Richmond Tigers coach Adem Yze marks first win, talks on Liam Baker’s contract

However, more pressure-filled performances and victories like Sunday’s win – 11.16 (82) to 11.11 (77) – should only help Richmond’s cause in retaining him.

Yze revealed afterwards that the Tigers’ five-goal-to-one third quarter coincided with their highest pressure rating for the season.

Liam Baker gives the Richmond faithful something to cheer about.Credit: Getty

“[This win is] not about me. For our players, I look at our last three weeks, the effort that our players have put in without getting a reward,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of things going on, guys going out before a game, [and] obviously the Carlton game, we had players playing [in] different positions, all those sorts of things, and we just didn’t get the reward. So, I was just rapt for our players to get the reward today.

“We were super excited, with not only the effort of today, but … it’s been a month of almosts, so I was rapt for them [to get some reward].

“We weren’t happy with the way that we pressured last week – we were just a step off. It’s not a Richmond type of game if we’re only making 30 tackles, so … they recognised that during the week, and we trained it.”

Baker will wait anxiously for match review officer Michael Christian’s assessment of his second-quarter incident with Lewis Melican, where he flew in and braced late, ultimately making contact to the Swans defender’s head.

Melican was able to get up before briefly going to the bench, but he did not undergo a concussion test and returned soon after.

“I didn’t see the incident, but we’ll look at it later tonight or tomorrow,” Yze said.

“If he’s gone and done something outside the rules, we’ll have to wait and see, but I think Melican played the whole game, so that’s a positive … ‘Bakes’ is pretty small; Melican’s a big man.”

Yze said Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Jack Graham were each a chance to return for next week’s Gather Round clash with St Kilda at Norwood Oval in Adelaide.

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