Tigers to make coaching call within 10 days: MarchAndrea Petrie | August 16, 2009
RICHMOND will appoint a senior coach within the next 10 days, according to Tigers president Gary March.
Former North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley, who spoke with the Tigers last week, is unlikely to have any role at the club, but March said the four candidates in the running were all capable of taking the club forward.
Alan Richardson, Damien Hardwick, Ken Hinkley and caretaker coach Jade Rawlings are all in contention, with two to be given a final opportunity to present their ideas to the board before the decision was made, March said.
He added that he was pleased with the process so far.
''When you've got 10 people on a panel and you've got four different people and all of them are working at other clubs, it's not easy to co-ordinate to get them all at that time and, sitting through, I've got to say they've been fantastic interviews, but they're long and you can't do them back-to-back,'' March told SEN.
''It's an intense process and I've learned a lot out of it and it's been fascinating.''
March said Laidley had met with football manager Craig Cameron.
''I haven't spoken to Craig about how it went, but I think that was more of a catch-up to see whether he wanted to coach again,'' he said. ''I'm pretty sure that Dean's not part of our situation going forward.''
He said the club had a clear idea of what it needed in a future coach.
''We've got some pretty strong parameters around the type of person that we want and the type of character that we need to bring into the club and I think these four candidates all fit that bill,'' he said.
''We're pretty comfortable that we'll find a very good senior coach out of these four candidates.''
And while North Melbourne is believed to be interested in Hardwick for its senior coaching position, March said the Tigers would not rush their final decision.
''I think we just have to live with the fact that he might turn his back on us [and] that happens,'' he said.
''We've nearly finished our process and we're at the pointy end of it. We've got a fair idea of where our thinking is going, but we'll not be dictated to by another club and their decisions.''
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