Richmond president Gary March has lashed out at what he calls "ill-informed" critics of his board.

March, who has been president since 2006 and is due to face election later this year, says he has to take responsibility for the playing list and poor on-field performances.

But he said public critics, including former Tiger players Geoff Raines and Mal Brown, failed to recognise significant strides the club had made in bulking up their football department and facilities, and improving finances.

"The buck stops with me and the board and we've got to take that criticism on board," March told guests at a club luncheon before Sunday's match against Hawthorn at the MCG.

"But what I won't cop is when the criticism is ill-informed and unfounded."

March hit out at Raines for saying current Richmond officials blamed the club's plight on previous football staff, saying he was not aware of any official doing so "and we never will".

"We take responsibility for where our list is and we get on with the job of fixing it up," he said.

He also dismissed Brown's opinion that the board had achieved virtually nothing.

"Three years ago we were probably the most under-resourced football department in the AFL," March said.

"But we've added nearly 50 per cent to our football personnel in the last three years.

"We've added three or four full-time recruiting people ... we've fully resourced our coaching department, we've invested heavily in player development."

March also hit out at businessman Trevor Barrot - part of a failed effort to overthrow March's predecessor Clinton Casey in 2004 - for saying the Tigers' board would have been sacked in the corporate world over their financial management.

"This board has overseen (development of) a $10 million facility at Craigieburn, which we launched earlier this year, fully funded," he said.

"Later this year we'll be handing over a $20 million fully-funded Punt Rd redevelopment, which will see us have the best facilities in the AFL competition.

"Over the past five years we've had consecutive profits, after two years of significant losses.

"We started three years ago with a net asset deficiency of over $2 million and at the end of this year we'll have a positive asset position of over $13 million.

"We've achieved record membership for the club, this year record sponsorship and record revenue levels ... most boards would be getting re-elected if they'd done those things."

On the football front, March urged supporters to have faith in the "ambitious plan" outlined by chief executive Brendon Gale earlier this year, to win three premierships and have 75,000 members by 2020.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP