The wait to see Richmond football is almost over, as the Club gears up to face arch rivals Carlton at the MCG tomorrow night in the 2026 season opener.

After a long and dedicated pre-season, Adem Yze is excited for the opportunity to showcase everything his team has been working on.

“It's hard not to get excited for Round 1,” Yze told the media on Wednesday.

“We've been waiting for this for a fair bit. Our boys have got a lot of training in them, obviously, pre-season games are pre-season games for a reason, and now we can't wait.

“Watching them (Carlton) play on Opening Round last week, you get a little bit jealous around watching AFL footy when you don't get an opportunity, so we can't wait to get out there in front of our fans and hopefully put on a good show.”

Despite Carlton’s 63-point loss to Sydney in the Opening Round, Yze has still reviewed and prepared for the opposition the same. 

“We look at the reasons why they were in front at the start and owning the game, looking like they should have been further in front, and then you look at the opportunities, whether it was centre bounce, whether it was stoppage, or whether it was offence,” Yze said.

“Whenever you're looking at an opposition, you're looking at the threats as well as the opportunities...so there are two parts to it.

“You're looking at the first half of what could be a threat and the second half of our opportunities, and we've got to be at our best to exploit that.

“We'll be just worried about the way that we play, and we're not going to take too much out of that game.”

Yze expressed excitement about the Tigers' pairing of Sam Lalor and Noah Balta, who have both enjoyed strong pre-seasons. 

“He's (Lalor) had a full pre-season, which he didn't have last year, but he'll get some midfield exposure,” Yze said.

“Last year was more centre bounce, but now he can go and play one rotation as a midfielder and go and run around and play as a pure mid. We obviously need him down forward, and we want to see him forward, so there'll be a blend of that.

“(Balta) is in a really good spot, up until he had a hiccup with his hammy. He’s ready to play, and he's going to play.

“He was almost ready to play last week, so he played our intra-club game, and got some minutes in that, and he's going to be really important for us down back.”

As Richmond prepares to kick-start its 2026 campaign, no ceiling has been put on this young Tigers team, with the expectation of winning matches at the forefront.

“Our expectation is to play well and try to win every week,” Yze said.

“And, be really honest with the way that we review every game, so our expectation wasn't low last year.

“We won the first game (against Carlton last year), and we reviewed the game as we'd lost it, so that's going to be exactly the same.

“We expect to play a brand of footy that is going to be sustainable and play finals footy, whether it's this year, next year or the year after. We need to play that way.”