Richmond's youth policy will be taken to extremes against Melbourne on Sunday, with injury and club-imposed suspensions biting deep into their already inexperienced list.

The AFL club are set to blood three first-gamers - Troy Taylor, Matt Dea and David Astbury.

That will make it six debutants in four rounds under Damien Hardwick, after they gave three other players - Dustin Martin, Ben Nason and Relton Roberts - their AFL starts in the season-opener.

Of the Tigers' 25-man squad named on Thursday night, nine of them have 12 or fewer matches worth of AFL experience.

More than half the squad - 13 players - are aged 21 or younger, including five teenagers.

Ruckman Troy Simmonds, 31, will be by far the oldest player in the team.

The only other Tigers named aged 25 or older are Shane Tuck, 28, Kelvin Moore and Jake King, both 26, and Graham Polak, 25.

Tuck, Simmonds and Polak are among just four 100-gamers in the squad, along with Brett Deledio.

Experienced players unavailable include Ben Cousins, who is suspended for his role in the weekend Sydney hotel episode in which he failed to subdue drunk teammate Daniel Connors.

Captain Chris Newman is out with a hamstring injury, while the club's other 100-gamer, Jordan McMahon, has a shoulder injury and is yet to play this season.

Connors, Luke McGuane and Dean Polo were all suspended by the club this week, along with Cousins.

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