Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is delighted with how well veteran recruit Robbie Tarrant has settled in at Tigerland following his trade from North Melbourne last October.

The top-class key defender, who played 174 games for the Kangaroos from 2008-21, has enjoyed a good first pre-season at his new football home.

“Robbie’s been fantastic,” Hardwick said on the first episode of Talking Tigers for 2022.

“He’s a big boy. I didn’t realise how big he was . . .

“I spoke to him about my career when I got traded from Essendon to Port Adelaide.

“It took a couple of games to get to understand when you’re in a (new) system what that looks like.

“He was a little bit disappointed with his Geelong (practice) game, but then I thought we saw on the weekend (against Hawthorn in Devonport) what he’s going to add to us. And he’ll get better again the more games he plays . . .

“He’s got a great understanding of how to nullify leads, how to take away good opponents, when he jumps, he’s quite powerful . . . and he’s a beautiful kick of the ball. So, he’s going to be a welcome addition . . .

“And, although he’s 32, he barely played his first three or four years. So, he hasn’t got a lot of miles in him, which is great.”