In the latest of a series of regular columns, Richmond President Peggy O’Neal answers questions from Richmond members and supporters.

Dear fellow Tigers,

This is my first column for 2019 and with the season opener just 44 days away the sense of excitement is building already. I am pleased to answer some of your recent questions below and look forward to chatting with you during the season.

MEMBERSHIP The Hunt Continues in 2019; join as a member today

Peggy, you have done great things for the Club, can you stay President forever?

That would be nice but tiring! According to the Constitution, I can remain in the role of President for one further term beyond this year, and that will take me through to the 2022 Annual General Meeting.  The board has asked me to remain and I have agreed.

It will be a privilege to continue to work with the Board, in service of our members, for another term.  Then it will be someone else's honour to serve as president of our great Club.

I may have missed it Peggy, but who is our Vice-President following the retirement of Rob Dalton?

Emmett Dunne is the club’s new Vice-President, replacing Rob Dalton. The Board made the appointment at its December board meeting.   As you may be aware, Tina De Young was also appointed to the Board at that time, and will replace Rob as chair of the Finance and Audit Committee.  We look forward to Tina's valuable and able contribution to the Board.

Rob Dalton has agreed to stay on as chair of Aligned Leisure, our subsidiary sport and recreation business, and we are fortunate to have him still involved with the Club's business endeavours.

Are we a genuine chance to reach 100,000 members again? It would be a great thing for the Club to go past that milestone for a second year.

That is most certainly our ambition. We recently launched our 2019 membership campaign The Hunt Continues and it has been very well received. Our membership tally has just ticked through 81,000 so we are well placed to again reach the 100,000 mark. The passion and loyalty of our supporter base continues to amaze all of us. If you haven't renewed your membership, do so now!

BROWSE Find a 2019 membership package suited to you

I watched the AFLW last weekend and am really looking forward to having a Richmond team in the competition next season. How is the build-up going?

Fielding a team in the AFLW competition will be a significant undertaking, and the establishment of our VFLW team in 2018 provided some important learnings for the Club.  Another season in the VFLW will have us even better placed for 2020.

Under the guidance of Kate Sheahan, I have no doubt that we will field a competitive AFLW team that will do the Club proud. In the meantime, we will offer all the support we can to the VFLW team, which has quickly become an integral part of our Club.

I simply wanted to say how fantastic it is the Club has been able to keep Steve Morris involved. He will do a great job again leading the VFL team.

I concur wholeheartedly. Steve is a fine young man with great values. Our young players learn a lot from Steve on and off the field. The captaincy of our VFL team is a significant role and key to the development of our list. We were all thrilled that Steve agreed to be a part of our Club again in 2019.

This AFLX stuff is just ridiculous. What if one of our players gets injured? Does the AFL ask for an opinion before doing this?

AFLX has certainly divided opinions. The AFL is obviously looking for opportunities to engage different markets and potentially develop a product to take overseas.  

We understand the need to innovate but, equally, we hope all players come through injury free.