Following Richmond's heartbreaking defeat to the Lions in their elimination final, the Tigers' premiership window appeared all but over.
An ageing list, an out-of-sorts superstar and a struggling midfield all seemingly insurmountable problems for the club.
Not only this, but it appeared as though Brownlow medallist Trent Cotchin and Coleman winner Jack Riewoldt would join Shane Edwards in stepping away from the game.
Meanwhile, three-time Norm Smith medallist Dustin Martin looked like he may either retire or move to Sydney to continue his career with either the Swans or Giants.
However, despite the devastation and speculation, Tigers fans were treated to the news that club legends Cotchin and Riewoldt were signing on for an extra year.
A few days later, megastar Dustin Martin announced that he would continue his time at the club to see out his contract.
The best news of all came when Giants midfield pair Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper requested trades to the Tigers.
Amongst all the Tigers' positive off-season news, we take a look at what impact the addition of the midfield pair would make for Richmond, should they sign in the coming months.
The clearance complication
Before Richmond's 2017 season, Hardwick went to the media to declare that clearances would be an area the Tigers needed to improve upon.
To spark this change, Gold Coast midfield duo Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy joined ruckman Toby Nankervis in making the move to Punt Road.
Such an emphasis on clearances saw the Tigers go from 16th in clearances in 2016 to fourth in 2017 on their way to their first premiership in 37 years.
However, from this point onwards, the yellow and black became merely an average clearance side, finishing 12th, 11th and 6th in the subsequent years, of which they won another two Premierships.
As the Tigers began sliding down the ladder in 2021, they became the worst clearance side in the competition by a long way, albeit mainly due to injury.
This year, with a healthier list, the likes of Prestia, Cotchin and Martin could only drag Richmond up to 14th in clearances, an issue that eventually came back to bite hard in their elimination Ffnal with the Lions.
For a side that likes to set up its backline, the side's clearance work is very important.
Prestia's profound impact
Throughout all of this time, Dion Prestia has been Hardwick's cornerstone in the guts.
Elucidating this, the Tiger has won more clearances per game than any other Tiger since 2017.
Not only does the Jack Dyer medallist win clearances, but he in turn wins games.
In games where he played at least a half of football this year, Richmond won 71% of matches compared to winning just 29% when he didn't play.
To further delineate his impact, the Tigers won 69% of matches when he played last year as opposed to a 33% win rate when he didn't play.
One has to look no further than just over a week ago when a Lachie Neale-led Brisbane ripped Richmond's midfield to shreds in the second half after Prestia was subbed out.
Even if Prestia were able to stay fit and healthy, a team obviously can't rely on one player for its success.
More Problems
Not only do the Tigers struggle to win the clearances but they also have problems with winning the contested ball and laying tackles.
In 2022, Richmond, a side that prides itself on pressure, finished 17th for tackles and 13th in contested possessions and yet still comfortably made the top eight.
Once again, these numbers are unrecognisable to the side that went on to win three premierships in four years.
During their dynasty years, Richmond was in the top four in all of these categories.
Hence, if the Tigers were to go on another premiership assault, these two areas would need to be improved.
The possible solution
Basically, all of these issues would point to the Tigers needing to recruit a tough, big-bodied midfielder who can win the clearances and do all the dirty work in the contest.
Actually, make that two.
Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper are two of the best inside midfielders in the competition with the ability to win clearances at ease.
Whilst both are coming off injury-affected years, 2021 proved to be a career-best year for the duo.
Taranto averaged 27 touches, 5.3 tackles and 4.3 clearances per game on limited midfield minutes.
Meanwhile, Hopper accumulated 26 touches and a massive 6.3 clearances per game on his way to the All-Australian squad of 40.
Importantly, they average approximately 10 and 12 contested possessions per game respectively, which would see both of them slot into Richmond's top three in this category.
If they can stay healthy, they would seemingly be the missing piece in Richmond's midfield.
The thought of Dustin Martin, Shai Bolton, Dion Prestia and Trent Cotchin in the one midfield with Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper is something opposition coaches will be terrified for.
Would the addition of Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper make Richmond contenders?
Despite Martin, Cotchin, Riewoldt and the like all nearing the end of their careers, the Tigers have no shortage of young talent coming through.
Players like Shai Bolton, Daniel Rioli, Liam Baker and others are all getting better every year and appear to have some more improvement to come as they get nearer to their primes.
Furthermore, other than their midfield problems discussed earlier, it doesn't seem as though Damien Hardwick's side has too many weaknesses.
Their forward line certainly isn't an issue with the Tigers scoring more points than any other team in 2022.
Shifting to the backline, a defence of Dylan Grimes, Nick Vlastuin, Nathan Broad, Noah Balta, Jayden Short, Liam Baker, Josh Gibcus and Robbie Tarrant should be solid enough to hold out opposition sides in big games.
The lack of depth for the Tigers in key position players may still be an issue but if their list is able to stay fit and healthy, depth shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Either way, triple-premiership coach Damien Hardwick should find a system to make it work.
Can the Tigers win it? Well, they wouldn't be the top contender but if one thing is for sure, it's that you can never count out the yellow and black.
