Dear Members and Supporters,

Can I start, by thanking our members for your magnificent support of the Club. We are once again on track to reach 100,000 members – your support keeps our Club strong and bold.

It has also been wonderful to have the yellow and black faithful back at games. There is nothing like being together at the MCG and experiencing games live. Our coach Damien Hardwick has often said the Tiger Army lifts the playing group so can I encourage you to get to as many games as possible. You make a difference!

On-field, the start to season 2022 has had its highs and lows. It shapes as being a very competitive season with every game critically important if we are to feature in September. We know our entire playing group and coaching staff will work as hard as they can in the pursuit of victory, and we wish them well for season 2022.

We finished our third AFLW season with three wins. Injuries took their toll during the season but that created opportunities for some of our younger players. I have no doubt the experience of this season will hold the program in good stead for next season. Congratulations to our All-Australian representatives Katie Brennan and Monique Conti. You were both quite rightly recognised for outstanding seasons.

Our VFLW affiliate Port Melbourne continues to provide opportunities for some of our younger AFLW-listed players and while it has been a difficult season for the team so far, it is providing an invaluable learning environment.

Our VFL team has made a great start winning three of its first four games. There is some very exciting talent coming through under the watchful eye of coach Steve Morris. We play the Casey Demons at the Swinburne Centre at 2.10pm this Sunday as a lead in to the Anzac Day Eve clash with Melbourne at the MCG. Come and support the VFL and AFL teams this weekend – there will be lots of great footy!

I also want to wish our Victorian Wheelchair Football League team well for the season ahead. The team got off to a flying start defeating Collingwood and they take on St Kilda this weekend. Good luck to coach Matt Morris, captain Chris Henderson and the team for the remainder of the season.

Off-field, the Club continues to make progress with the Punt Road Oval redevelopment planning process. We are moving into the detailed design phase of the project, and we look forward to further sharing those images with all of you in due course.  

It is worth re-stating that this project is critical to ensure Richmond Football Club remains in our historic home in Richmond. Punt Road Oval is our home and the significance of that can never be taken for granted.

The redevelopment will provide state-of-the-art facilities for our men’s and women’s programs. It will also enable Punt Road Oval to comfortably accommodate 8,000 supporters and to support the expansion of the Club’s community programs which are at the heart of our purpose. If you would like further details regarding the redevelopment, please click here.

Speaking of heart, we had the honour of inducting Chris Newman and Joel Bowden into the Club’s Hall of Fame prior to our Round 4 game against the Western Bulldogs. If you haven’t had the opportunity, can I encourage you to click here to listen to them speak about their time at the Club and what the yellow and black still means to them.

I did want to acknowledge some recent correspondence I have had regarding the availability of closed captions on Club videos to assist our hearing-impaired supporters. A number of Clubs raised this issue with the AFL as we needed a centralised solution. I am pleased to advise that we expect a to be able to support closed captions on our digital platforms by the middle of the year.

As always, if you wish to raise anything with me, please email president@richmondfc.com.au. I look forward to seeing you at the football.

Go Tiges

Peggy O'Neal
President
Richmond Football Club