Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson says she doesn’t think Richmond needs to ‘bottom out’ and defended her comments that the club was “completely shafted” in the 2024 AFL fixture.
It’s been a tough start to life under new Tigers coach Adem Yze, with Richmond having dropped its first three games this year at 0-3.
However Wilson, a Richmond fan, has been optimistic about the club’s direction and young players in the aftermath of its golden era under three-time premiership coach Damien Hardwick — including predicting it to win the flag in 2022 and tipping it to bounce from last season.
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Grilled about the topic on Channel 9’s Footy Classified on Monday night when watching back some of Wilson’s previous calls, she conceded she was “probably” too bullish about the Tigers, but maintained she didn’t think they needed to commit to a rebuild.
“I just don’t buy your (Footy Classified host Craig Hutchison) doom and gloom and bottoming out scenario you think clubs have to do — I don’t think Richmond has to do that,” Wilson said on the program.
“I don’t back away from any of those things I said about the young players … I hardly think it’s a massive story they’ve lost three games … I don’t think they’re going to keep topping up now, but I don’t think you get rid of (Tim) Taranto and (Jacob) Hopper.
“Both those players are still in their relative mid-20s and could be part of the next big push in five or four years’ time.”
Wilson later added: “I will make one supporter comment — I’ll take three flags in four years and a few years of pain, thank you very much.
“The point is, I just don’t think you go back to the well as low as Hawthorn has. Maybe Hawthorn needed to … but I don’t know if Richmond are in that situation.”
Wilson was also probed about her comments on Adelaide radio station FIVEaa that the Tigers were “completely shafted” with the fixture after a big reduction of prime time games, with Power great Kane Cornes flippantly saying “I nearly drove off the road when I heard this.”
She responded: “My point was Richmond are off as far as the AFL is concerned. I’m not saying it was wrong, I said it’s fascinating to see how a team can be up there and drop down to there — ‘shafted’ commercially.
“I wasn’t complaining about it, I was saying it was a fascinating story that Richmond-St Kilda are playing late Sunday afternoon in Gather Round at Norwood and that they’re playing a game at Geelong.”
Source Agencies
