New Richmond CEO Shane Dunne addresses long rebuild, Adem Yze’s future, Punt Rd upgrade
It’s a long way back to the top for the Tigers, but new CEO Shane Dunne is urging fans to get on the train early, as Punt Rd prepares to undergo a serious makeover.
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New Richmond chief executive Shane Dunne says Richmond is supremely confident it has found its long-term coach in Adem Yze as the club’s “rejuvenation” begins against West Coast on Monday.
But Dunne says every decision the club has made is with a long-term lens and warned Tigers fans to be patient through the rebuild as the club ignores “short term sugar hits”.
Like Carlton, Melbourne, Hawthorn and Brisbane before them the Tigers are in for a top-to-bottom rebuild, with Dunne saying “it’s going to take time” as Richmond tries to fast-track that timeline.
Dunne told the Herald Sun ahead of the Tigers’ match practice contest against West Coast in Perth he had no concerns about unrestricted free agent Tom Lynch finishing his career at Richmond.
And he confirmed newly re-signed swingman Noah Balta would receive no further sanction from the club as he serves a four-game internal ban and awaits March 27 sentencing for an assault charge.
READ MORE: EVERY RICHMOND PLAYER RATED
PUNT ROAD MAKEOVER
Richmond is weeks away from pulling the trigger on a $100 million-plus Punt Rd project, which will return the ground to a capacity of 8000 as part of one of footy’s most expensive club redevelopment.
Dunne said the newly renovated precinct – with a revamped Jack Dyer Stand – would significantly increase the amenities for Richmond fans.
With an MCG-side oval and better facilities for the AFLW and AFL programs, it will ideally be done with little or no debt, despite the vast scope of the project.
Dunne told the Herald Sun the Tigers were still desperately raising funds at state and federal government level and keen for fans to continue to donate despite handing over $15 million so far in a remarkable show of commitment.
But as that fund raising continues behind the scenes, an end is in sight after the redevelopment plans were paused last year.
It comes as Dunne said the Tigers were keen for their supporters to learn to love Marvel Stadium ahead of a home game there against Gold Coast this year.
Former Tigers coach Damien Hardwick once admitted he “hated” coming to the Docklands Stadium but Richmond is likely to be fixtured there as the home team at least once a year for many years to come.
Dunne said of the Punt Road redevelopment: ”We’re getting really close now. We’ll be making decisions in March (on a successful builder), and hopefully if all that goes well we’ll commence in April or May this year. So it’s as close as it’s ever been.
“It’s a significant project, north of $100 million, probably. The largest club infrastructure project that I can see in AFL history. And that’s the upside of residing in Yarra Park, you are in the shadows of the MCG. But it’s an expensive place to build. It’s going to be an incredible legacy project that keeps us at Punt Road for decades to come. It will improve our amenities for fans.
“It’s not the greatest physical place to come and watch football. While the romanticism of coming to Punt Road and wandering across from the MCG or from the Richmond train station or from the many pubs around is is a great experience, we want to make sure that the experience is lifted from the fans point of view, that it’s comfortable and they can watch great VFL football, AFL training and AFLW games.”
“It will increase the capacity to 8000, we are restricted to about 3500 at the moment. Some will be seated, some will be better tiers, and it will still have that local footy feel. It’s a reflection of our club at the moment. We are going to rejuvenate the physical structure as well as the list as well.”
The new CEO said the club had already had $15 million in donations from supporters as well as support from the federal and state governments but was not afraid to go into some debt if required.
“We have certainly got a Marvel stadium home game, ironically, against the Gold Coast. My view is we would love as many Richmond fans to get there as possible. When the Tiger army is up and about it’s a competitive advantage for us. So it holds no fears for us as a venue, it’s a great industry asset and we will get as many people there as we can.”
THE COACH
First year Yze endured a challenging year following on from triple premiership coach Damien Hardwick amid a horror injury crisis in a two-win season.
It meant the new senior coach was unable to put his stamp on the club with a strong game plan.
Former CEO Brendon Gale admitted Yze “sat back a little” last year but expected him to take more “responsibility” in 2025 and Dunne says he’s capable of making that stronger imprint.
Richmond is the $1.40 wooden spoon favourite, which means Yze might go into the final year of his contract in 2026 with only a handful of wins to his name from 46 hit-outs.
But Dunne says Yze is the man and has had very specific feedback about what success looks like this year.
“Adam’s resilience has been really good,” Dunne told the Herald Sun.
“It was a challenging year and more frustrating than anything else because we were in many games and we saw what was possible and while the injury toll isn’t an excuse, it’s a reason. “When you have limited players to pick from and you are moving players around, we moved Noah Balta up and down the ground that many times.
“So there wasn’t that consistency. But his messaging to the players remained outstanding and all the qualities we saw in Adem (when we appointed him), we continue to see.
“So we are really confident that he’s our coach and with a year under his belt he will be even better. He has put some things in place now that should see us continue to develop in the coming years.”
Richmond has brought VFL coach Steve Morris in as a line coach, brought back Blake Caracella from Essendon to work on offensive strategy and structures, has Ben Rutten in defensive strategy and structure (plus coaching development) and overhauled its fitness program.
“Adem is really clear on what success looks like, and that was all part of the feedback we provided him at the back end of last year,” Dunne said.
“It’s how he continues to lead this team with really strong messaging and a strong game-plan that might not work perfectly all the time. But we are thinking about what success looks like in the years ahead and while people will look at wins and losses, there are many other things we also look at to determine success.”
Yze was criticised for his overly positive press conferences amid some 2024 maulings but Dunne says he can be strong enough when he needs to be.
“I didn’t sit in many of the meetings last year, I was in a different role but from what I have asked about and seen he is absolutely strong when he needs to be. With the press conferences maybe he sounded repetitive at times which might lead to the suggestion he wasn’t strong enough. But it was a difficult and challenging year. But perhaps we answered the same question the same way because we were facing the same things.”
THE LEADERS
Were Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper sold a pup by the club and Damien Hardwick, given seven-year contracts to play in a final before the club switched tack?
“Absolutely not,” says Dunne.
“They knew where the lists were at. They knew where our team was at. I wouldn’t say that at all. I have spoken to both of them and I have spoken to all our players recently and they are really excited. They love the club and the environment we have got and the coaching staff and the support team around them. And they are really committed. They can see the plan for long-term success and they hope to be around for that as well.
“They both have strong leadership capabilities. Tim is measured and focused and driven and Hopper is really outgoing and loves engaging with people and telling stories. He was holding court last night telling stories about meeting Tom Brady so they bring different dynamics and their off-field leadership is really strong and clearly they are going to have to help on the field with the younger players learning their craft.”
Lynch’s back-ended deal finishes this year after a pair of four-game seasons but Dunne says he’s fully invested even as he becomes a free agent.
“Yes, absolutely. There is no worry for us there. I think he’s well committed to this club. He’s an incredible contributor. And his leadership capabilities (are great), which I’ve seen certainly in his off season. Yeah, I’m really confident that Tom will be a Tiger throughout the rest of his career.”
Dunne is also open to an off-field or ambassadorial role for Dustin Martin but admits he wasn’t shattered when a Gold Coast contract failed to materialise.
“You just want Dustin to be happy and doing what he’s doing, but the romanticism about that, you love seeing Dusty as only a Tiger. I swap texts with Dusty every now and then. He’s very engaged and focused on his golf but I made it clear to him he’s got an open door whether he wants to wander back in here any time, whether to come back and hang out or wants to get involved in a more structured way. That door is always open.”
THE “REJUVENATION”
Richmond is under no misapprehension about the size of what Dunne calls a “rejuvenation”.
Gone are most of the 2020 premiership players and three of last year’s top five in the Jack Dyer Medal (winner Daniel Rioli and equal-fifth placed finishers Liam Baker and Shai Bolton) plus free agent Jack Graham.
In come six first-round picks (and eight 2024 draftees).
And yet No. 12 pick Taj Hotton might not be seen for months off an ACL, No. 7 pick Josh Smillie is a 195cm mid who will need time, No. 14 pick Jonty Faull has a back stress fracture and Luke Trainor, Harry Armstrong and Thomas Simms are all developing talls.
Dunne played a hands-on role across the draft and trade process, reassuring Blair Hartley as a sounding board as his list boss masterfully executed a strategy that saw them secure one of the greatest non-expansion draft hauls in history.
But as Tiger fans know, this is no 18-month drop to the bottom before an instant bounce-back.
Is it a rebuild, a restump, a rewire?
“I talk about rejuvenation,” Dunne says.
“We have got some really strong players there and some weren’t available a lot last year but there is also a breath of fresh air that comes with young talented people and a new coach and new coaching structures. People get hung up on the term rebuild, but they can call it what they like. We know what it is.
“The (Richmond) people I have spoken to have this overwhelming sense of rejuvenation and excitement. The message to them is – come on the journey. Join the journey is the catchphrase we have put on our membership. But this is going to take a number of years for us to build this list and build it into a premiership winning model. We have shown we can do it in recent history.
“It’s going to take time. When you look back at when we recruited Dustin (Martin) and Trent (Cotchin) and Jack (Riewoldt, that was a 10-12 year period before we tasted success. Brisbane finished last in 2017 and it took them seven years to win their premiership.
“Our job is to do it earlier. That’s what we strive for but we have got to make sure we don’t make short-term decisions. We just can’t take short-term sugar hits.”
Richmond’s new fitness boss Ben Serpell has put a premium on high-speed running as the club desperately tries to rectify its horror injury toll of 2024.
“We’ve done a lot more work on running, and not just high speed running, but coaching them to run at high speed,” says Dunne.
“Someone said they have never run so far before because they have learnt more about running and the techniques involved.”
But none of the quartet of ACL victims is due back early and Faull and Hotton are some time away.
“It’s not all about round one on a Thursday night against Carlton. If you have niggling injuries we might hold you back in the pre-season. Our high performance team has done an exceptional job at only giving them the reins when they are ready. We will see some of them through the year, but some might be on restricted minutes as they move through the VFL and so forth. It is definitely the long-term game.”
Originally published as New Richmond CEO Shane Dunne addresses long rebuild, Adem Yze’s future, Punt Rd upgrade
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