RICHMOND young gun Taj Hotton is poised to return for his first AFL game of 2026 against North Melbourne on Sunday, while Josh Smillie is aiming to play some games by the end of July after returning from America.
Hotton made a successful return in the VFL last Sunday against Tasmania on managed minutes after making a full recovery from bone stress in his hip.
The 2024 pick No. 12 has endured a wretched run to start his AFL career, playing seven games last year - the final seven - after recovering from the knee reconstruction he suffered in his draft year.
After completing almost the full pre-season, the stress reaction was discovered at the tail end of the pre-season, wiping out four months for Hotton.
But now Tigers coach Adem Yze looks set to recall the first-round pick, alongside captain Toby Nankervis, who is set to play his first game since suffering a serious hamstring strain in round two.
“Taj did what he needed to do at VFL level, albeit in really tough conditions. But he's a highly talented player that we want to get games into,” Yze told reporters at Waverley Park on Friday morning.
“We've got to get through today's session, then finalise the team today. But obviously he's a high talent that we want to get some exposure to for the second half of the year, so it's highly likely that he will come back in.
“Right now, he's played enough VFL footy that he can come in. There's a lot of players that play 60 or 70% game time anyway with five on the bench, so he'll just be one of those. But we can't put him into a game hoping to play a certain amount because if something happens game day, that might have to change.
"We've got to make sure that he's available and ready to play a certain amount as a minimum. But he'll be one of those guys that he might get an extra rotation here and there. Looking forward to getting him back out there.”
Richmond trained at Waverley Park on Friday after announcing on Thursday that the club will temporarily relocate to Hawthorn’s former training and administration base from the start of next pre-season, while the final stage of the redevelopment at Punt Road is completed next year.
Smillie was out on the track away from the main group after returning from a trip to Philadelphia to work with world renowned reconditioning guru Bill Knowles.
The 2024 top 10 pick travelled to the United States with Richmond GM Blair Hartley, who also visited NFL powerhouse Philadelphia Eagles, and will now be put through a mini pre-season in the middle of winter.
“He's in a really good spot, so we got a lot out of it, and that's not just his body composition, different running techniques and he did grow. Look, he's a big boy, so he learns a lot about himself from obviously the science around his body.” Yze said.
“Now he's earned the right to train. He started his kicking program this week, so we'll start to up the ante. That's the main thing right now. You'll see him running around today kicking the footy. He's in the orange boots out there right now, which is really exciting not only for him, but some of our leaders can't wait to get him out there. They know the type of character he is and the type of player he is going to be for us.
“We've just got to temper that (timeline aim) right now, so whether that's in four to six weeks that he becomes available for some sort of footy. You'll see that timeline start to shift now that he's starting to kick a footy around, which is pretty cool.”
Richmond will host the Kangaroos at the MCG after their long road trip in Western Australia.
