After looking at Richmond’s overnight best and fairest results, Kane Cornes has some serious concerns around their future.
New recruit Tim Taranto took out the Jack Dyer medal on Tuesday night with Dustin Martin and Shai Bolton rounding out the top three.
Given the Tigers are in a rebuild period, Cornes was surprised with the top ten and their age demographic.
With a number of their premiership stars nearing the end of their stellar careers, the Port Adelaide great has some worries that a number of the top ten finishers are about to hang up the boots in the not too distant future.
“I had a look at Richmond’s best and fairest last night and the results and congratulations to Tim Taranto who won that, Dustin Martin finished second and Shai Bolton was third,” Cornes said.
“But they finished 13th the Tigers and this is my concern for Richmond when you look at the age profile of the best and fairest results and the lack of any representation of players under the age of 24.”
Cornes says when you look at the teams that finished around them at the conclusion of the year and their best and fairest results, it paints a dark picture that could haunt them in the coming years.
“If you finish outside of the top eight and as low as 13th, what you would expect and we’ll see other clubs like Hawthorn with Jai Newcombe, Will Day and Mitch Lewis featuring there and we’ll see Gold Coast’s with Noah Anderson, Matt Rowell and the young ones driving through,” he added.
“Richmond have Taranto who will be 26 by the time Round 1 comes around, Martin will be 32, Bolton will be 25, Nick Vlaustin will be 29, Dan Rioli will be 26, Liam Baker 26, Noah Balta will be 24 and he was the youngest of the top ten, Prestia is 31, McIntosh is 30 and Broad is 30.
“The lack of any youth driving this footy club up the ladder, and that happens when you have success because you don’t have access to the draft and players like Josh Gibcus are injured as he will come along.
“But largely this group and their performance next year will continually revolve around what they can get out of the veterans such as Martin, Prestia, McIntosh, Broad and Vlaustin.”
Richmond finished the year 13th on the ladder with a percentage of 93.6.
They recently hired Adem Yze as their new coach and will head into the upcoming draft with picks 25, 53, 62, 76 and 82.