Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch has told fans not to expect too much change when it comes to the way the Tigers will play in 2018.
Coach Damien Hardwick’s unconventional forward structure centring around one tall in Jack Riewoldt and supported by a raft of tackle-hungry smalls was one of the main factors in their premiership success.
Leppitsch told SEN Breakfast that it is important that they don’t stray too far from what has worked for them.
“We are happy with our blueprint. One that that we’ve been able to develop is that we’ve got a pretty good brand, or a style in which we play that’s evident not just from within our walls, but evident from outside and its always dangerous to lose that,” he said.
“We always have respect for teams like Sydney that have had the brand they’ve had for a long period of time and if you are recruited by the Swans it’s pretty obvious how you’re going to play the game.
“You don’t want to change too much – I think the game is always evolving but to all of a sudden start playing three or four key forwards and change entirely what got us to where we are, would be a mistake.”
The Tigers fleet of small forwards got a further boost on draft night with the additions of Jack Higgins and father-son prospect Patrick Naish.
Higgins was ranked as the No.1 player in the country by stats crunchers, Champion Data, yet fell all the way to Richmond at pick 17.
Leppitsch said he, along with Naish and talls in Callum Coleman-Jones and Ben Miller will add excitement to what remains a young group.
“We don’t watch a lot of the under 18s vision as coaches and players. We see a little bit of the VFL and the state leagues,” he said.
“When you get the player who is the highest Champion Data ranked player, when you look through history it’s always a pretty good result at the end of that.”
Leppitsch said that star midfielder Dustin Martin has returned in good shape and a greta frame of mind following his remarkable season in which he took home nearly every individual award available.
“It’s the first month that I think he got paid that salary too, so he’s pretty happy!” he joked.
“He always cuts his holidays a couple of weeks short just to come back and at least roll up in reasonable nick.
He does that pretty well now, he’s much more professional than what he was when I first got here seven or eight years ago – he really understands the game and what’s required.”
Richmond will kick off its JLT Series campaign against Essendon in Wangaratta on Saturday 24 February.
What else did Leppa have to say? Listen to the full chat below!