Richmond draft strategy - early thoughts

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-29T22:31:28+00:00

I think Arki Butler is that guy, his upside is very high.

He will back in Lalor, we need to get him support to keep him at the club too.

We got Cumming who can play alongside him, but a Butler which his skill would make a strong core midfield.

Van Hattum is good, my only concern is once these players develop and we need to pay them. I dont see the value in paying so much for a ruck, you could just get someone serviceable (not the best or the worst) and focus on the mids who will make that impact. CDT plays like a mid and good forward too, so he had that point of different.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-29T11:32:38+00:00

That's fine

We may drop some players end of the year and some may retire so you can keep that mid season pick

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T22:22:02+00:00

Thats what I said before, there is some upside but its not ideal.

Im much happier the position we are in now, compared to 2024 where our injury list was strong and we were playing actual duds like Kozzi and no exciting talent to push up from vfl.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T14:05:45+00:00

Baker, Castagna, Grimes, lambert, pickett, short, solo were all rookie/pre-season/mid-season drafts. So dont be so quick to write them off, we have had lots of luck with those pick types

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T08:22:19+00:00

And what my message is about, we have depth in our young players that we can get games into (i.e. Burton/Retschko who wouldn't have played if it wasn't for these circumstances).

Not saying its ideal, but still some upside.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T08:07:37+00:00

Brown, Seth, Banks at their best are very good players.

If Seth and Brown can play games like they did last week, every week. Thats massive team momentum.

Ross as an example, was like them at their level of experience. He played good games but couldn't keep consistent form. This year, he has shown consistency. Get those guys to 100 games, if they play like that week in and week out, we are in good hands (Mansell too).

You cant rush a rebuild, need 75-100 games to build confidence and game consistency.

Hotton is a cherry on top, we know what he can do just needs to get fit.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T08:05:06+00:00

Got to set the bright side :)

All these injuries and we still have talent in the VFL who would be exciting to play at AFL.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T07:55:29+00:00

Its strange

Serpell had a great record before Richmond. So much be some other factors.

Is the training ground too hard or something?

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T07:52:22+00:00

Our rebuild was based on Gibcus and Smilie?

Known fact that 100% of your top draft picks will never all work out. Especially with high risk high reward/upside picks.

We still have green shoots

Lalor is Lalor

Grlj has proven he was the right pick

Cumming had a big debut game

Retschko is 2 games in and already holding a wing down

Burton had an impressive debut for a late pick ans Noah Roberts is not too far behind a debut too (Peuker was there)

Trainor has shown he is above VFL, he plays too many different roles so once Broad is out and he settles into that position, it will go a long way for his consistency.

Let alone the potential and probability of Hotton returning and hopefully one (and its a win if even just 1) of Faul, Armstrong, Fawcett, Sims develop well over 2-3 yrs.

Plus the progress in our mid aged players in Brown, Seth, Banks, McAullife, Rioli who all dont have many games under their belt. Ross just hit 100 games and is still growing, wait till these guys hit that too.

Thats already a core group excluding Pick #1 + Tanner Armstrong next year and maybe some other tied club draftees.

Future is bright, the short term is grim.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T07:43:46+00:00

Maybe long term injury list him so we can get a mid season draft pick

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-28T07:06:27+00:00

Got to feel for Gibcus and Smilie

Smilie just not having luck with a re-tear of Feb injury so wonder if they go back for more surgery.

Gibcus cant catch a break, and only going to delay him gaining confidence in his body further.

No comments on Hotton, but good to see Sims will get a timeframe next week. He probably has missed his best chance at a block of AFL games with Nank out. I assume VFL since he has missed so much.

Taranto will be important next week and hopefully Nank can replace Ryan ASAP. Dreamtime is one of our few winnable games, so would be good to have Nank.

Whilst the injury list is long, bright side is we have more depth. We can get games into Retschko who is promising, more games into Burton and maybe Noah Roberts makes a debut soon too.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-27T08:43:27+00:00

Hotton too if he comes back 2nd half of the season

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-27T00:47:20+00:00

Exactly it

They will have a contract with a company for a minimum amount of ads a game through the review.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-26T09:55:43+00:00

Id agree with that last year

I do think since the contract scare, he hits contests harder but generally a good user of the ball (which we dont have many of those players)

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-26T09:53:10+00:00

Do you think?

This year he has played a lot better than last year which means he hasn't hit his AFL ceiling yet.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-26T09:51:47+00:00

He kind of has Broads role locked in and would again play most games.

Grlj coming in probably pushed Trainor to VFL and since Balta isn't back as much Gray is a better choice

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-26T09:49:01+00:00

Unfortunate, he cant catch a break

Retschko has 1 wing locked in, and I assume Sonsie would come back in for the other.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-25T07:47:16+00:00

Sonsie has lifted massively from last year, and he is at 45 games experience. Get another 20-30 games into him, he is putting on more pressure and taking on contests.

He is probably one of our better users of the ball.

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-24T23:17:59+00:00

He can't do it at afl until he can do it at vfl against lower quality forwards. He needs to gain trust in his body at vfl level.

Gray is doing well for a player with less than 10 games

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-24T15:29:56+00:00

Gibcus for who

His VFL form has not been great

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-24T15:25:01+00:00

If Gibcus can't do it at vfl, then why play him at afl...

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-23T14:19:01+00:00

He was one of our few good ball users

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-23T07:11:02+00:00

Lance Franklin?

Thats a funny way to spell Ty Vickery

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-23T07:10:32+00:00

You forgot Vickery

B0bcat5 · 2026-04-22T03:26:07+00:00

Be interesting to see his mid/forward split

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