Hugo Ralphsmith was a bright light in a bleak season for Richmond. The hard-running, 22-year-old established himself as a permanent member of the Tigers’ senior line-up on a wing, maintaining an impressive level of consistency throughout. He sat down with Richmond Media for a review of his season, and this is what he had to say . . .
Season reflections
“From a personal standpoint, it was a pretty positive year . . . I felt like I took some leaps and bounds in my game and improved on the things that I wanted to improve on. I’m still obviously growing . . . I’m not at a finished product yet.”
Reasons for his improvement
“Just having more tough conversations with coaches and people in my corner about the things that I needed to improve on. And getting to work on those in the pre-season. It didn’t happen straight away, but once I got into the team during the year, I just felt more comfortable in my ability to use the ball and run with the ball and play to my strengths. So, it was a slow burn, but we got there in the end.”
Further areas of improvement
“I’m still trying to grow the contested side of my game and to be tougher over the footy. Also, just my execution in kicking. Little things that can always get better. I’m still trying to chip away at that.”
Marking development
“My aerial ability has been a side of my game that I’ve always had, since I was a junior. And then, having the belief to go for my marks – taking that to the next level. Instead of thinking someone else is going to do it, just doing it myself. Just go or them, at least. I’m happy that was a side of my game that improved . . .”
Biggest achievements this year
“I had my 50th game (in the final round v Gold Coast) . . . that was a big milestone for me. Ticked that one off, which was really nice. Also, just not getting dropped for the first time in my career. I was proud of the way I went about getting into the team, and then committing to myself to stay in the team. They were probably the two main ones.”
Team goals for 2025
“I think just constant growth. We’re all still trying to learn how to play with each other. There’s obviously some premiership players in the team, and there’s some young players in the team. So, we’re all still trying to gel. Just trying to get better every day and improve going into next season . . . But pretty excited with this group. I was proud with the way the boys went about this year, even though we had some rough times throughout.”
Individual goals for 2025
“I want to become more of a leader. Obviously, we might have some new, younger kids coming in from the draft. . . I’ve very quickly turned from a younger player into kind of a middle-aged player. So, I want to start developing my leadership side and go from there.”
