Richmond Tigers name Adem Yze as new head coach

The Richmond Tigers have announced the man who is set to step into the big shoes of three-time premiership winner Damien Hardwick.

Adem Yze is a senior AFL coach. Photo: Getty Images

The Richmond Tigers have announced Adem Yze will be the 42nd head coach in the club’s history as he steps into the big shoes of Damien Hardwick.

The 46-year-old comes from an assistant coach role at the Melbourne Demons but has reportedly been close to landing several other coaching roles in recent seasons.

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Seen as an inevitable head coach in the AFL, Yze finally nabbed the role after it was believed that it was a two-horse race between him and interim coach Andrew McQualter, who had moved into the role after Hardwick walked away from the position.

Yze, who played 271 games for the Demons and was an All-Australian in 2002, started his coaching journey at Hawthorn in 2012, winning three grand finals in his first four seasons at the club.

He moved to Melbourne in 2020, before the Demons broke their 57-year premiership drought in 2021.

“This is a club steeped in history and blessed with a magnificent supporter base. I feel very humbled to have been given this opportunity,” Yze said.

“I can’t wait to meet the playing group and start building towards the 2024 season.”

Adem Yze has been named the head coach of the Tigers. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Hardwick walked away from the Tigers in May after coaching the club for 13 years, the longest tenured coach in the history of the club.

He also nabeed three premiership in four years but revealed that he had been thinking about stepping down for some time.

“I wasn’t going to be the coach of Richmond next year and I made the fatal mistake of watching ‘The Last Dance’ (documentary) and I thought what may have been,” he said.

“As soon as I started to ask the question more, I started to understand what the question was going to be. If I couldn’t give 100 per cent, there was no way I was going to coach this football club.

“Once you’ve had more success, losses become harder, so I had a fair indication at the start of the year that I would like this to be my last year. As the season didn’t turn out as much as I would have liked I asked myself ‘am I the man for the job?’

“I’d rather leave too early than too late ... I want to make sure I leave the game loving the game.

“It was time for a different voice. I’ve pushed every button I can and I’ve tried to cook the sausages 1000 ways.”

But after a few months away from the game, Hardwick was announced as the Gold Coast Suns’ coach in a massive six-year deal, which will take him through until the end of the 2029 season.

Yze’s predecessor left a huge legacy. Photo by Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty Images

While Hardwick will leave huge shoes for his successor, Richmond president John O’Rourke said the panel’s recommendation for Yze was unanimously accepted.

The panel included club vice-president Henriette Rothschild, GM of football performance Tim Livingstone, GM of football talent Blair Hartley, Football Australia’s performance director Paddy Steinfort and the Melbourne Storm’s GM of football Frank Ponissi.

“This has been a period of significant change for our Club, but with that comes a great sense of excitement and opportunity,” O’Rourke said via a statement. “We have no doubt that Adem is the right man to lead us into the future.

“Adem brings an enormous breadth of experience to the club, having played key coaching roles during highly successful periods at both the Hawthorn and Melbourne football clubs.

“He has a deep understanding of the game and what drives on-field success from a strategic and cultural perspective.

“Adem has great energy and is highly competitive, and during the appointment process, it became increasingly obvious that he was a great fit for our club. He was the ideal candidate, and we have no doubt our playing group will thrive under his coaching.”

Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Hawks legend Dermott Brereton said that Hawthorn had “recognised tactically he was as brilliant as they come”.