Richmond has secured the services of highly-regarded AFL assistant coach Ross Smith.
The 46-year-old has spent the past seven seasons on Hawthorn’s coaching panel, responsible for the club’s defence, as well as spending some time as an opposition analyst.
Smith has joined Richmond on a three-year deal and will be in charge of the Tigers’ defensive structures and strategies.
Richmond’s senior coach, Damien Hardwick, worked alongside Smith during his period as an assistant coach at Hawthorn, and is delighted to be teaming up with him again . . .
“Ross is an excellent communicator, a great teacher and he’s been involved in footy a hell of a long time. Importantly, he knows about the system that we’re trying to implement,” Hardwick said.
“The added bonus is that he’s been involved in a premiership, as an assistant coach at Hawthorn.
“He’s had the experience, similar to me, of how to build up a side and get them to where we need to go.
“The fact he’s experienced in that area, is going to be really valuable for us.”
Smith played 224 games in a sterling career with North Melbourne from 1984-96, representing Victoria in State football on three occasions.
His profile in ‘The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers’ describes him as:
“A ferocious leader at North who initially played in defence before his skills were employed as a winger. A quiet achiever, he was a canny hard-nosed competitive defender. He was revered at North for his loyalty . . .”
After retiring as an AFL player, Smith immediately embarked on a coaching career. He led ACT club Ainslie to a premiership in his first season as its captain-coach, in 1997, and was then involved in several successful stints at TAC Cup, VFL and AFL level, before becoming an assistant coach at Hawthorn in 2005.
