‘If you get stuck in the past, you die in the present’: Killer line in Adem Yze’s coaching presentation that won over Richmond

Adem Yze had three near coaching misses before winning Richmond’s job. It was obvious since an under-16s game he was destined for big things. Go inside his footballing journey.

Adem Yze will take on the top job at Richmond. Picture: Getty Images

Afijet Yze called husband Adem on Thursday to ask whether he would be bringing pizzas home for his 46th birthday dinner.

The response was along the lines of: “I can’t, I’m in a Richmond polo!”

The timing came as a surprise. Yze had driven to Richmond preparing for what he thought would be another presentation.

But he had already won the senior coaching job.

All that was left to do was meet the board, who were immediately taken by his presence and rapt with the rapport he had built with staff at other clubs.

The board unanimously endorsed him as the Tigers’ main man.

While there was no birthday cake at home, unwrapping that polo shirt was the best gift possible and by Thursday night Yze’s house was covered in yellow and black.

The killer line in Yze’s pitch was: “If you get stuck in the past, you die in the present”.

The Tigers agreed they needed a fresh voice.

They had drifted from marvellous to mediocre over the past three seasons and that had worked up an appetite for change.

After getting pipped for senior jobs at Adelaide (2019, won by Matthew Nicks), Greater Western Sydney (2022, Adam Kingsley) and Essendon (2022, Brad Scott), Yze toasted his appointment with a quiet birthday beer.

Adem Yze will take on the top job at Richmond. Picture: Getty Images

His phone quickly lit up like a Christmas tree. By Friday morning he had more than 400 messages, and Yze joked about 280 were from cousins.

But that should be no surprise. His mother, Vicki, is one of 10 children and his father, Sam, is one of eight.

Vicki is an Australian-born Yugoslav-Albanian while Sam relocated to Werribee from a European refugee camp in 1954.

One of those first cousins, Nick Diker, coached Yze and his gun-for-hire brother Damien at Glen Orden in the Western Region Football League in 2013.

They won the premiership, with Damien slotting 136 goals from 20 games to top the Division 2 tally.

But it was Adem’s bag of 20 goals in an under-16s game that foreshadowed his footballing future.

Wearing what has been described as “long, daggy board shorts” he was heckled by opposition spectators who were soon silenced by his lethal left foot.

Like Richmond legend Tom Hafey, Yze hails from Shepparton. And like another Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett, Yze rarely handballed.

In 2001 Yze led the AFL with 417 kicks and dished off only 72 handballs. He won Melbourne’s best-and-fairest and then, Carlton came hard.

The Blues offered $1.2 million over three years – an average wage these days – but Yze sacrificed $200,000 to stay a Demon.

In 2002 he finished third in the Brownlow Medal and was named All-Australian.

But his run of 226 consecutive games ended when coach Neale Daniher dropped Yze after round 1 in 2007.

Yze in action for Western Region Football League club Glen Orden.

“In the end, I got the call on Thursday and they thought it was better to not play me ... which looking at it now as a coach, it was the right thing to do,” Yze has said.

“I would rather miss a game than people think that I was backing out of the contest to reach a record that I didn’t really care about.”

Perhaps Yze’s “If you get stuck in the past, you die in the present” was born out of his own experience.

In 2008 the Demons delisted Yze to prioritise their rebuild under the late Dean Bailey.

Yze nominated for the 2009 draft but he was overlooked.

But Yze caught the coaching bug when he joined Melbourne’s leadership group and worked with the club’s kids.

He joined Hawthorn’s development team part-time in 2012 while at the end of 2014 the Hawks lost defensive coach Luke Beveridge, who signed as director of coaching at St Kilda but instead won the senior job at Western Bulldogs.

Yze replaced Beveridge in charge of Hawthorn’s backline and Rob McCartney replaced Yze in charge of development.

The changes were announced by Hawks footy boss Chris Fagan. Now Yze is coach of Richmond, Fagan is coach of Brisbane, McCartney is football boss at Hawthorn and Beveridge remains at the Bulldogs.

Yze got a taste in the “passenger’s seat” in 2014 when Alastair Clarkson was hospitalised with Guillain – Barre syndrome.

Yze’s work at Melbourne was highly regarded. Picture: Getty Images

Assistant Brendon Bolton was given the keys for five weeks and Yze replaced Bolton as a line coach.

Suddenly he was in the AFL coaches’ box, and he loved it. Yze was in the driver’s seat at Melbourne, coaching from the box with Simon Goodwin on the boundary line.

Yze has not been a line coach since 2018. When Sam Mitchell returned to the Hawks in 2019 he was promoted to the new position of head of match day strategy and opposition.

Then, at the Demons, he was calling a lot of the shots on game day.

“If you’re going to make any change in a game it’s around structure and the way you’re moving the ball, and I was in control of that,” Yze said.

“I feel like I’m ready.”

Hawks champion Jordan Lewis said Yze was at home operating the box.

“The way that he sees the game and the way that he sees the trends that are unfolding within a game I think is one of the best that I’ve seen in that area,” Lewis said on Friday.

“I can remember sitting in the box and going, ‘Yeah, that was well picked up’.”

Lewis interviewed Yze – a childhood Essendon fan – for the Bombers job last year.

“He presented with great confidence and that just comes through years in the coaches’ box and overseeing programs,” Lewis said.

“People have made mention that this was his third or fourth time – from what we witnessed with the presentation at Essendon that was a culmination of going through the process and refining it and fixing the parts you might have needed to work on.

The Yze family at Punt Road. Adem’s children Jasmine and Noah and his wide Afijet.

“He came across with great confidence and great surety that he’s got belief in himself as a coach.

“He’s at the age now where he’s got great experience, great stability off the field with family and work-life balance and that gives you the opportunity to approach the job with great clarity.

“He’s one of those guys that you’d be happy to call up and have a beer with if it’s one-out or in a group situation.

“He’s got great energy, he’s just genuine in everything that he does.”

Yze is also an AFLW believer. Last year he mentored Demons AFLW assistant coach Tamara Hyett.

Yze is a Demons’ life member and while they have lost an important member of Goodwin’s team there might be a parting gift to come.

His boy Noah Yze, whose Instagram bio proudly displays Albania and Australia flags, is a talented goalkicker who shapes as a father-son prospect next year.

But the wait for dad is finally over. At Tigerland it is Adem’s time.

Originally published as ‘If you get stuck in the past, you die in the present’: Killer line in Adem Yze’s coaching presentation that won over Richmond