A 200cm Tom Stewart? That's what Richmond just acquired in the 2026 AFL Mid-Season Draft.
With pick two, the Tigers plucked Kye Annand out of Geelong's VFL side and with Richmond's mile long injury list, Tigers fans may not have to wait long to see their new toy in action. So what will the tall defender bring to Punt Road?
Annand starred in the VFL Young Guns side - coached by Box Hill head of development Jesse Cucinotta - that took on Talent League Young Guns in late April.
Cucinotta spoke exclusively to Zero Hanger about what he saw in key defender Annand as a footballer and a person.
"I'll start with the person because I think that's the most important thing," Cucinotta said. "We had a captain's run on the Friday night (before the game), which we held in Dingley (east Melbourne).
"(Annand's) from Geelong and he was the first one on the message, like, 'Hey, I would love to come, but look, I'm just not going to make it', which we had no expectation of him doing. But just the way that he was able to communicate from the get-go, and then the impression he made as soon as he walked into the group the next day was absolutely fantastic.
"He's, you know, obviously a little bit more experienced than some of the other boys, I think this is his fourth year of VFL or being within the system, but from a character point of view, he demonstrated leadership, his energy, he brought a calmness at the same time.
"We ended up selecting him as captain, just by meeting him that morning, which I think that speaks plenty of what his character is, and he was a great energiser on the day."
A native to the surf coast of Victoria, Annand played his football at Ocean Grove and Queenscliff before moving through the ranks at Geelong Falcons and into the Cats' VFL program where has played 26 games since 2023.
While Annand's character immediately impressed, having watched him as an opponent at Geelong and under him at Young Guns, Cucinotta said Annand quickly reminded him of another mature age recruit from the Cattery.
"Box Hill played Geelong a couple of weeks earlier and, you know, it's really hard not to take to seeing him in the white and blue hoops and he's got the long blonde hair and you've got to make the comparison to the Tom Stewart lookalike," he said.
"Then being able to coach him in the Young Guns games, you can absolutely see that, you know, they're almost a spitting image of each other; the way that he reads the game.
"We were trying to allow boys to just play to their weapons and no doubt his weapon is the ability to read the play and to bring his intercept game and he was able to do that against Box Hill, but he took it to another level from what I saw at the Young Guns game.
"It was exceptional and he was one of the better performers on the day. I've sort of been keeping an eye on him since that game and he's really been able to have some strong performances at VFL level.
"He really does read the game well, he's very athletic for a bigger 'fella'. But yeah, he's an aggressive defender, which, you know, when you're able to put your body on the line and read the ball really well, you're going to have impact at whatever level you play."
Annand was taken out of Geelong's last VFL match to make sure he was fit and ready come draft night.
Cucinotta believes given his experience, mature body and "well-rounded" skill set, Annand is ready to play at the top level for Richmond immediately.
