‘Delusional’: How ‘disappointing’ Tigers failed premiership heroes
Richmond’s horror season was epitomised on Saturday during their 49-point loss to St Kilda, in a game where the club farewelled two premiership heroes.
Dion Prestia and Nathan Broad played their final games for the Tigers, but weren’t given a happy ending in a defeat coach Adem Yze described as “embarrassing” as his side only managed to score 45 points for the match.
Adem Yze’s Tigers are in a world of hurt in their rebuild. AFL Photos
Richmond sit 17th on the ladder with three wins and the worst percentage in the league and will now finish with fewer wins than the five they had last season.
Nine journalist Damian Barrett believes the Tigers have hidden behind the youth and inexperience of the side all season and not accepted their issues.
“I think (coach Adem Yze) and the CEO (Shane Dunne) have been quite delusional as to how this season has unfolded. Three wins and 19 losses. Yze wasn’t mucking around post match,” Barrett told Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
As Barrett mentioned, Yze was more scathing than usual post match given the failure to adequately see off two club greats.
“Really disappointed with our performance. We got out-worked, out-played, we got smashed in a lot of the areas we’ve been strong in like contested possession and inside 50s and time in forward half over the last few weeks,” Yze said.
“On a really important day, it was embarrassing. Our players if they felt like they haven’t played well today and haven’t performed at level that would’ve made Broady and Dion proud, we’ve got to be really honest and live with that.”
Adelaide champion Rory Sloane agreed with the coach’s tough assessment of his players’ performances.
“They’ve had terrific careers and been great performers for Richmond and they would have been disappointed in the end that they couldn’t put up a better performance and a more ruthless performance for those guys,” he said.
Richmond will complete their 2026 season next week against Geelong.
