HOW ZIEBELL LANDED AS AN ASSISTANT AT RICHMOND AND THE ROLE HE’S BEEN GIVEN FOR 2024Lachlan Geleit
SEN
16 October 2023Recently retired North Melbourne great Jack Ziebell is thrilled to land an assistant coaching role with Richmond so quickly post his playing career.
Ziebell decided to hang up the boots in August and soon after highlighted a desire to become a coach at the highest level available to him.
Richmond immediately felt that the 280-gamer would be a strong addition to their ranks under new coach Adem Yze and Ziebell himself feels fortunate to land in such a favourable spot.
Ziebell will work with the likes of David Teague, Ben Rutten and Chris Newman under Yze and he’s looking forward to working with such an experienced staff.
“I couldn't speak more highly of Richmond so far,” Ziebell said on AFL Trade Radio.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to land a role with a great club and I'm going to have some unbelievable support in the coaching ranks at the Tigers.
“With David Teague and Ben Rutten, that’s two former senior coaches as well as Chris Newman, a longtime respected assistant coach, helping drive the new era at Richmond over the next generation which is going to be really exciting to be part of.”
Ziebell says things moved quickly once Richmond flagged their interest in his services and he felt that working at the Tigers would be a perfect fit after speaking to club powerbrokers.
The former Roo feels that he can add a layer to the club’s coaching department as Richmond looks to rebuild following their dynasty between 2017 and 2020.
“I think I wanted to get my foot in the door into coaching post my career,” Ziebell said.
“How that looked, I wasn't sure, it actually moved quite quickly with Richmond, I think we were in touch two weeks ago. “They had a role to fill, so I had a chat with Tim Livingston, Adem Yze and Blair Hartley as well.
“The conversation was pretty fluid and easy. I was really impressed by the way Adem speaks and some of the things he was talking about implementing and how he's going to go about his job.
“I thought it was just like the perfect fit. Obviously, the club sees something in me as a former player moving into the coaching ranks and hopefully, I can add a layer to their coaching department that's going to help the players improve and help build a really positive culture at Richmond.”
Ziebell played all over the ground across his 15 years at Arden Street and he says he’ll work closely with the midfield at Richmond, a position he played for much of his career.
The 32-year-old expects to work closely with Newman around stoppages with the likes of Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper, Dion Prestia, Shai Bolton and Dustin Martin.
“I'll do a little bit of stuff with Newy (Chris Newman) and around the stoppages as well, which is exciting,” Ziebell explained.
“I played probably the first 10 years of my career as a midfielder and had a number of midfield coaches as well throughout that time.
“You learn a lot throughout your journey and then I obviously played a bit forward as well.
“I've got some versatility in my positions I have played, and a little bit down back as well.
“The experiences I've had throughout my career as a player, I think will help me as a coach be able to communicate with players, be really empathetic towards certain situations and how hard our game is.”
Ziebell commences his work at Punt Road when Richmond’s pre-season begins next month.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/10/16/how-ziebell-landed-as-an-assistant-at-richmond-and-the-role-hes-been-given/
