Richmond’s Development Coach (Midfielders), Jack Ziebell, joined Talking Tigers this week to provide a comprehensive assessment on a crop of impressive Tiger cubs.
Speaking about the seventh pick in the 2025 draft, Sam Cumming, Ziebell was glowing in his assessment of how the 18-year-old has showcased his professionalism at senior level.
“He's a country kid with great character. He's been brought up by a really strong family, fits really well with the Richmond culture, the Richmond man, and the team trademark that the boys live and breathe. That's why they love him, because he wants to play for the team,” Ziebell said.
“He's a gun, but the reality is, he does the stuff that you might not see on TV, that we pick up on the stat sheet, but he does the stuff away from that, that endears him to his teammates.
“He's going to be so fun to watch and our younger players are starting to define their process throughout the week.
“He's really professional in the way he goes about it, and he wants to get better every single day he's at the Football Club. He sources his coaches out to watch vision straight away. He doesn't have to be asked to go and improve anything. He wants to do it himself.
“You can see he's got that self-drive and that ambition to be really, really great, and couple that with his work ethic and the way he plays the game, he's going to be so fun to watch.”
Another highly-talented Sam in Richmond’s ranks is Lalor, and Ziebell believes he will come back from his current Achilles injury better than ever.
“He's an ultimate professional, an ultimate Club man, who has got a real knack of bringing everyone together,” Ziebell said.
“He is loved by everyone, not just because he's a great bloke, which he is, but his ability to set a standard in training and train really hard and get the best out of himself and compete really hard, but also the way he goes about his preparation.
“He's still learning what fits for him and how it's going to work long-term, and that's what great players do. They're really curious around getting better and what it's going to take for him to get better.
“He's got that ambition and drive and there's no secret potion into why these guys go out and play really well on the weekend. It's because they put the work in.
“Sammy's had a bit of a mishap with his injury, but that's not going to derail the way he goes about it.
“You can see in his eyes right now. He's going to come back bigger, better, and stronger, and he is already making plans about how he can improve as a player while he's not playing. You don't see that often with high talent draft picks.”
While Cumming and Lalor were high draft picks, Tom Burton’s path to the Swinburne Centre took a different route.
Burton trained with the Tigers in the pre-season and earned the final list spot in early March. He has since played five games, including the Dreamtime at the ‘G and Anzac Day Eve blockbusters.
“Burto is a really great story,” Ziebell said.
“Missing out on the draft, after being captain of the Western Jets and captain of Vic Metro, and putting together a really strong U18 year…I don't think he'd shy away from the fact of how disappointed he was to miss out on the draft. His ability to then show up and train a full pre-season with no guarantees and acquit himself the way he did, I think is the reason why he won that list spot, and it's probably the reason why he's playing right now.
“He's got some weapons in his game that are top echelon of the AFL, which is his running capacity, his running ability. He can run like not many can in the game, which is exciting. He's still learning his craft in a lot of different ways as well, which is exciting to see where he can take his game. It'll be fun to watch.”
Speaking of speed and pace, Sam Grlj has delivered that in spades in his debut campaign, and Ziebell couldn’t speak highly enough of the energy and enthusiasm Grlj has brought to the Club.
“He’s one of the best kids I've met in footy, in terms of coming into a club and just wanting to be himself,” Ziebell said.
“It's awesome that the Club embraces that and has done so for a long period of time. Richmond celebrates individuals for who they are and what they stand for.
“Grlj’s come in...he just takes the game on. He might cause a few headaches for the coaches every now and again when he just goes a bit rogue, but the fans love it.
“He brings excitement, he brings energy. He is made for the game. His running power, his ability to find the ball in the chain and stay in the chain is incredible. He’s going to be a very, very good player for us for a very long time.”
Taj Hotton is poised to return from a hip injury post the Bye, an ailment that he suffered during Richmond’s February match simulation against Essendon.
It follows Hotton’s recovery from an ACL injury in his draft year, which saw him make his AFL debut in Round 18 last year, with Ziebell explaining the early health battles will only help Hotton in the future.
“He's an unrivalled talent and he's had a bit of a tough start to his AFL career, but I think what that does for individuals, it builds a level of resilience in these kids that will hold them in really strong stead for the rest of their careers,” Ziebell said.
“I would love them to be out playing right now and have 20 or 30 or 40 games under their belt, absolutely, but the reality is, that's not the case.
“Our job is to continue to put them in a mind frame and to keep developing these guys while they are not playing, so that when they get the chance to play, they can maximise their skill set in a way that helps us as a team. Taj is a really good example of that.
“I'd love to see him out there as much as we possibly can, and hopefully he's not too far away because he's just starting to ramp up his training loads now, which is exciting.
“I think we've all seen glimpses of what Taj can do around the ball and his innocuous ability to get out of traffic. Hopefully we can see him out there, so he can put a few more games together and we can enjoy his talents a bit more.”
Ziebell has also worked closely with Josh Smillie, who continues his fight back from a quad injury.
Smillie recently returned from Philadelphia where he worked with world-renowned reconditioning specialist Bill Knowles, and Ziebell was able to provide an insight into that trip.
“I work pretty closely with Josh, making sure he has understanding of his own body, what he needs to get better at in his game, and what his weapons are as a young player. He's got some talent, and he's going to be a very, very good player for us for a very long period of time,” Ziebell said.
“Josh and our list manager, Blair Hartley, travelled across to Philly and spent five or six days working really closely with high intense workouts around his athletic development, and for those who don't know, Josh's athletic profile is really unique.
“He's a bit of a unicorn in his body shape. His ability to find the ball in a contest and show his strength, and power and ability to break and evade tackles is something we haven't seen too much of, because he hasn't played. But watching him train, it's pretty exciting the way he goes about it.
“His ability to want to better himself and go to Philly, to go and spend some time with one of the best [programs] in the world to help him develop his athletic profile, it's going to help his game. It shows the type of person he is, how much he wants to get better and how much he wants to play.
“There's no one out there more than Josh that wants to play AFL footy right now and even just play footy, full stop. We're doing everything we can to support Josh. We know Josh, how hell-bent and driven he is to get back, and we're really excited to see him, when he gets fully fit, to go out there and tear some games apart.”
