The brother of emerging youngster Taj Hotton has joined his sibling at Punt Road, with former second round draft pick Olli Hotton signing with Richmond's VFL side for the 2026 season.
Olli Hotton is the older brother of Taj and was selected with Pick 35 in the 2022 National Draft by St Kilda. However, the 21-year-old midfield-forward weapon was unable to make a senior debut in his time at the club, despite averaging a solid 16 disposals and four tackles per game for the Sandringham Zebras over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
He then signed for North Melbourne's VFL side in 2025 but managed just three games at state level for the Kangaroos.
Hotton highlighted the opportunity to work alongside his brother as a driving factor for his commitment to the club, as well as the chance to build some more consistent reps at state level.
"With my limited opportunity last season on the VFL list that I was at, I thought a fresh start would be good, and Richmond seemed like the best place to be," Hotton told Richmond Media.
"It's very exciting [playing with Taj]. That's 99 per cent of the reason why I have come here.
"We are very close, and we have had one year of proper footy together, and we loved our time. We played together really well, but hopefully I'm not playing with him at all next year, but it is very exciting to see.
"Travelling together sometimes and training together, running together, gym together, so I push him and he pushes me, and I know we will get a lot more out of it."
Hotton revealed that Richmond's recruiters engaged with him about a potential move following Taj's stellar rookie season, with the agile midfielder averaging 12.7 disposals and 4.3 score involvements per game.
Olli hopes he can bring a similar flair to the Tigers VFL midfield as the club looks to reach a fourth consecutive Finals campaign.
“[Richmond] were asking what I was doing next year, and then dad floated the question and asked if there would be a chance that I could come down here and see what the opportunities would be like, both with VFL and AFL, and just see what would happen," Olli said.
“It kind of just snowballed from there.
“Similar to Taj, there are definitely similar traits, but I think he is a bit more zippy, side to side, whereas I'm more straight line with speed.
“We are a similar player, inside, clean hands in the contest. I can do my thing in there and try to burst forward and see if I can hit the scoreboard, which is my main impact.”
