Richmond track watch: All the latest news out of pre-season from Punt Rd

The Tigers’ pre-season is underway and new coach Adem Yze is not putting any ceiling on what his side can do, imploring his players to act like a top four team.

Richmond FC training at Punt Rd oval. New coach for the 2024 season Adem Yze instructs the players. Picture: Ian Currie

Richmond is weighing up moving key defender Noah Balta into attack for an extended stint next season in an effort to boost the Tigers’ forward potency in the post-Jack Riewoldt era.

With the club’s dual premiership forward Tom Lynch making slow but steady progress from a nagging foot injury and with new coach Adem Yze keen to play a fast-pace, front-half game, the temptation to switch Balta forward looms as one of the club’s key options for 2024.

Yze said the Tigers were looking at bedding down some positional changes ahead of his first season in the role, but was reluctant to yet detail the possible moves.

But the Herald Sun understands that Balta will likely get a crack at playing forward at stages, further evidenced by some light match simulation at a rainswept Punt Road on Wednesday.

Balta, 24, has played forward at times in recent seasons with limited success, having looked more comfortable in defence.

However, if the club can get talented young defender Josh Gibcus back from hamstring issues that cost him the entire 2023 season, Balta could head forward to assist Lynch, former Hawk Jacob Koschitzke and co in attack, while also helping Toby Nankervis in the ruck.

Noah Balta could be heading forward. Picture: Ian Currie

“There might be some changes in personnel and positions and that will come out in the near future,” Yze said when asked about the club’s forward line.

“We are not going to disclose those right now, but we are tinkering with what our best positions are. Tom Lynch is obviously a big pillar in that and if he is not available (early), then some of the kids will also get a bigger go.”

Lynch played the first four games in 2023, but a foot issue kept him sidelined for the rest of the season.

Yze is hopeful the 31-year-old will be right to tackle his old coach Damien Hardwick and Gold Coast in the Tigers’ first match of the season on March 9, but he is adamant the club won’t be pushing Lynch if he isn’t ready.

“He had a really tough run last year, but right now he is ticking all the boxes,” Yze said.

“We have just got to temper how quickly we get him back out there. If it means he is not going to be there at the start of the year, then I have got to be patient with that.

“We are hoping he will be (right to play against the Suns).

“He will start to up the ante after Christmas and we will play it by ear. But the scans and everything he has been through has been positive so far.”

Internally, there is a quiet confidence that the big forward is on the right pathway again, though he is being eased back into it and was not on the track on Wednesday.

The club is hoping he can get back to the form that saw him kick 63 goals from 19 games in 2022, instead of the four games for four goals last season that put pressure back on Riewoldt, who has called an end to his celebrated AFL career after 347 games and 787 goals.

Adem Yze shares a laugh with Josh Gibcus. Picture: Ian Currie

REMODELLING GIBCUS

Take a close look at the way Josh Gibcus is running and attacking the ball at the moment, and you might barely notice the difference.

But the modifications he had made to his gait - and even the way he picks up the ball - might be the difference between getting him back on the field or sitting in the stands as he did for the entire 2023 season.

Gibcus, 20, spent a week in Qatar at an internationally renowned sports medicine practice working his movement and his attack on the ball, to see if changes could help him overcome his hamstring issues.

So far, the indications are good and he is being closely monitored by the club and at times being held back, given his enthusiasm.

“He is tracking really nicely, we have to touch wood … it would have been a very frustrating experience for him last year,” Yze said.

“We have to be mindful of that. We can’t rush this. Right now he is itching (to do more). He just wants to be involved in everything and he probably can. But we have to temper that.

“He will get to Christmas and set a nice base, so that he doesn’t have any setbacks, so he can move forward because he is a terrific talent for us.”

Dustin Martin in action. Picture: Ian Currie

NO PRESSURE ON DUSTY

For years as a rival assistant coach Yze has had to plan on trying to stop Dustin Martin’s dominance, now he wants to make the most of what the superstar Tiger can provide his teammates in the last year of his contract at Punt Rd.

The Tigers are eager to re-sign Martin, 32, beyond the end of 2024, but Yze won’t pressure the midfielder/forward into making an early decision.

Instead, he plans to provide the right sort of working environment to ensure Martin thrives at Punt Rd, and makes him want to stay.

“We want Dusty happy, we want him to enjoy his footy,” Yze said. “As a coach, I am not going to put a timeline on it (his contract). It is a big decision for him.

“I just hope he gets the right feeling about not only himself, but about our coaching staff.

“He is an amazing Richmond person and we hope he is a Richmond man for life. That is going to be his decision. But my job is to give him the environment that he enjoys and to know that he can keep improving.”

Martin was one of the most impressive on the track on Wednesday, and looks fit and ready to tackle next season, off the back of a strong 2023 season.

He seems certain to keep a similar forward-mid split next season.

Among the other young Tigers who have impressed so far in the early stages of preseason include Tyler Sonsie and Thomson Dow.

The Tigers have two players - East Perth forward Mitch Schofield and Kiwi Mykelti Lefau (who was formerly part of the club’s VFL program) - training in the hope of being picked up in the preseason supplemental selection period.

Adem Yze talks to his troops. Picture: Ian Currie

NO CEILING FOR DARE AND FLAIR TIGERS

Adem Yze won’t be putting a ceiling on what his young Tigers can achieve in the first year of his senior coaching career, saying his team will leave no stone unturned in trying to get the best out of themselves.

In doing so, he has given his players a licence for flair and dare as he looks to fasttrack the next generation of Tigers stars.

“We want them to play with flair,” he said. “On offence, we have got to give them the opportunity to go at the game. The best teams play with the most speed and with a lot of risk. There is no reason why when we win the footy back that we can’t play with a lot of dare and risk. But on the flip side, you have to be strong in the contest and defensively stable.”

When he took over the role he suggested that he wants his team to think like they are going to be a finals side, and that hasn’t changed since getting the players back on deck.

“I said that I want our players feeling like they can be a top four team,” Yze said. “Technically, every football club who started (preseason training) … if they are not feeling like they can play finals or make the top four, then they are kidding themselves.”

“There are going to be some ups and downs and bumps along the road. But what I do know is that our boys train hard and they are really driven. They have obviously had some success in the past … our job is to find the next one (premiership).

“We are going to be impatient to try and get there quickly.”

Richmond will go on a preseason camp next week where the club’s leadership group for 2024 will be a discussion point.

Yze said it would be something that would naturally evolve over the summer months, with the current leadership group having a big say in what might come next.

Meanwhile, Richmond’s long and successful association with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation has seen the club present the foundation with a cheque for $222,582.61, continuing its effort to keep children and young people free from violence and trauma.

“Our football club’s association with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation holds significant importance to us,” Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said.

“The continued generosity of the Tiger Army in aiding children is truly commendable.

“Over the past 11 years, their fundraising efforts have shown remarkable results, raising over $200,000 again this year to take the total contribution towards $2m.”