I look at footy anymore, but I was really flat with the way they presented themselves (on Sunday).
“It was a big opportunity against a club that’s going to fight for a grand final potentially in 2026, and they just let each other down in the way they went about it in regard to their complete work rate.”
Richmond lost the uncontested possession battle by a staggering 101. It was their fifth-worst return in the metric over the past five years.
Yes, the Hawks are premiership contenders, but the Tigers lacked intensity from the outset, and then again coming out of half-time.
And it’s been a plaguing issue over the past five weeks.
Richmond’s pressure rating form (180 is considered average):
Vs. Hawthorn: 163
Vs. Melbourne: 169
Vs. Carlton: 178 (lost by two points)
Vs. Collingwood: 150
Vs. North Melbourne: 152.
The subsequent query is obvious enough. Is it a result of coaching instruction, or are they not fully bought-in to the defensive side of the game?
Either answer should breed concern.
Because if it’s coaching, and part of the wider defending-the-ground strategy, it simply isn’t working.
And if it’s because of a lack of work ethic without the ball, there has to be change at selection to reflect that.
“Athletically, they were destroyed by the Hawks. Maybe Adem Yze can use it as a positive to say ‘OK, we’ve got this much gap to close’,” Johnson said on Fox Footy.
“Now, I didn’t expect the gap to be like that. I expected it to be a little bit closer than what I witnessed (on Sunday). They just folded back and allowed (Blake) Hardwick and Impey to get plenty of footy early in the game.
“They weren’t able to close up with any pressure; they didn’t use the ball well enough off the back half of the ground.
“So, from an intent point of view, it was just one where I sit back and go the gap’s a lot broader than I expected it to be.”
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GRIM GAME PLAN REALITY
A blip would be one thing, but Richmond has ranked 18th in the AFL for pressure rating in all three seasons under Adem Yze, per Champion Data.
It’s an indication there’s either a serious application issue in that department, or Yze’s staff is coaching the side in a way that doesn’t lend itself to pressure points.
All season, the Tigers, with the Hawthorn game as evidence in a nutshell, have allowed the opposition to pick off strings of short kicks to gain territory.
It would seem that zoning off, while frustrating for supporters, allows them to defend the ground better and with good shape.
It’s at least part of the reason why Richmond ranks 15th for defending ball movement – one of the few key metrics they don’t sit dead-last or second-last in.
The issue, which has been the case all season, is that opposition teams have still been able to get into Richmond’s defensive half and find a forward target with relative ease.
The Tigers are tied-last with Essendon for scores-per-inside-50 against. They allow a score 52 per cent of the time the ball goes into their defensive 50.
It’s ridiculously leaky, and it’s a regression from the 47 per cent against rate they averaged across the past two seasons.
Why is it leaky? It goes hand-in-hand with scores against from turnover – a metric for which the Tigers rank outright last.
They’re far from a sure thing exiting defence, prone to turnovers and allowing repeat entries when trying to escape their back half. It means easier re-entries for the opposition.
But most concerningly, and in more ammunition for those already doubting Yze’s capabilities as a tactician, Richmond has not improved defensively since he assumed the reins in 2024.
In fact, in the most integral categories, it’s gone backwards.
Proof of a lack of defensive progress under Adem Yze, via Champion Data.Source: FOX SPORTS
So, on a lighter note, what are the Tigers doing right – or, at least, better than other areas? Stoppage.
It’s central to how they want to try and win, as currently constructed.
Yze has mentioned in the public forum several times that he wants to be a territory side that plays a strong forward-half game.
It starts with winning at the contest, then forward-half retention, and structure off the back of that. They’re starting to get the first part right.
Richmond has won the clearance count in four consecutive matches – against Hawthorn (+6), Melbourne (+6), Carlton (+12) and Collingwood (+1).
According to Champion Data’s tracking, it’s the first time since 2015 that it has won that count on four-straight occasions.
There’s obviously still work to be done from there, with Yze’s mob still ranking 16th for points from stoppage – underlining a familiar capitalisation issue – but it’s at least one arrow pointing in the right direction.
But while the best sides in the competition get bang for their stoppage buck, they also punish opponents by scoring from turnover – the source from which the majority of AFL scoring comes.
Outside of foundational numbers like points for and against, points from turnover is arguably the best premiership indicator out there, with Sydney, Hawthorn, Brisbane and Fremantle making up the top four right now.
Richmond sits comfortably 18th.
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YZE’S DEVELOPMENT STRUGGLE
The other – and for some, most important of all – part of the Richmond discussion is the list’s development under the guidance of Yze.
Before anything else, it must be said that the coach has been hamstrung like no other in terms of selection availability this year.
It comes after departed high-performance boss Ben Serpell left behind a mess that at one stage almost required VFL top-ups to field a full AFL team.
Crucially, every single youngster from Richmond’s highly-touted crop of 2024 draftees – Sam Lalor, Josh Smillie, Taj Hotton, Jonty Faull, Luke Trainor, Harry Armstrong, Tom Sims and Jasper Alger – has dealt with injury at some stage this year.
And in all cases bar Trainor’s, it was at least a medium-term issue that shelved them, with stress injuries especially prevalent.
Unfortunately, for a group that desperately needs to play games and quickly, their progression – for the majority – has all but been set back a year.
Because AFL clubs will continually preach the importance of the 50-game mark as a developmental milestone for young players.
For example, Lalor, due to injury, is on pace to reach 50 AFL games in his fifth year, as opposed to his third. For rebuilding clubs like Richmond, which needs to get off the bottom quick-fast, even one-year development delays are critical.
But as triple Richmond premiership star Jack Riewoldt notes below, those kids are “going to develop no matter what”. Through the Yze lens, it’s more about the products of the 2020-23 drafts.
Maurice Rioli and Samson Ryan ( 2020) have shown few signs of genuine development into reliable first-team players, while Kane McAuliffe and Liam Fawcett (2023) have shown scattered glimpses but lack consistency.
But it’s the 2021 draft crop – that initially gave hope of propelling the next premiership era – that’s turning out to be the most disappointing.
Richmond took five players inside the top 30: Josh Gibcus (No.9 overall), Tom Brown (No.17), Tyler Sonsie (No.28), Sam Banks (No.29) and Judson Clarke (No.30).
Gibcus, who hopeful Tigers fans still think can be the club’s top key defender of the future, was playing VFL footy when he suffered his season-ending knee setback.
Brown looks a shell of his early AFL self that showed such promising glimpses he could be a creative-kicking interceptor.
Sonsie, who’s never really settled in one position, currently can’t crack the senior team and has been in and out since arriving at the club.
Banks might have the best body of work of the lot, but he has his flaws as a slightly-built, offensive-leaning half-backer who’s also had his injury hindrances.
But Clarke is the most luckless of them all, having suffered three ruptured ACLs before the age of 22. Thankfully, he’s finally back on the park in the VFL and pressing for his first AFL game in over two years.
Overall, that 2021 class – which, right now, looks like a big miss – spent their third, fourth, and now fifth AFL seasons under Yze.
He isn’t completely responsible, and he can’t control injuries, but he must shoulder some blame.
Third-year senior coach Adem Yze has a big rebuild challenge on his hands at Richmond.Source: FOX SPORTS
Riewoldt, speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch, challenged Tigers CEO Shane Dunne’s recent backing of Yze’s player development.
“(Dunne said) they were happy with the development of their players under Yze, and they were satisfied with the coach … Injuries are a massive issue for them, but I would challenge the development piece that the players are developing under him,” Riewoldt said on Monday night.
“I think there are maybe three players who have developed – Seth Campbell has become a really good player under Yze, Jack Ross has spent more time in the middle … and the other one is Ben Miller, who’s certainly turned himself into a very handy defender.
“You can’t really count the first or second-year players, because they’re going to develop no matter what, coming into an AFL list.”
And despite the repeated backing of Dunne and president John O’Rourke, the topic of Yze’s future has recently arisen – with the suggestion his Tigerland time could be coming to a premature end.
Riewoldt, who said Yze’s 10-55 record “doesn’t stack up well on history”, on Monday night revealed intel he’d gleaned from top Tigers figures.
“Speaking to Richmond people (on Monday), high up Richmond people … Adem Yze will be coaching Richmond at Round 1 next year,” he said.
“There (were) rumblings that potentially his job was on the line, but the Tigers are sticking fat – as they did with Damien Hardwick.
“There was starting to be murmurings about the Tiges, and rightly so.
“… But it certainly leaves questions on the back end of the season, with five games to go – and especially Round 21, when they play West Coast at the MCG.
“I think it’s a real question – you had the selection from two of them (Yze and Andrew McQualter). If they lose to West Coast at the ‘G … you’d have to be asking the question of if they picked the right man for the job.”