An uncompromising and hard-nosed defender, Hardwick played 153 games with Essendon, including the 2000 premiership, before crossing to Port Adelaide at the end of 2001. He played a further 54 games with the Power, the last of which was the 2004 premiership.

He won the Bombers’ Best and Fairest in 1998 and was named All-Australian in 2000. He represented Australia in the International Rules series in 2000 and 2001.

Hardwick started his assistant coaching career with Hawthorn in 2005 and played a significant role in the club’s 2008 premiership success. He was the Hawks’ forward coach from 2005-07, and was in charge of their midfield for two seasons.

Hardwick steered Richmond to the finals for three consecutive seasons, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and was then the inspiration behind Richmond's drought-breaking 2017 premiership.

Hardwick was named the 2017 AFL Coaches Association coach of the year and got consistent performances out of his role players on the way to a stunning triumph in 2017, and preliminary final appearance in 2018.

Hardwick's remarkable group brushed aside GWS on its way to an emphatic 89-point win in the 2019 Grand Final to make it two triumphs in three years.

Hardwick is scheduled to break Club ‘Immortal’ Tommy Hafey’s record for the most games coached in Tigerland’s history in Round 18 of the 2020 season.

Richmond welcomed Justin Leppitsch back to Tigerland in an assistant coaching role in 2017.
 
The triple Brisbane premiership player returned to Richmond, following three seasons as senior coach of the Brisbane Lions.  
 
Prior to his senior coaching role, Leppitsch, 41, served as an assistant coach at Richmond for four seasons from 2009-13, alongside senior coach, Damien Hardwick.

Leppitsch took charge of a small forward line with great success in 2017 and 2018, and will take responsibility of the backline in 2019, where he made a name for himself as a triple-premiership defender with the Brisbane Lions.

McQualter arrived at Tigerland at the end of 2013 as a development coach, after a 94-game career with St Kilda and Gold Coast.

He played in three Grand Finals for the Saints (including the 2010 GF replay against Collingwood) in an 89-game career with them, before adding a further five games at the Suns.

McQualter played a coaching and playing role with Richmond’s VFL team in 2014 and 2015, and will assumed the role of AFL midfield stoppage coach in 2017 and 2018.

McQualter will coach the forwards from 2019.

Adam Kingsley will join Richmond’s coaching ranks in 2019 as midfield/stoppage coach, following eight seasons with St Kilda.

A highly credentialed coach, Kingsley is a graduate of the inaugural Level Four Coaches Program, was named the AFL Coaches Association’s Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015, and is very highly regarded by his peers.

Kingsley will be reunited with Richmond senior coach, Damien Hardwick, the pair are former Port Adelaide teammates and both 2004 premiership players.

Kingsley played 170 games for Port Adelaide, from the Club’s inaugural season in 1997, retiring at the end of 2006, and won the Club’s best and fairest in 1998.

Following his retirement, Kingsley remained at Port Adelaide as an assistant coach until the end of 2010 when he crossed over to the Saints. He coached the forward line, midfield and transition in his eight seasons at the Club.

McRae, a triple premiership player at Brisbane, returned to Tigerland in 2016, where he worked as a development coach from 2007-09.

After leaving Richmond, he had one year back with the Lions as a development coach, before joining Collingwood as development manager.

He enhanced his reputation for cultivating young football talent throughout a five-year stint with the Magpies, winning the AFL Coaches Association’s inaugural Development Coach of the Year Award in 2014.

After helping a young VFL group emerge in 2016, McRae led the Richmond VFL side to the Grand Final in 2017, and a top-of-the-table finish in 2018, before both campaigns fell short.

McRae will continue as VFL and development coach (forwards) in 2019.

Xavier Clarke re-joined AFL ranks in 2017 as a development coach at Richmond after three seasons as senior coach of NT Thunder in the NEAFL. 

Clarke will continue the same roll he has held over the past two seasons into 2019, supporting the midfield in his development position.

The former St Kilda and Brisbane Lions player is well respected for his previous work with the Thunder, winning the 2015 premiership, and is a promising talent in coaching ranks.

Clarke was selected as coach of the Northern Territory Thunder’s Team of the Decade in a ceremony in June, 2018.