It's one of the most dreaded words in football: rebuild.

It's what's led Carlton into a search for its fifth senior coach in twelve seasons. It's why North Melbourne have been flirting with a seventh consecutive bottom-six finish and it's where Richmond finds itself six years after its drought-breaking dynasty.

The Tigers win over West Coast on Sunday was their 10th in their last 67 games. You could see how much it meant to former pick one Sam Lalor when he smashed through the sealer late at the MCG, whilst Willem Duursma's tears showed how devastating perennial losses can be.

Triple premiership-winning defender Nathan Broad, who announced his retirement this week, told ABC Sport's Alexia Pesce he was proud of the victory.

"It's reward for effort … the boys are working so hard, they have not thrown the towel in," he said.

"We're trying to win, we're not trying to get pick one. We're trying to build a winning culture."

Despite the win, Richmond will walk into the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night with a big decision looming.

If they're unable to salvage a win against Adelaide, St Kilda or Geelong in the final month, they'll finish their third season under coach Adem Yze with their worst record in history across three campaigns; surpassing the 1959-61 Tigers who managed 11 victories.

No-one in the AFL era has kept their job after winning fewer than 10 games over three seasons. Most, like David Noble in 2022 and Mark Neeld in 2013, exited during their second year of a disappointing run.

Brendon Bolton was given a fourth term at Carlton after a 14-41 start but managed just one win from his next 11 games and was sacked.

Justin Leppitsch departed Brisbane after just 14 wins across 2014-2016, whilst Stuart Dew survived an 11-61 record in the inaugural years of the Gold Coast Suns but was sacked three years later.

Richmond is at a fork in the road.

Their three flags across four years was only six years ago, and was built off a steely move to stick with coach Damien Hardwick when former players and Tiger identities were calling for change.

A disappointing 2016 campaign saw them finish 13th in Hardwick's seventh season, which followed three consecutive elimination final losses.

President Peggy O'Neal and CEO Brendon Gale backed their man and immediately found success in 2017 defeating Adelaide to snap a 37-year drought.

The win sent their opponents, the Crows, spiralling out of their premiership window.

Once heavy flag favourites, Adelaide missed finals in consecutive campaigns and senior coach Don Pyke resigned.

'Two years into a significant rebuild'

Ironically the Crows, who face Richmond this weekend, found themselves in a similar situation to the 2026 Tigers. They signed a first-time coach in Matthew Nicks and were 0-13 to start his tenure.

They had progress to 18-39 after three seasons and after narrowly missing finals in 2023, re-signed their figurehead twice in the space of two years, culminating in a minor premiership in 2025 and a potential return to the top four this season.

So should Richmond stick by Adem Yze who has the worst record of any coach in history after 67 games?

President John O'Rourke was emphatic Monday morning on 774 ABC Melbourne that the question isn't even being contemplated.

"He will coach to 100 games, I can assure you of that," he said.

"We're less than two years into a significant rebuild … [and] if you look at four of the top six teams they've all done a similar thing and they've taken four or five years to get back into contention so we do have to be a bit patient.

"We won't make judgement calls on where we sit until we see that through."

The Tigers extended Yze's contract by another two years until 2028 in November last season after rising from two wins to five in 2025 and have shown some improvement statistically in 2026.

Richmond has risen from 17th to 12th for clearance differential; moving the delisted Thomson Dow's midfield minutes into first round pick Sam Cumming and rising star Jack Ross.

They've had small jumps with inside 50 differential as a result and scores from stoppage differential; but defensively are leaking 104 points per game compared to 95 last season.

There has been a significant injury crisis that's likely to have played a role. Richmond have used a league-high 40 players this season with only one player, Seth Campbell, featuring in all 20 games.

Senior figures like spearhead Tom Lynch (12 games), captain Toby Nankervis (9 games) and midfielder Jacob Hopper (12 games) have barely featured; and young stars like Josh Smillie, Harry Armstrong, Taj Hotton, Josh Gibcus and Sam Lalor have managed just 21 games combined this campaign.

In football it's often believed rising stars find their rhythm around the 50-game mark. But of the Tigers nine first round picks in the last two years, only three have managed 18 matches or more out of a possible 43.

Former Richmond premiership player and Australian Football Hall of Famer Mick Malthouse, whom you can hear on AFL Saturday 12am AEST on ABC Sport, doesn't believe there's a universal number to development.

"The simple fact is, the more you play, the more experience you get and you become more aware of the game around you," he said.

"Is there a magical number? I've seen players 80 to 90 games in and they're as naive as they started and others have been street smart after 20 days.

"Today's football it's about whether you can keep the group together. I judge coaches on how their players improve."

Richmond's crippling injury toll led to an extensive internal review leading to the departure of high-performance manager Ben Serpell in July after two years in the role.

But will it be the only change at Punt Road following 2026? Or will the Tigers lean into their past success and their opponent Adelaide's current trajectory and stand by their embattled senior coach?

Richmond has a habit of upsetting Adelaide this decade, particularly at the Adelaide Oval where the 17th-placed Tigers jagged their second win of the season in Round 13, 2024, and in 2023 when they shocked the Crows with a 32-point win in Round 2.

Could another surprise be brewing Saturday night? Adem Yze will certainly be hoping so.

ABC Sport will be broadcasting Adelaide v Richmond live from Adelaide from 7pm AEST on Saturday, August 8, via ABC Listen.