Richmond has hit a critical juncture of the season, prompting coach Adem Yze to change his ways.
Yze is set to spend more time coaching his players from the bench, helping the younger brigade with the emotional rollercoaster of each match, as well as maintaining their focus.
With a increasing injury list, including a host of crucial veterans, the Tigers slumped to a 16-year low, failing to notch a win in its first six outings. Their average losing margin is 50.9 points.
"You look at different coaches and you learn. When you're up (in the coaches box), you coach and technical and the tactical. You can coach their heads," he said on AFL360.
"But downstairs, you start coaching their hearts. I can put my arm around Sammy Lalor and we can get the message across quicker. The technical, that information needs to come from upstairs, but right now, you get a pure connection. You can coach their hearts and their spirit and their energy, and make sure they're thinking the right things.
"The hardest thing for me, when I went down at the last quarter, was to make sure our players' spirit and energy levels don't drop, which can happen in the last quarter with so many players (injured), I kept looking to say something to our players and there was only one player there.
"We'll work out where we sit with this, and whether I do go coach down there for a couple of weeks and just go and help with their spirit and morale, because they are young. While they're sitting there, we think they're getting prepared to go out, we feel like we know what they're thinking, but when you're down there, you start to understand they've got seven minutes (on the bench), and the things in their brains aren't what we think they are.
"Just helping with that when we're down there."
Many coaches across the competition place themselves along the boundary line in a bid to provide direct feedback to the players, trusting the assistants in the box with the tactical side.
Yze has traditionally spent time in the upper decks of football stadiums, but given the lack of leadership available on field, coupled with the inexperience in the side, he finds it worthwhile to focus on emotional leadership rather than strategy.
