“Doing my head in”: What is Yze seeing with Richmond’s midfield?

Far from a finished product, Richmond’s promising rebuild has hit a roadblock, with holes across every line stagnating the squad’s on-field growth.

But it’s the club’s engine room causing the most concern at Tigerland.

Despite a spirited effort in Round 7, Richmond’s 54-point loss to Melbourne leaves the club winless through seven, and while injuries have played a part in their slow start, their midfield group appear well behind the eight-ball.

A -6 total clearance count against the Dees feels semi-acceptable, however, the core unit of the absent Tim Taranto and veterans Jacob Hopper and Dion Prestia hardly pass the eye test, let alone the deeper data.

So far this season, Taranto’s 124 and Hopper’s 118 centre bounce attendances (CBA) rank one and two for the club, with Dion Prestia’s 52 per cent CBA rate matching Jack Ross and Sam Lalor in third place.

With their experienced trio leading the line, Richmond rank 17th in scores conceded from centre bounce, tied with the Blues and only ahead of West Coast, while ranking dead last for scores against from stoppage – and by some margin.

Offensively, the Tigers also rank 17th for scores from stoppage and 18th for scores from centre bounce.

It’s a mix that simply isn’t working, and according to David King, coach Adem Yze must do something about it.

“I don’t know what Adem Yze is seeing,” King questioned on SEN Fireball.

“But it’s doing my head in looking at this midfield, the slowest midfield I have ever seen, just have rings run around it every time they lose a clearance.

“Every time they lose a clearance, the game goes at a speed that their mids can’t handle. It’s time to start throwing these young kids in there.

“Still keep some senior players around the edges, but now that Taranto is coming back, I’m concerned that it’s going to be Taranto, Hopper and Prestia for every centre bounce again.

“They are just getting rings ran around them. Behind West Coast, if they lose at clearance - in terms of being able to contain the opposition from scoring, they are the second poorest team in the competition.

“He needs to change this. What is he seeing?”

Fireball co-host Kane Cornes added: “Does he have the personnel would be the first question to that.

“But when you are rebuilding… the other week, the game was on the line against Port Adelaide, and at the start of the last quarter – they were only down by a couple of goals – the starting on-ball group was the same again.

“It was Prestia, it was Taranto and I think at the time their might have been one other, but it might have been Hopper.

“What is going on? It’s a rebuilding group and you’ve gone back to this core group again.”

While the Tigers aren’t necessarily spoilt for choice when it comes to midfield options, King has floated one of Richmond’s most explosive talents as a potential rotation piece to change up their look on the inside.

“Around the competition, we are seeing more and more half forwards go in as mids,” he said.

“Kozzy Pickett is the poster boy at the moment. We’ve seen Shai Bolton become a top-line midfielder in the competition right now.

“Why won’t they look at Seth Campbell in there? Quickest bloke on the list. Why wouldn’t they put him on the dance floor at centre bounces?”

Campbell has made a total of eight CBA's this season for a rate of just four per cent - less than rookie Sam Grlj, Kane McAuliffe and already less than one-gamer Sam Cumming.

Richmond have a great opportunity to cut their winless streak this weekend, facing the struggling Eagles at Optus Stadium on Saturday arvo.