Richmond’s general manager of football talent Blair Hartley rates the combination of new Tiger mature-age recruits Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper a compelling midfield mix.

As talented as they both are individually, Hartley believes the contrast of their playing styles makes them a formidable force together through the midfield.

“They’re obviously very good players, and they complement each other so well,” Hartley said on the final episode for the year of the Club’s podcast, Talking Tigers.

“Jacob’s so attacking around the ball, so contested. And Tim can really transition run and provide that up and back support.

“You’ll often see Tim will be the first one back and the first one forward with that huge running power.

“And they’re both top-class young men . . . they’re ripping people. We’re really happy to have them.

“When we originally got Tim across the line, he spoke to us about how keen he was keen to get Jacob here.  And that’s where it kind of grew some legs.”

Hartley pinpointed one particular part of the game where he expects the Taranto and Hopper combination will provide the Tigers with a significant boost.

“The games that we did lose control of throughout the course of the year, where we got nipped by a few goals on a number of occasions, we lost that control of the centre bounce. These guys will help out in that area,” Hartley said.