“Car City at best”: Assessing Richmond’s prestige cars analogy
Andrew Slevison • January 20th, 2026 11:37 am

“Everywhere you look… there’s a Ferrari, there’s another…”
The Richmond Football Club has been putting together a nice catalogue of prestige cars in recent years.
That is according to David King who was at Tigers training on Monday and clearly liked what he saw.
King marvelled at some of the Tigers draftees, suggesting perhaps Adem Yze’s side could be destined to climb up the ladder in 2026.
Sone of Richmond’s young guns include Sam Lalor, Taj Hotton, Harry Armstrong and Luke Trainor, among others.
SEN Breakfast pair Sam Edmund and Kane Cornes were quick to assess King’s thoughts and were not quite as effusive with their praise.
“If Richmond are Nick Theodossi Prestige Cars then what’s it like walking into the Gabba at the moment? Is that like Monaco?,” Edmund said.
“What’s it like down at GMHBA Stadium then?”
Cornes added: “What’s it like at the Whitten Oval? It’s a Formula 1 track!”
Edmund continued by throwing out a Car City reference, but did insist that the Tigers are in a good spot in their rebuild.
“I’m sorry, but Richmond - that’s Car City at best I reckon. (It’s calling) a spade a spade at the moment,” he added.
“We’re not saying they’re not well coached, we’re not saying they’re not on the right path, we’re not saying they haven’t picked the right kids - but they are kids.
“Keep your eyes open for a bargain, Car City - not Nick Theodossi Prestige Cars.”
Cornes said further: “I think it’s like going to Cars Guide and you’ve got the filter and you put the limit to $20,000.
“Then every now and then an ad pops up for a more expensive vehicle, that’s what I think it’s like at Richmond.”
So, who is the Ferrari?
Edmund: “I’m looking at Richmond’s best side for this year - who is the Ferrari? I can’t find a Ferrari!”
Cornes: “I can’t find a Ferrari yet.”
Edmund: “In the workshop there’s a couple of classy and vintage old cars like Nick Vlastuin…”
Cornes: “There’s a couple in the workshop that if fine-tuned can be good footballers.
“Then there’s a couple of shiny, new, hybrid electric vehicles that are the new age. Lalor will be a Ferrari, but he’s not yet.”
In the eyes of Cornes, the Richmond rebuild is perfectly placed after five wins in 2025 even if he doesn’t agree with the prestige cars analogy.
“Five wins last year, a percentage of 66 - it is a big stretch to think that they are going to double the win tally as they are still very much in rebuilding mode.
“I’m not sure if they’re desperate to be top 10. Another year in the bottom four, go to the draft again, get this list absolutely right to go, and then you start to add some players form other clubs and target free agency aggressively before you’re ready to make a serious push.
“Things are on track, Tigers fans are in a really good spot, they’ve celebrated all the success. Now they have the excitement of going along and watching these young players develop. The strategy they’ve got is absolutely the right one.
“But I think 10 wins is a stretch. To finish 10th last year you had to win 12 games.”
Richmond’s social team presumably saw King’s post and were inspired to caption a draftees highlights post with the words “Vroom vroom” accompanied by a car emoji.
The Tigers will play their first unofficial match sim against Essendon at The Hangar on February 20 before meeting Melbourne at Mars Stadium in the AAMI Community Series on February 27.
They kick off the season proper against Carlton at the MCG on March 12.

