What Did Sam Lalor’s Return to Full Training Actually Change?
Updated: Aug 30
The full RTSSG member feature, The Kids Are (Almost) Alright – Lalor Back, Leashes Off & Youth on the Rise 🐯, starts with a Richmond question that deserves to stay open a little longer.
Sam Lalor returned to Richmond’s main training group before the 2025 Christmas break after hamstring surgery and multiple strains had interrupted his first AFL season. He had played 10 of the first 11 games of 2025 before the setback.
Did returning to full training reset the clock, or merely begin the next stage of the same development problem? How should Richmond balance availability, midfield ambition and the temptation to accelerate a No.1 pick? What would a successful 2026 look like if games played mattered as much as flashes of talent?
Is the obvious reading actually the right one? What changes when the next piece of evidence is added? And what would Richmond or the people involved need to prove before the question can be answered with confidence?
The member investigation follows those questions further, tests the competing explanations and then makes the judgement that this Public doorway deliberately stops short of. Read the full RTSSG feature here.
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