Tigers start from scratch John Ralph From: Herald Sun September 17, 2009
NEW Richmond coach Damien Hardwick will lead a club almost unrecognisable from this year's version.
Hardwick and the club's list management group will make no more player changes until after next month's trade period, but already eight Tigers have been dumped.
Shane Tuck and Andrew Raines will also be traded, with Matthew Richardson no certainty to play on and Graham Polak's position on the list shaky.
There could be more changes if clubs are not interested in any of the Tigers' trade bait, with Hardwick already committing to stripping back the list.
Joining those players leaving Punt Rd are four assistants - Jade Rawlings, Craig McRae, David King, and Brian Royal -- and former chief executive Steven Wright.
The success-starved club will need to go backwards before it goes forward.
Tuck gave an insight into Hardwick's plans when he told the Herald Sun yesterday the club wanted to play kids.
"They are going to put some games into the younger players. He wants to play youth, so he wants to move me on."
Tuck, 27, had three top-three best-and-fairest finishes in four years.
Joel Bowden and Kane Johnson have retired, and Nathan Brown, Kayne Pettifer, Mark Coughlan, Cleve Hughes and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls have all been delisted.
Raines is set to move to Brisbane for a third-round draft pick, but might have raised his eyebrows at the news Rawlings is also moving to the Lions.
The 23-year-old was clearly not rated by Rawlings when he took over as the club's caretaker coach, but Lions coach Michael Voss has plans for him next season.
It was confirmed last night Ben Cousins had signed a one-year contract extension.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-start-from-scratch/story-e6frf9jf-1225775278297
