Richmond AFL and AFLW players hit the training track for a joint session before Christmas
They might be the reigning premiers but there are no signs of slowing down at Punt Road. Ahead of the Christmas break, find out which AFL and AFLW players are putting together monster pre-seasons.
Richmond
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Richmond is expecting Damien Hardwick to pull something new out of his Santa sack this pre-season as the Tigers hunt a third premiership in four years.
And defender Dylan Grimes says returning backman Alex Rance is the one leading the team’s barrelling sleigh into 2020.
Rance, who missed the entire 2019 season – including the team’s premiership glory – after a knee reconstruction, appears in better condition than he was before the devastating injury, Grimes said, and has the entire club in tow behind him.
“He’s such a great leader for us and has been such a good player for such a long time,” Grimes said.
“He was really unlucky not to play in the later stages of this year. He’s been building now for 12 months for the season to start, so I think he’s going to be in terrific condition.
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“Seeing him move around the track, he’s honestly moving better than he was before the knee, it looks like. So I think the whole club is really behind him at the moment.
“Riding that emotional wave of seeing a player work so hard to get back on track and to get those rewards, hopefully, on field next year would be absolutely terrific.”
The Tigers embarked on their first joint training session with their new AFL Women’s team at Punt Road on Tuesday night, with a mass team meeting before combined running and skills in balmy weather.
Tigers recruit Akec Makur Chuot said the men’s team had been “awesome” in their support and would be a driving force for the team’s inaugural season of AFLW, which begins in February.
Damien Hardwick puts Richmond’s AFLW side through a training drill at the club’s joint session tonight. pic.twitter.com/ImzUtqmjVK
— SuperFooty (AFL) (@superfooty) December 17, 2019
“For us, to go off the back of what the boys have been able to achieve this year gives us a really strong momentum and a really good backing for us to go and put our best foot forward for the 2020 season,” she said.
Grimes, who is almost in full training in his 11th pre-season after wrist surgery, said double premiership coach Hardwick – who had the whistle for a number of the women’s team’s drills on Tuesday night – was keeping his charges on their toes.
“Dimma’s a guy that really prides himself on his personal development and really evolving as a coach,” he said.
“He acknowledges that if we play the exact same as we did in 2019, it’s not going to be good enough in 2020.
“He’s always looking for innovative ways to grow, and that growth stems from himself. He’s off overseas always doing the next big thing in coaching or personal development, and he’s really invested in himself first.”
Grimes said he had “no doubt” that something would change for the Tigers as they launch their assault on back-to-back premierships, but as for what that would be remained to be the ace up Hardwick’s sleeve.
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“He always brings a fresh energy to each pre-season … to know that a coach throughout the course of the pre-season is going to keep things fresh and vibrant and different and not repetitive and boring means a lot to us,” he said.
“It’s such a long pre-season, so to have a coach that’s going to grow themselves and looking to grow the program year-in, year-out is really positive.”
Originally published as Richmond AFL and AFLW players hit the training track for a joint session before Christmas