RICHMOND sold the farm for a couple of star midfielders and held a slender hand coming into the 2022 AFL Draft. Although, the Tigers have been notorious for extracting late value and will hope to have done so once again. We recap their haul and analyse what each new player may offer the Victorian powerhouse.

NATIONAL DRAFT

#49 Kaleb Smith (Small Defender/Midfielder, East Fremantle/Western Australia)
#55 Steely Green (Midfielder/Forward, South Fremantle/Western Australia)

ROOKIE DRAFT

#12 Seth Campbell (Midfielder/Forward, Tasmania Devils/Tasmania)
#26 Tylar Young (Key Defender, Richmond VFL/Victoria)

Pick 49 was the Tigers’ first point of call, having essentially put their feet up on night one of this year’s draft. A West Australian bolter was in the offing, with East Fremantle speedster Kaleb Smith landing at Tigerland in the third round. His line-breaking ability from defence and potential to also swing forward piqued the interest of many clubs, so Richmond would have been thrilled to see him remain available.

The Tigers stayed in Western Australia for their second selection, just six picks later. South Fremantle midfielder Steely Green was their man, and is very much a Richmond type of pick in terms of traits. He’s small but tough, clean at the contest and versatile enough to play a range of roles. Having taken up footy later than most, he still cracked the senior WAFL grade and has improvement left.

Akin to Noah and his arc, the Tigers did things by twos as they selected a pair of rookies to go with their National Draft additions. Seth Campbell was their first rookie choice, having been unlucky to miss out previously. He’s another small with senior experience, adding some speed and smarts in the mid-forward rotation. A bag of 10 goals from 32 touches in the TSL well and truly put him on the radar.

Richmond then dipped into its state league squad for the fourth of four overall selections, promoting Tylar Young from its VFL program. The 24-year-old key defender is a talented multi-sport athlete who has made great strides since switching to football, playing 14 VFL games in the yellow and black to earn his chance at AFL level.