Richmond didn’t choose a recession, any more than governments induce an economic coma.
Once it was evident that they were in a severe downturn, however, the Tigers made a pragmatic calculation: They would garner as much draft capital as they could, as quickly as they could.
They took the view that if you’re going down this painful road, then “twere well it were done quickly” as Macbeth put it when contemplating the grim business of regicide.
LeBron James, the NBA’s generational performer, has shifted teams three times: From Cleveland to Miami, back to Cleveland, and then on to Hollywood’s LA Lakers.Credit: Artwork: Matt Davidson; Photo: Getty Images
So, rather than trying to hang on to Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli – two of their top three to four players – they traded that contracted duo to Fremantle and Gold Coast, for a raft of high-end picks, and further strengthened that hand with by granting Liam Baker his wish to become an Eagle.
Jack Graham, a less-valuable commodity than the aforementioned trio, but a dual-premiership player, nonetheless, joined West Coast as a free agent.
On Wednesday night, we had a pre-season snapshot of Richmond’s lot in 2025, when Collingwood, the AFL’s most-seasoned side, massacred a callow Tiger team.
Fremantle will be hoping Shai Bolton, pictured here during the recent Indigenous All-Stars game, was the missing piece to their premiership puzzle.Credit: AFL Photos
The Tigers will field stronger teams when they regain Tom Lynch, the suspended Noah Balta, and the oft-injured Dion Prestia. It should also be noted that their first four draft choices – No.1 pick Sam Lalor, Josh Smillie (pick seven), Taj Hotton (12) and Jonty Faull (14) – did not play in Wednesday’s pre-season match.
The score was misleading in that Collingwood were 19.1 at one stage and the profligate Tigers had nearly as many forward entries. Lynch and Balta would certainly close the gap.
Alas, the chasm in disposal skills, cohesion and defensive capability was a genuine reflection of each team’s personnel, and Collingwood spared the Tigers by sitting Nick Daicos down midway through the third quarter.
The Richmond exodus is a dramatic example of player power. It is a scenario that this column finds troubling, and which should prompt unease at AFL headquarters and within certain clubs.
Players have always left for money, for family and opportunity. What is striking about the Richmond exodus is that the players have left precisely at the time when the club is flatlining on the field.
Richmond insiders maintain that Bolton and Baker had compelling personal reasons for heading home to Perth; Bolton having two young kids and desiring family support. Baker, who was misty-eyed about leaving, was out of contract and would’ve been difficult to hold. He contemplated leaving two years earlier.
Damien Hardwick and Brendon Gale are no longer at Tigerland.Credit: Getty Images
Rioli’s exit, though, can be read as a direct consequence of Richmond a) falling far from contention, and b) Damien Hardwick signalling the end of the era by stepping down and beginning a new life on the Gold Coast.
If the Hardwick era had a Mount Rushmore, almost everyone whose face might have adorned the rock has gone: Dusty Martin, Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt, Shane Edwards, president Peggy O’Neal and Brendon Gale. The key survivors are football bosses Blair Hartley and Tim Livingstone, who are as crucial to the near ground zero rebuild as anyone, Hartley having already presided over that exodus and the astonishing draft haul (eight picks) that followed.
The Tigers will gain more serious top-end talent at season’s end, too, given they are literally Winx odds ($1.20) to finish bottom and hold North Melbourne’s first pick, which should be inside the first five or six.
Dustin Martin farewelled the Richmond faithful last year.Credit: AFL Photos
Richmond fans, on the whole, accept the boom-bust cycle, the middle-aged supporter having endured yellow and bleak times often since the ’80s and ’90s. It is much easier to suffer through a 2-20 season – and I doubt it will be much better this year – when the club has banked three premierships.
Adem Yze has the task of rebuilding the Tigers.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Richmond’s large supporter base, brand strength, MCG tenancy and financial resources render the recession less dangerous than for half the clubs; unlike the Tigers of old (’80s and ’90s), this version won’t find fiscal quicksand, albeit their Punt Road redevelopment will consume much of their cash. Whenever they do vault the ladder, free agents and quality recruits will be keen to jump onboard (see Hawthorn).
The exodus is worrisome, not so much for the Tigers themselves but for the competition. It bespeaks a culture that is edging closer to the NBA, where the sport’s generational performer, LeBron James, shifted teams three times: from Cleveland to Miami, back to Cleveland and then on to Hollywood’s Lakers.
The AFL doesn’t want or need the NBA’s club-hopping LeBronomy, in which players and clubs are empowered to leave each other, at short-notice, when either party feels their title chances are teetering.
Richmond have traded Bolton and Rioli with their eyes open, cognisant of what will happen this year and next. They didn’t have to let Rioli and Bolton go and have stockpiled picks for the Tassie Devils’ evisceration of future drafts.
Consider, though, what would happen to the Giants, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide or Melbourne, should four or five key players suddenly become homesick – or sick at the prospect of losing – once their team crashes. Or, as in Gold Coast’s case, if they never rise.
Richmond’s freefall arguably compromises the fixture, in a season in which the gap between first and 14th has never been so narrow; those who play the Tigers twice have a leg up over those who don’t.
Brisbane had a major exodus in 2013, when Elliot Yeo and Sam Docherty headlined the young players who bailed from a leaky ship. The Suns’ failure over a decade is largely due to their inability to exercise border control.
Increasingly, this NBA culture of self-fulfilment – move to the contender if you can – is accepted and even promoted as desirable by ex-players in the media.
The Richmond quartet, though, weren’t necessarily chasing success and I would contend that, having played in multiple premierships, they didn’t need that motivation.
Coincidentally or not, they’ve left – be it for family, friends, financial security or to reunite with an old coach – at the instant when the club that delivered for them has fallen into hard times.
One hopes that this does not become standard.
Who’s the best player in the AFL?
Have your say on the hottest topics in footy, including your club’s biggest strengths and weaknesses, and we’ll share the findings in an upcoming article.
Age readers can complete the survey here, Herald readers can air their views here, and Brisbane Times readers can have their say here. The survey closes on Monday, March 3 at 6pm AEDT.
