As Richmond prepares to face the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday at People First Stadium, Hugo Ralphsmith spoke with ABC Radio to reflect on how the side's season has been so far. 

After the exit of several senior players at the end of the 2024 season, Ralpshmith said he has been impressed with how the emerging leaders of the Club have stepped up.

“They were greats of the Football Club and they were also leaders, so the three-to-six-year players needed to step up and take on leadership roles,” Ralphsmith told ABC Radio.  

“Credit where credit is due, Sam Banks and Tom Brown are leaders of the backline, and then up forward, Lynchy (Tom Lynch) has been a leader forever, but he has taken another step up.

“It forced everyone to get better, and I think that is why we are playing good footy now because everyone is taking ownership of what they need to do.”

11:40

'It's awesome to have those guys [teach] the young guys' - Ralphsmith

Hugo Ralphsmith joined ABC radio before the Tigers Round 20 match against Collingwood.

The wingman further spoke to the leadership of the senior players, who have helped support the eight draftees in their transition to the elite level.

“Tig (Nick Vlastuin) and Broady (Nathan Broad) and you know Nank (Toby Nankervis) in the middle, and then Tim (Taranto) and (Jacob) Hopper, who are very experienced players, you can’t have that experience go to waste,” Ralphsmith said.

“Blokes like Jonty (Faull) are leaning off Lynchy, and Taj (Hotton) is now getting a good run and a few centre bounces, so it’s awesome to have those guys teach the younger guys.

“At one point, we will all be meeting in the middle and playing some good footy.”

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Each year poses a new challenge, but for this year’s Tiger crop, it was about playing an “exciting” style of football and one that Richmond fans could be proud of.

“We didn’t really have any expectations. We could’ve come in and got 10 wins for the year, or we could have won none, but we just wanted to play a good, exciting brand of footy,” Ralphsmith said.

“I think we have done that. There was a little bit of a lull in the middle where you are just trying to find your feet.

“As all young teams do, you are trying to figure out how you want to play, but I think the last couple of weeks we have played really excitingly, and at the start of the year we did too.” 

Richmond takes on Gold Coast this Saturday at 4:10pm.