Harmes, meantime, has told the Demons he wants a fresh start, and has the club’s blessing to talk to rival clubs.

He has a year left on his contract and is yet to formally request a trade as he canvases potential new homes, but said he and his fiancee were open to a move interstate if required.

“It’s all up in the air,” Harmes said at the TAB’s Spring Fling event to launch this year’s spring racing carnival.

A member of the Demons’ drought-breaking premiership team in 2021, Harmes was limited to just nine of 25 games this year, three of them starting as the sub, and missed the finals with a hamstring injury.

“This year was pretty hard for me, personally,” Harmes said. “I said to the club I’d be interested in having a fresh start.

“[I’m] just really looking forward to putting my best foot forward next year, whether that’s [with] Melbourne or wherever it is – I’ve got a real determination to go back as fit as I can and play some really good footy.”

Harmes said coach Simon Goodwin and the Demons’ list boss Tim Lamb were happy for him to shop around.

Despite working closely with former midfield coach Adem Yze, who has taken the top job at Richmond, Harmes said his manager had not spoken to the Tigers.

Foot injury delays Lynch’s pre-season start

Richmond spearhead Tom Lynch will have a delayed start to the pre-season due to the foot injury that derailed his 2023 campaign.

In the coming weeks Lynch will have further scans on the foot he fractured in round four before he gets the medical sign-off to step up his rehab program. He is unlikely to be ready to train with the main group until the new year, but expects to be ready for round one.

The Tigers had hoped as late as June he could return late in the season, but those plans were shelved in mid-July by what Lynch said has been a frustratingly slow recovery.

“I won’t be with the main group [on] pre-season day one. I’ll build throughout pre-Christmas, and post-Christmas I’d imagine I’ll be with the main group,” Lynch said.

“It’s a very long way off, but all things going well I’ll be no worries for round one.

“With feet they can take a long time to heal. It just didn’t recover. We decided when we weren’t going to get back for this year we’d take the plate out and [I’ve] been in a moon boot since.

Loading

“The plate’s come out – we had to look after it. It has taken a lot longer than we thought, but we’re on track now.”

Lynch has a welcome off-field distraction to focus on during the rest of his time off. He is a part-owner in Soulcombe, one of the leading contenders for this year’s Caulfield and Melbourne cups. The stayer will run in the group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.