Richmond coach Damien Hardwick believes the recruitment of top veteran key defender Robbie Tarrant will provide the Tigers’ team with multi benefits.

Tarrant, who was recently traded to Richmond by North Melbourne as part of the deal for Callum Coleman-Jones, is renowned for his ability to lock down on the opposition’s biggest forwards, as well as supply rebound out of the backline.

And Hardwick also sees another significant advantage for the Tigers in adding Tarrant to their defensive mix.

“With Dave (Astbury) retiring we felt we had a need for a bigger-bodied defender. And I think that will allow Dylan Grimes and Noah Balta to be a little bit freer down there,” Hardwick said on Fox Footy.

“Dylan’s done an incredible job ever since the retirement of Alex (Rance), maintaining that back six. But he’s capable of getting a little bit higher up the ground and playing some really damaging footy us.

“So, I’m really excited by bringing Robbie in that it will allow us to explore the avenue of others as well.

“And I think our forwards were pretty keen to get Robbie out of the North Melbourne team as well because he does a hell of a job.

“He’s 32, but he missed a lot of footy at the start of his career and we think he’s got some really, really good footy in front of him.”