Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is confident the Tigers now have the required resources to fast-track the development of the young playing talent at their disposal.

The Club has bolstered its player development department since the end of the 2012 season, through the acquisition of AFL premiership coach Mark Williams, and the return of former Hawthorn player Tim Clarke, to join Greg Mellor.

Williams, who coached Port Adelaide to the 2004 flag, already has made a major impact in his role as a development coach at Tigerland, while the highly-regarded Clarke has a dual role, back in development with the Club, and the new coach of VFL affiliate Coburg.

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“Choco is one of those gentlemen you love you have in your organisation,” Hardwick said on ‘Roar Vision’.

“He’s a leader of men, he’s also a driver of talent, and he’s also a very good teacher of the concepts of our game.

“We’re very fortunate to have him on board.

“With the addition of Tim Clarke and Greg Mellor, we’ve finally got a fully-fledged development arm of our football department, which is really important.

“This is something we probably lacked over previous years because we didn’t have the resources available to us.

“That part of our football program is going to be very important moving forward.”