Richmond aiming to be competitive in 2024 season

Richmond may have gone winless in 2023 but there are already signs of improvement ahead of the new season. We go inside the club’s goals for this year.

Dean Cornish will again lead Richmond.

Richmond co-coaches Dean Cornish and Tyson Bluett are building the club for the long-term.

The Blues went 0-16 in the 2023 Old Scholars Football Association season and are already showing signs of improvement this year.

“We want to be competitive,” Cornish said of his side’s hopes this year.

“We want to be putting pressure on the teams above us, hopefully winning a few games along the way. Our average age is between 22 and 23 so it’s about trying to build for the next 10 years.

“The guys we have involved, we want them to be lifelong members of Richmond.”

Throughout pre-season, Richmond has welcomed several new faces to help add to their depth.

Among them are Adrian Tattenell-Cowen, Angus Fisher, Brodie Donohoe, Coby Dawes, Jake Burns, Jamie Woolley, Ryan Cowen and Tyler Blowfeild.

Meanwhile, Bluett arrived as a new co-coach to Cornish.

“There’s plenty of new faces, the young blokes want to come in and give it a red hot crack,” Cornish said.

“We looked at bringing in youth, experience and some height because we’ve been pretty undersized the last few years. The guys we’ve brought in can see the value of building towards something in the future.

Tyson Bluett is part of the coaching partnership.

Jake Burns is among the fresh faces at the club.

“We spoke to some guys and the first thing they said was ‘how much can you pay?’.

“You can spend to bring in the big names and get a short-term fix but it can create more issues down the line.”

Cornish said he and Bluett got their first look at the 2024 side on the weekend with a practice match.

“There were some good signs but we’ve still got plenty to work on,” he said.

“We’ve had good numbers on the track and that will continue to grow as cricket season starts to finish up.”

Cornish said he was enjoying the new co-coaching partnership with Bluett as it continues to grow.

“It’s good to have something you can lean on,” he said.

“We’ve both got families so we understand if there’s something going on and can’t make training.”