Richmond VFL coach Tim Clarke is encouraged by the Club’s first year as a standalone team in the VFL competition.

The Tigers missed the finals, but set the foundations for what the Club is hoping will equate to future success, and importantly a platform to develop its young players.

“It was a success when you look at our KPIs that I set with Damien and some of the other staff at the start of the year,” Clarke told Matthew Richardson on Roar Vision.

“If you look at win/loss record, you’d say the season wasn’t a success, because we didn’t make finals and finished in the bottom four of five teams in the competition.

“When you’ve got that standalone team, it is about development, but a massive part of development is winning, and preparing yourself to play finals.”

Clarke led Richmond’s VFL team to six wins and a draw in its first season, with the coach himself admitting it was a learning year for everyone.
“I’ve learned a lot.  There have been some real challenges this year.  Some of your thoughts on footy become a little bit clearer when you start to coach and manage more people,” he said.

“I’ve had some frustrations this year, just because the performance hasn’t been there that we expected.

“Even though it is always about development, you’re a competitive person and you want to go out there and do the best you can.

“We want to make sure we’re playing finals footy with our VFL program, and that means a lot to the guys that are involved in that.

“I feel if we can get that ingrained in everyone at the Club as well, that yes, it’s about development, but it’s also about building a strong VFL side.  It’ll make us a lot more successful.”