Adem Yze: Can Richmond Turn Every Lost Ground Ball into Three Immediate Jobs?
Updated: Oct 9
A Richmond player reaches a loose ball, loses control and suddenly three Tigers charge at the same opponent. The effort is unmistakable. So is the space left behind them. One handball can carry the opposition through the exact corridor the Tigers had enough numbers to protect. The lost ground ball was a small mistake. The response may turn it into a large one. Adem Yze's challenge is whether Richmond can make three responsibilities instinctive at the instant possession changes: someone pressures the emerging ball carrier, someone removes the first release and someone guards the exit behind the contest.
Football makes the impulse to attack a loose ball look admirable. The problem is that 'everyone pressure' is not an instruction a team can execute without exposing itself. If several Tigers pursue the same contest, their collective effort can become the opposition's simplest way out. In the full RTSSG Members investigation, we examine what actually happens when a ground ball is lost and why telling everyone to pressure is not a workable coaching rule. We ask what the nearest players must recognise before one of them makes a second, unnecessary chase.
Who attacks the ball — and who must not?
The first Tiger's job appears obvious: confront the new ball carrier before he can turn and select an option. Yet another teammate may have a more consequential task, because the player he is covering is already preparing to receive the release. A third must hold the line beyond them. In the full feature, we dissect the first pressure role, what the second player must protect and why the third player can be the most important one. We examine how the three jobs must connect without demanding that every Tiger be within tackling distance of the football.
A system deserves the name only when it has an answer for failure. The first defender may be beaten by an exceptional sidestep. The opponent may release the handball a moment earlier than Richmond expects. Who then becomes the pressure player, and who continues protecting the next possession rather than joining the scramble? In our Members investigation, we look at how Yze should teach the distance between the three responsibilities and what changes if the first pressure act fails. We test whether a planned defensive response can adapt before the ball crosses the second line.
What happens if the first pressure player gets beaten?
The roles cannot belong only to midfielders. A lost ground ball in Richmond's forward 50 asks different questions of the high forward, the wing and the defenders guarding the rebound. The same failure inside defensive 50 may require much less space between the three players. In the full feature, we examine how the three jobs apply to midfielders, half-forwards, wings and defenders and how they can share one language without using identical starting positions. We ask what the team's structure needs to protect when the location of the contest changes.
Under fatigue, a player may hear a call but recognise it too late. A review that freezes the last tackle can therefore blame someone who was forced to repair an earlier positioning mistake. Brett Ratten's cross-line coaching brief should make those chains easier to identify, but the teaching responsibility still belongs to Yze. In the full Members investigation, we dissect how training should make the three-way decision uncomfortable, how video review can find the first broken job and who must lead the teaching. We ask what a tired side can remember quickly enough to act.
Can the three jobs survive exhaustion and a different part of the ground?
Richmond will never win every ground ball. It can stop treating every loss as permission for everyone nearby to chase it. The most encouraging improvement might be visible in a player who deliberately stays out of a tackle because he is closing the handball the opponent wants next. In the complete Members investigation, we examine what 2027 must prove if pressure, cover and exit protection are to become one repeatable method. The critical question is whether three Tigers can recognise three different jobs before one lost contest becomes a full-field collapse.
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