Former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is so excited about the prospect of Richmond's rebuild, he said: "You nearly don't have to pay me to take Richmond."
This wasn't Hinkley, who recently stepped out of the coaching hot seat, saying that he's keen to rejoin the pressures of the AFL.
But how the Tigers, under Adem Yze, have ticked all the boxes of the early stages of a rebuild.
"If you want a model to rebuild (on), and how to do it…," Hinkley said on SEN.
"They'd won three flags so when these players came up that other clubs had interest in - whether it be Daniel Rioli, Liam Baker and Shai Bolton - they just cashed in at the right time.
"But they also knew when the good draft was coming. Everyone knew that was a great draft and I was really passionate about that draft, I watched them all really closely."
The Tigers are starting to reap rewards from its 2024 draft haul, while Sam Grlj's debut was special.
Hinkley commended the Punt Road club's bravery, and noted how the changing AFL landscape demanded courage from the club that started bottoming out.
"The talent was there, you just had to be brave enough to go there. Now, if you're not that club who hadn't won three flags in a row, it's a really hard sell," he continued.
"But of course Richmond had won three flags. So they kept the amount of senior experience they needed to keep it ok and to help coach young players which is really important.
"Their rebuild is fast-tracking, I can guarantee you. They are going to be powerful pretty quickly, again, with the talent that I've seen. Last Thursday I thought, ‘Wow, this is pretty promising, this group already'.
"But the courage to make it happen and more importantly to have all the information about what's on the landscape, ‘This is a great draft, we've got to be big and we've got to be into it'.
"You've got to know the draft and you've got to hit it at the right time.
"Richmond: tick, tick and (for) courage, tick."
