The brutal list calls Richmond needs to make to avoid wipe-out before looming Devils threat

Richmond’s list is in real trouble. If the mighty club wants to avoid a decade or more in the wilderness at the hands of outgoing CEO Brendan Gale’s new club, it needs to make some brutal calls – and fast.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 05: Liam Baker of the Tigers handballs during the round eight AFL match between Richmond Tigers and Fremantle Dockers at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on May 05, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

The best news of Richmond’s utterly miserable weekend was that list boss Blair Hartley was staying put at a Punt Road facility due for a $100 million makeover in coming seasons.

And yet as Hartley surveyed the wreckage on show at the MCG on Saturday night, the scope of his impossible task ahead was clear.

The club can always find a government or willing donors prepared to throw cash at a brand spanking Punt Road development.

Hartley can only make do with the players he has on his list as he attempts his own restump, rewire and replumb of this Richmond list.

And the sobering reality as Richmond attempts to stockpile talent before Brendon Gale’s Tasmania hoovers up multiple drafts of elite kids is the cupboard of close to bare for elite young players who will drag this club to its next flag.

Hartley’s only real draft collateral to build the truly elite draft hand Richmond needs it to trade off Richmond cult heroes and premiership stars.

To erode the club’s fabric in exchange for draft picks even Richmond knows might never make the grade.

Richmond traded down twice last year’s draft to ensure a strong draft hand this year, with summer rookie Mykelti Lefau the only winner despite pick 40 Kane McAuliffe’s promise as an inside mid.

Their moves left them with a draft hand of pick two, 22, 31 (Fremantle’s second rounder), 40, 41, 49, 58, 65, 69.

Liam Baker is believed to be a Tiger looking for a new home. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

So Richmond has six picks within 50, but probably needs to end up with three picks within 15 and five within 25 or 30.

Liam Baker is seen as keen to get to West Coast, with his teammates well aware of his club of choice.

Fremantle is still interested and has three first-round picks.

When Jordan Clark returned from Geelong he saw West Coast as a probable landing spot.

He had to be told explicitly by West Coast they just weren’t interested before he eventually got on board with making Fremantle his home.

So given West Coast would have to split its first-round pick to get Baker – offering a first-rounder in the back-end of that round – it is by no means a fait accompli that Baker gets to West Coast.

But it will be the starting point in negotiations, and whatever the case the Tigers will need a pick within 15 to get a deal done.

In theory trading a 27-year-old half back for a possible top 12 pick makes theoretical sense.

Yet when that player is Daniel Rioli it is so much harder given all he represents at a club where uncle Maurice Rioli is making waves.

Daniel Rioli has his identity linked to Richmond, but would be about the most valuable player on the Tigers’ list. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

Colleague Jay Clark threw up an equation last week where the Suns gave up the Dogs’ future first-rounder for Rioli.

Trading him would be gut-wrenching for fans and yet Richmond does have enough half backs – Nick Vlastuin, Tom Brown, wing-back Sam Banks, Jayden Short – to at least consider it.

Dion Prestia is keen to stay but his body is failing him so is not a trade prospect.

The Tigers need him for midfield depth but likely on one-year deals from here on out.

Jack Graham at his best is a brilliant contested ball beast who transition runs like few in football, even if he has never hurt teams by foot.

Is Jack Graham a commodity the Tigers can move on? Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

At his very best a club like Adelaide might have paid him $700,000 a year as a free agent and secured Richmond end-of-first-round compensation.

But this year in very limited sample size he rates poor for kicking and his body isn’t holding up either.

He isn’t having the kind of FA contract year that will supercharge Will Hayward’s compensation if and when he leaves Sydney.

Graham been a trade target of SA-based clubs in recent years but Adelaide isn’t keen this time and Power already has defensive mids (Willem Drew) and pure ball hunters (Ollie Wines) as well as their trio of young midfield freaks.

West Coast has been mentioned as a potential target, but losing him as a free agent won’t recoup a huge bounty.

Dusty?

How do the Tigers handle the end of Dustin Martin‘s incredible career? Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

As one football watcher noted of Martin on Sunday night, even the fend is gone.

He had had eight kicks. Four short, two off the ground, one clanger, one long kick that didn’t hit the target.

His best bet as his motivation flags is to play on another one-year deal at the Tigers, and whatever the case Richmond would receive little or no FA compensation for a 33-year-old if he left.

If Rioli and Baker did leave the Tigers could find themselves with pick 2 and three other selections within 20 and with $1.5 million of cap space they didn’t plan for.

And yet whatever you call it – refresh, rebuild, reinvigoration, transformation – it is a long road ahead.

The only worse alternative is to top up to retain a list that might finish 7th or 8th in coming years before Tasmania pillages the draft for years to come.

Then the cliff Richmond falls off would only be higher and the crash-landing fatal.

Better to take the medicine now, even with unpopular decisions, than to risk the 30-year oblivion they endured from the early ‘80s until their dynasty starting in 2017.