Richmond recruit Tim Taranto has continued his impressive start to life at Punt Road by going back-to-back in the 2km time-trials either side of Christmas.

Hugo Ralphsmith nipped at Taranto’s heels for the duration of the return fitness test on Thursday morning, before the former Giant held off his locker neighbour on the finish line at the Swinburne Centre.

Nathan Broad was the next best roughly 50m behind Taranto and Ralphsmith, with Jack Ross and Liam Baker rounding out the top five.

Taranto was one of the best distance runners during his time at Greater Western Sydney and dethroned Richmond’s endurance king Kamdyn McIntosh on the first day of pre-season back in December, before following up that performance to start 2023.

Ralphsmith nearly produced a big upset and has clearly banked a strong training block since playing 13 games for Damien Hardwick in 2022, after the 21-year-old managed six appearances across his first two seasons.

Taranto was one of the biggest names to move clubs during last October’s Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period, returning to Melbourne in exchange for picks No.12 and 19 after playing 114 games for Greater Western Sydney.

McIntosh didn’t test on Thursday, but most of Richmond’s list started the new year with the 2km time-trial under the watch of new high performance boss Luke Meehan.

After managing only nine appearances in 2022, Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin continued his strong pre-season by finishing mid-pack.

Richmond completed the test in two groups with the senior core running first, before a younger group ran shortly after ahead of a skills session.

Josh Gibcus was a clear winner in the second heat, recording the fifth-fastest time of the day to finish ahead of Bigoa Nyuon, who produced a strong performance after earning another deal in the off-season after breaking through for a debut in 2022.