AS RICHMOND slumped to a 75-point loss to North Melbourne, its 10th on the trot, the glory days of Dusty and Dimma and three flags in four years felt like a distant era.

Adem Yze essentially called for a realistic reading of the match, and despite the eyerolls of frustrated fans, he wasn't wrong.

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The Tigers had been well and truly in the game on all major statistical counts, but kicked themselves out of it by half-time with a somewhat baffling 2.12, and then three injuries on the bench caught up with them in the second half.

Stripping away emotion – a difficult task in football – is what's needed when it comes to assessing Richmond's ongoing rebuild, which doesn't show any signs of finishing soon.

Yze took charge of Richmond at the end of 2023, but the list changes over that off-season weren't indicative of the "scorched earth" rebuild that was to come.

The club's best picks had been eaten up in the Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper deals the year prior, with just Kane McAuliffe and Liam Fawcett taken in the draft, and no rookies added.

The Tigers had an eye to the stacked 2024 draft at the end of Yze's first season. To amass the picks required, they facilitated trades for wantaway "middle-age" players: Liam Baker, Daniel Rioli, Shai Bolton and Jack Graham, while Tylar Young wanted out.

The short-term pain problem with the tactic has now become clear – it was already a fairly skinny bracket on Richmond's list, as a result of its success and resultant few top-end picks during the premiership era.

The Taranto/Hooper trades – a necessity?

The two deals to land two of Greater Western Sydney's regulars in Taranto and Hopper in 2022 have been oft-criticised, given the subsequent fall off of the Tigers, the draft capital required to land the pair (picks 12 and 19 for Taranto, 2023 first-rounder and pick 31 for Hopper) and the output of the players.

Taranto has gone on to win two best and fairests for Richmond (and at this stage, is tracking for a third), while Hopper has been less successful, with the wider game appearing to move away from bullocking inside midfielders.

But a breakdown of Richmond's age profile suggests that landing the pair was needed to cover a hole in the midfield after the departures of Trent Cotchin and Shane Edwards, the ageing Dustin Martin, the fragile Dion Prestia and the failure of Riley Collier-Dawkins and Thomson Dow to kick on.

Richmond age breakdown

That crucial 26-29 bracket is generally the dominant grouping for premiership teams.

At Richmond, it contains two key backs (Ben Miller, Noah Balta), two rucks (Samson Ryan, Category B rookie Ollie Hayes-Brown), two mid-forwards (Jack Ross, Rhyan Mansell), a key forward (Mykelti Lefau), and two midfielders in Taranto and Hopper.

For contrast, the same bracket at Brisbane has Jarrod Berry, Hugh McCluggage, Sam Draper, Oscar Allen, Noah Answerth, Zac Bailey, Jack Payne, Cam Rayner, Keidean Coleman and Darragh Joyce.

Given midfielders Baker, Graham and Bolton moved on, Richmond would be in even deeper trouble without the former Giants pair.

My kingdom for a goal

Life has been exceedingly difficult without Jack Riewoldt.

While Geelong has had the luxury of tucking Shannon Neale away in the VFL to develop and become a ready-made Tom Hawkins replacement, Richmond had no such key forward reserve.

Whether it was a lack of foresight or an inability to land on the right draftee key forward and train them up while Riewoldt was around, the Tigers' scoring has dropped off a cliff since the champion's retirement at the end of 2023, exacerbated by Tom Lynch's inability to stay on the park.

Jacob Koschitzke was tried as a potential stop-gap, and Jacob Bauer had a few years on the list as a third tall, but they just didn't work out.

Young key forwards – Jonty Faull, Harry Armstrong, Fawcett, Tom Sims – are now on the books. 

Fawcett is the oldest, turning 21 this week. He has played four AFL games, his first year on the list ruined by a back injury.

Richmond's round four side fielded a forward line of Faull (19th AFL match), former rugby player Lefau (14th) and Fawcett (second), with support from Sam Lalor (15th), Steely Green (29th) and comparative veterans Maurice Rioli jnr (53rd) and Seth Campbell (47th).

The injury crisis

The rebuild picture would be clearer if players could get on the park.

It's not fair to judge Yze on a gameplan (or a possible lack thereof), if he simply doesn't have the players in the sheds to execute it.

Frustrations with bomb kicks on the heads of young, undersized forwards are valid, but wider ball movement discussions are hard to fairly have with a piecemeal side, with the Tigers having already used a competition-high 34 players in six games.

The club's second selection in the mega 2024 draft haul, Josh Smillie, hasn't been sighted yet at the top level, with a series of quad issues. 

Lalor missed the last two months of last year with a hamstring, while Armstrong sat out three months with his own hamstring in 2025, and is currently rehabbing a foot injury.

Sims is a bash-and-crash forward/ruck who showed some nice signs in his debut year, but busted his elbow at the end of last season. A navicular injury was then picked up at the end-of-season scans, but Sims couldn't have surgery on it until his elbow healed, given he would have been unable to support his 200cm frame on crutches with an injured arm. 

It's been that type of injury crisis.

He's still on the comeback trail, given the cautious loading required for a young key-position player, and has had his second pre-season completely wiped out.

Taj Hotton was drafted with a torn ACL, showed some lovely signs late last year, but has developed an exceedingly rare hip stress issue that the club said has not been found before in the AFL.

Rhyan Mansell was rehabbing a broken wrist when his foot started to play up. Scans showed a hot spot, which led to surgery and a three-month rehab.

He's not an A-grade player, but the absence of pressure players like Mansell – who is a strong link at half-forward – have further exacerbated the injury crisis, exposing kids who aren't ready to play at the top without sufficient senior support.

Both Jasper Alger and Faull have suffered MCL injuries in the past nine months, meaning all eight of the 2024 draftee haul have missed games through injury over the past season and a bit.

Even draftee Sam Cumming's slightly dodgy shoulder has already given way this year, but he will make his debut against Melbourne on Anzac Day Eve.

The club has chosen to back Samson Ryan as the second ruck behind Toby Nankervis, who is only 31, but is battered and bruised beyond his years and long-term longevity is questionable. 

At 25, with leap-friendly ruck rules introduced, it's now or never for the lean Ryan, who struggles to physically impose himself on matches.

The (very) distant light at the end of the tunnel

Watching Lalor burst from the contest wearing the No.4 or take responsibility with an accurate set shot has warmed the hearts of Richmond fans.

If Faull, Armstrong, Fawcett et al develop through together, it's going to be a potent forward line who know exactly how to play with each other, and their forward-line teamwork and running patterns should be seamless.

McAuliffe and Ross showed nice signs with greater inside midfield responsibilities against the Roos, while the pace, composure and sharp disposal of 2025 draftee Sam Grlj surely means a Telstra AFL Rising Star nomination is imminent. 

If Lynch can manage to cobble together another season or two (even if it's held together with a soft cap's worth of strapping tape), it'll make an enormous difference to lifting the entire team.

There are still a few years of pain to come, as there's no way to press fast forward on physical development and suddenly produce prime key forwards out of the 19- and 20-year-olds.

Some canny recruiting of mature players from other clubs – particularly midfielders, and maybe a key forward – could hasten the rebuild, and the drawcard of being "Richmond" and everything that entails should help attract talent.

Rebuilding now is also far more preferable than in a year's time when Tasmania is dominating the draft and recruiting space.

But to get through the next few years, the football industry and Richmond fans will need one thing that's unfortunately in short supply in the world of AFL – patience.