Running has been the cornerstone of Richmond’s pre-season program under the Club’s new High Performance Manager Ben Serpell.

The Tigers have undergone an intensive summer of training sessions designed to, quite literally, get them up to speed at the game’s highest level.

“My background’s in occupational therapy, so for me it’s looking at what’s the end result we want to achieve and work back from there,” Serpell said on the first episode for 2025 of the Club’s Talking Tigers podcast.

“You look at AFL footy and there’s a lot of running in it.

“You might get 15-30 kicks in a game . . .  We’ll do 15-30 kicks in a warm-up and then we’ll start training kicking.

“But you run upwards of 12km in a game, and you don’t spend a lot of time training how to run.

“So, that’s my philosophy. Let’s flip that a little bit, teach people how to run.

“We think it’s quite an easy thing to do, but it’s actually not. That’s why your hundred metre track and field athlete is continually working on drills to become a better runner.

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“So, because it’s such a big part of the game, we’re going to spend a lot of time on running and go from there.”

Serpell also believes that contrary to accepted opinion, players can, in fact, be taught to run faster.

“The difference between running a 9.8 metres per second versus 10 metres per second in a game of footy may not make a difference. But at the end of the day what we’re trying to do is change motor patterns and make sure they’re moving effectively,” he said.

“So, that’s a lot of what we’re trying to do. And that way, we’re confident when they’re running fast, they’re not just overloading a certain area of their body.

“I’m big on spending a lot of time on it.

“My philosophy is run well, then run well lots. So, that’s the focus we’ve taken.”

Serpell is determined to turn another established football idiom on its head.

“There’s that catch phrase we play how we train. I like to flip that – we train how we play.

“If we want to play at high intensity, we train at high intensity. So, we’re working on that.

“We can’t keep protecting guys by not putting them in training and slowing them down.

“Let’s make training harder than the game and let’s be confident . . .”

Serpell’s innovative approach to his craft has led to the introduction of a particularly interesting pre-season drill for the players . . . they are running with their hands on hips.

“The reality is that if you watch our guys play, they’re not using their arm swing much when they’re running, they’re calling for the ball,” Serpell said.

“So, (it’s about) getting them strong, hips down and running well there.

“Let’s do that and make sure they can operate their upper body separate to their lower body.”