Richmond beat West Coast on Sunday, August 2, 2026. It was just their 10th win in 67 games. ABC News

Six years ago, this club had three premierships in four seasons. Now it is staring at the worst three-year stretch in its history. If Richmond fail to beat Adelaide, St Kilda or Geelong in the final month of 2026, they will finish coach Adem Yze's first three seasons with fewer wins than the 1959-61 Tigers, who managed 11. No AFL-era coach has survived winning fewer than 10 games across three full seasons.

The comparisons are sobering. Justin Leppitsch won 14 games in three years at Brisbane and was gone. Brendon Bolton got a fourth season at Carlton after a 14-41 start, won one of his next 11, and was sacked. Stuart Dew survived an 11-61 record at Gold Coast in the Suns' early years but was shown the door three seasons later.

Richmond's problem is that the rebuild was never supposed to be this slow. After winning five games in 2025, expectations rose for 2026 — the club's list carried 12 players from the past two national drafts, the pathway for young talent into the AFL system. Yze spoke in February about blending youth and experience. Veteran Troy Chaplin, back in 2016, had insisted the Tigers were "far from" a rebuild. A decade later, there is no arguing. Richmond FC

At one stage this season, Richmond were the only winless club in the competition. The Guardian described the rebuild as "frustrating and strange" in June, noting the club had laid its bets and waited. Fox Sports reported in late July that Yze had not yet completed two full years in the job. The Guardian

The irony cuts deep. Richmond's golden era — the 2017 flag that snapped a 37-year drought, followed by two more in 2019 and 2020 — was built on a decision to back a struggling coach. Damien Hardwick had finished 13th in his seventh season, 2016, after three straight elimination final losses (the first week of finals, where a loss sends you home). President Peggy O'Neal and CEO Brendon Gale kept him. He delivered a premiership the very next year.

Adelaide, Richmond's next opponent, know that story from the wrong side. The Crows lost the 2017 grand final to the Tigers, missed finals the next two years, and senior coach Don Pyke resigned. His replacement, first-time coach Matthew Nicks, started 0-13.

This week brought another reminder of how far the glory has receded. Triple premiership defender Nathan Broad announced his retirement. He was there for all three flags. Now he walks out the door as the club he helped build fights to avoid a historic low.

Richmond president John O'Rourke has publicly backed the rebuild, pointing to a proposed move to Waverley and a redeveloped Punt Road Oval with seating for 4,000 supporters. Richmond FC The infrastructure is being laid. The on-field results are not keeping pace.

Three games remain. Adelaide, St Kilda, Geelong. Win one, and Yze's three-season tally moves to 11 — level with those 1959-61 Tigers, still the worst in club history but no longer beneath them. Win none, and the record is his alone.