A WEEK after announcing his immediate retirement from AFL football, Richmond defender Troy Chaplin says a lack of mid-tier talent is what is holding the club back from success.

Chaplin said there was frustration within the playing group that had claimed the scalps of the League's best teams in recent years, but failed to fire in the finals.

"Obviously you can't keep going back to the well if you can't get over the line, so we've got to try something different, add some new players too – so that's what they'll be looking at this year," Chaplin told SEN on Thursday.

Richmond triumphed over a previously undefeated Fremantle side in round 10 last year as well as eventual premiers Hawthorn in round 18, only to lose for a third straight year in the first week of the finals.

"I think that's where the frustration lies, especially internally as players ... it's exactly the same group and the same 22 that took us to those spots, it's just that we couldn't get over the line," Chaplin said.

"Our top five are really great players, we need that middle tier coming through."

Chaplin said the Tigers, who won't make the finals in 2016, are lacking players in their mid to late twenties.

"Between 23 and 29, we don't really have many players in that age group and that's what is probably going to help us going forward," he said.

"You don't want to go full rebuild, we've got some younger guys coming through, we just lack a little bit of class."

Richmond takes on Greater Western Sydney in Canberra on Saturday.