Richmond chief forecasts the future of Yze and Lynch

The Richmond Football Club have now been presented with some decisions to make involving head coach Adem Yze, and key spearhead Tom Lynch, with their contracts expiring soon.

Yze, who was selected as Richmond’s coach in September 2023, has coached the Tigers for a total of 39 games with only five of them resulting in wins so far.

Despite the seemingly unimpressive record which has included some heavy losses, Yze has still been applauded for battling the adversities of the job and what he’s been able to create so far in trying circumstances.

With many outsiders believing the club would struggle to win a game this year, Yze has somewhat defied the odds as he has led the Tigers to three impressive wins over Carlton, Gold Coast and West Coast, while coming extremely close to adding another two against GWS and North Melbourne.

Yze is contracted for 2026, but what does the future hold?

Tigers CEO Shane Dunne says the club is loving what the second-year coach is doing with a young group.

“Adem’s really taking ownership of the group and the program, and we’re seeing him grow exactly as we expected he would into his first senior coaching gig,” Dunne said on SEN Breakfast.

“Adem’s halfway into his first contract, so I think it’s probably a little premature to lock in the new contract straight away.

“We’re delighted with the way Adem’s going, no doubt we’ll continue to evaluate that over the coming weeks and months.

“At a point in time where we think we’ve seen enough and he continues to do everything that we’re expecting of him, I’m sure we’ll work with his management and get that done, I see Adem as our long-term coach.

“We’re taking a long-term view, while we want to win each and every week, we’ve also got an eye to the future, we’re developing talent and bringing them through and trying to teach them the game plan that’s ultimately going to win us finals matches.”

Yze’s plan has evidently been to fast track the youth, as the Tigers have moved from an experienced list to now the second youngest list in the competition within a couple of years, due to eight debutants this year alone, with Taj Hotton looking another to likely add to the tally soon.

The remainder of the season may be more challenging for the youthful Tigers given their most experienced forward, 32-year-old Lynch, is still to miss the next four weeks due to suspension, which has some questioning his future at Tigerland.

But Dunne insists the two-time premiership forward, best and fairest and two-time Tigers leading goal kicker still has a role to play despite being out of contract this year.

“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 - so it’s almost like having another coach out there on the field,” Dunne said of Lynch.

“We’ve certainly had conversations between Blair Hartley, our executive general manager of talent, and Tom’s management team, and yeah I’d be shocked if Tom wasn’t running around in the yellow and black next year.”

Richmond face Essendon on Saturday night from 7:35pm AEST at the MCG in what looks like an opportunity for the Tigers to pounce on a growing tally of injury woes down at The Hangar.