Seeing a win may be far from the minds of Richmond fans this afternoon, but there is plenty to be excited about as the Tigers travel north to take on the Gold Coast Suns at People First Stadium.
Richmond are set to launch one of the youngest teams in their club's history, with their forward line in particular being full of 2024 National Draft selections.
Key forward Harry Armstrong, the 23rd pick of last year's draft, will make his first senior appearance since Round 4, joining Taj Hotton (Pick 12), Jonty Faull (Pick 14) and Tom Sims (Pick 28) inside the arc.
Coach Adem Yze couldn't contain his excitement about the emerging group of youngsters when quizzed about the selection on Friday, and highlighted the importance that AFL reps will have for their development.
“It's the first time we're going to see Faull and Armstrong play together, with Sims, and Taj in the same forward line,” Yze said.
“We're going to be really young in the front end, but at the same time, it's going to be really exciting.
“We can't wait to see them running out there together and start that combination, and hopefully they can be playing for this footy club for a long time, and create a bit of synergy down there that would make us really hard to play against for a long time.”
There's also plenty of opportunity ready to be grasped by Richmond's young core down field too, with club veterans Tim Taranto and Nathan Broad to miss the clash against their former coach Damien Hardwick.
"Having two of our leaders out this week [Tim Taranto and Nathan Broad] will mean more opportunity for our younger players," Yze said.
"Luke Trainor will get more game time. Obviously, our defenders have got a fair bit of experience but without Tim within that midfield, it might give some opportunity to our younger boys.
"Some of our forwards will get an opportunity through that midfield, so I'm really looking forward to that."
Yze stressed that while a second upset win against the Suns in 2025 would add to the excitement, the Tigers will be aiming to deliver through their system's process first and foremost.
"If you start thinking about shaping the eight, you're thinking about results. We're thinking about the process," Yze told Tigers Media.
"There's parts of our game last week that we were really happy with, but there were parts where we weren't good enough. We'll be going in with the same mindset and that's around our process and playing really consistent footy across four quarters against a really talented and potent team.
"If the result ends up shaping the eight, then that's great, but we'll be thinking about the process."
