Richmond CEO Shane Dunne is “delighted” with the development and evolution of second year senior coach Adem Yze.
Yze is leading the Tigers through an exciting journey of rejuvenation, and with plenty of positives to come out of the 2025 season so far, Dunne explained how the coach is forming strong and meaningful connections with the playing group.
“Adem continues to evolve and grow as a coach. He's one and a half years into his first gig as a senior coach and it's a rejuvenating side,” Dunne said on SEN.
“We’ve changed the list profile, even from last year to this year, and, we've got young players and talent coming through, but Adem's really taken ownership of the group and the program.
“We're seeing him grow exactly as we expected he would in his first senior coaching gig.
“We give Adem feedback regularly and he's continuing to grow and make this role his own. We're delighted with the way Adem's going.
“I see Adem as our long-term coach, we're seeing everything that we had hoped we would see from Adem, and he's continued to grow into the role.”
Dunne emphasised the importance of dual premiership player Tom Lynch, who is currently serving a five-game suspension.
Lynch, who is one of the most experienced players on the list and a valued leader, is playing a vital role in fast-tracking the development of the likes of Jonty Faull, Tom Sims, Harry Armstrong, and other young forwards.
“Tom's a fantastic contributor to this Club, and what he's doing for our incredibly young forward line, it's our youngest and least experienced line across the Club, it's almost like having another coach out there on the field,” Dunne said.
While the Tigers have won just three games this season, the competitiveness and effort hasn’t been in question, with the group aiming for more victories to close out the campaign.
“The good and pleasing thing is, we've been in most games,” Dunne said.
“Even when there are lapses within games, with the young side, we can still put pressure on and perform post those lapses.
“It's going to take time until we get a bit more consistency in our game, where we can address some of those momentum shifts within quarters. That's going to be the big challenge for us as we start getting more games into these young players.”