Richmond coach Adem Yze has discussed a variety of topics ahead of Saturday’s season finale against Geelong.
On Taj Hotton and Seth Campbell playing in the midfield…
“It's something we’re looking at. We want to give them some exposure this season, and leading into next year, we'll look at upping the ante with that and giving them more exposure and more time. Right now, we've got a midfield crew with (Tim) Taranto, (Jacob) Hopper and (Dion) Prestia. We want to add some flair to that and some youth to that as well, so they've got a role that they're playing right now and hopefully in the future that will grow. It's exciting, not only for us but for our fans…just a little taste, and hopefully that will grow over time.”
On tagging one of Geelong’s star midfielders…
“I've said this the last few weeks, right now, we’re in a position where we want to give opportunity to Taj and Seth and to do that, it overrides what the opposition are doing. We'll go into the game with a certain plan around our own method and then keep an eye on that. If we decide to go to them at any stage throughout the game, we'll do that, but at the start, we want to play our way and give our guys an opportunity first.”
On Josh Gibcus’ AFL return…
“It puts a smile on my face because I know what he's been through, and not only that, on how hard he's worked. He deserves his opportunity. We're not just giving him a chance at the last game just for the sake of it. He's in some really good form, and he's an AFL player. We understand the talent he's got. I want him to get a sense and a feel of what AFL footy is again, and like I said, he's deserved his opportunity, he's ready to go. He's part of our future, and we can't wait to see what he can produce tomorrow.”
On Kamdyn McIntosh’s Richmond farewell…
“He feels like he's just a role player, but he's more than that. He's a master of a role. We've got 18 positions on the field, and knowing that whenever Kamdyn’s name was on or his magnet was on that wing, you knew exactly what he was going to get and not only play his role, but he just did it at a high level. If we've got 18 players doing what he does in that one position, we're better for it. On the field, he is such an amazing teammate, does everything, he's so selfless, and then off the field, he's just a great Richmond man. He drives a lot of energy around the place, and you would have seen that throughout the week, and you'll see that on game day. We love who he is, we love the type of player he's been, and hopefully we can celebrate him the right way.”
On AFL-listed players potentially playing in the VFL finals…
“We'll have those discussions over the next few weeks and work out which players need to play, and the ones that need more game time or the ones that we want to put away and rest up for next year. A few of our younger boys, there'll be some that we might ask for permission based on injury. With Taj, it might be the fact that it is, not only daunting, but the weight of expectation and playing AFL footy and if it is only seven or eight games or whatever he's played, we'll make that decision and do the best thing for him. Those discussions will happen.”
On Josh Smillie…
“He might need some time. He's obviously missed a lot of footy. He hasn't had the luxury of playing AFL footy right now. Discussions will happen, and we'll do the best thing by the player. He's gone through a bit this year. Players might have a season like that in their third or fourth year, so unfortunately, it's happened in his first year, and that's OK. He's learnt a lot about himself around his body and what it takes to be an AFL player, so he's really diligent right now. He's sort of knocking the door down to get some footy into him, so hopefully in the next week or so we might see him play.”
On Saturday’s game against Geelong…
“We understand what's coming. We understand we're coming up against a very good footy team. They taught us a footy lesson down at their ground earlier in the season. We know what they're playing for, but at the same time, we understand what we're playing for. We want to send off one of our best in Kamdyn, in the right way and not only that, we've got 100,000 members that we're playing for. Hopefully, we put on a performance that makes them proud and finish off the season the right way because they've supported us throughout the season, and hopefully we can finish it off for them.”
