RICHMOND is "paying the price" for attempting to fast-track its list rebuild under Damien Hardwick with mature-age recruits, football manager Dan Richardson says.
Richardson told SEN radio on Monday that when Hardwick took over as senior coach at the end of 2009 Richmond had decided it could not afford an eight-year rebuild.
After opening the 2010 season with nine straight losses, Hardwick led Richmond back to the finals in 2013 for the first time in 11 years.
The Tigers' revival came on the back of a recruitment strategy that saw the club bolster its list with mature-age recruits such as Shaun Grigg, Bachar Houli, Ivan Maric, Troy Chaplin, Chris Knights, Aaron Edwards, Ricky Petterd, Orren Stephenson and Sam Lonergan.
Over the next three years, they added Shaun Hampson, Nathan Gordon, Sam Lloyd, Todd Banfield, Matt Thomas, Anthony Miles, Taylor Hunt, Andrew Moore, Kane Lambert, Jacob Townsend and Chris Yarran.
Richardson said it had been "a terrific achievement" for Richmond to make the finals in Hardwick's four years at the helm, but acknowledged the Tigers' list management strategy had been a factor in the club's slow start to 2016.
"We couldn't take eight years to rebuild. We needed to become competitive a bit quicker than that. But at that time all the best talent basically for the next four to five years was going to be going north (to Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney)," Richardson said.
"We're seeing the likes of GWS reap the rewards of that now. Our strategy wasn't just to go to the draft like a lot of clubs did because we knew that would probably take six to eight years and we've seen that with the likes of Melbourne.
"We didn't think Richmond fans would accept an eight-year rebuild. We turned it around in four, which I think was a terrific achievement.
"We're paying a price in the sense that we knew that that mature-age talent would get us to a point but not take us to the next level, which was always going to be the hardest part.
"While it's been disappointing somewhat to not win a final, it's been a good achievement to play finals for three years in a row for the first time for 20 years for the club."
Richardson acknowledged everyone at Punt Road was frustrated by the club's 1-5 start to 2016, but he was confident that 2014 draftees Corey Ellis (pick No.12), Connor Menadue (pick No.33) and 2015 pick Daniel Rioli (No.15) would be "really good long-term players".
"We certainly knew that to go to the next level we needed to get some young talent into the club and we've done that with our list over the last few years, and ultimately hopefully (we can) top up with some other A-grade talent," Richardson said.
Richardson was also optimistic that Yarran could still be "a good long-term player for the club" despite the former Blue's injury-plagued start to his career at Punt Road.
Yarran had foot surgery in March after failing to recover from plantar fasciitis over the pre-season.
Richardson said Yarran's foot was fully recovered and he had completed two weeks of "reasonable running sessions".
The Tigers footy boss did not nominate a likely return date for Yarran but expected he would resume "ball work and more football-related training" in the next few weeks.
