Richmond midfield coach and esteemed former club captain Chris Newman recently provided an interesting insight into the development of talented, teenage midfielder Kane McAuliffe on the Club’s official podcast Talking Tigers.

McAuliffe, recruited by Richmond from SANFL club North Adelaide with its first pick (No. 40 overall) in the 2023 AFL national draft, has been selected to make his senior debut with the Tigers in Sunday’s Gather Round match against St Kilda at Adelaide’s Norwood Oval.

Here is Newman’s assessment of McAuliffe . . .

“You look at the size of him . . . he’s a readymade body and plays that inside mid role really well.

“Wins his own ball, and it’s good to see a left-footer in there that’s able to get inside and out.

“The thing that he likes to do is actually win it, but he’s quite good at getting in to out successfully.

“He loves taking on tackles, shrugging tackles and getting clear.

“He’s a really honest worker . . . works hard, which is exactly what we require out of all our mids.

“And his patterns are strong.

“He’s a really good kid, who loves to learn. He’s always in my office and works closely with Sam Lonergan and Jack Ziebell as well with his stoppage craft.

“He’s a really talented kid . . . a beautiful left-foot kick and quite penetrating, too.

“So, he’s got a good leg and he can kick both sides. But he’s quite good at getting on to his left.”