New Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is wasting little time putting his personal stamp on the Tigers following confirmation on Thursday that his former Port Adelaide team-mate Brendon Lade will join the club as an assistant coach.

In less than a month in the job Hardwick has overseen the departure of nearly all of the Tigers' assistant coaches from last year with Jade Rawlings - who coached the team for the second half of this season following the axing of Terry Wallace - joining Brisbane, along with Craig McRae, while David King and Brian Royal have also been axed.

That leaves only former Richmond captain Wayne Campbell as the sole survivor from Wallace's coaching team from this year.

Lade, 33, was part of Port's maiden AFL premiership success in 2004 alongside Hardwick and retired at the end of this season after 234 games.

A best and fairest winner at Port Adelaide in 2006 he was also a dual All-Australian and will act as the Tigers' ruck/midfield coach.

Hardwick described Lade's appointment as an important one for the Tigers.

"We're very pleased to have someone of Brendon's experience and standing in the game join Richmond as an assistant coach," he said.

"He brings with him many of the important attributes we're looking for (and) he has a strong character and excellent leadership skills."

Lade said he was looking forward to being part of re-building the struggling club.

"Hopefully in the next few years I can assist the Tigers in getting back to being a really good team in the AFL," he said.

"One of the attractions of coming to Richmond is that there's going to be a whole new game plan for the team and hopefully everyone in the coaching group can be on the same page and heading in the right direction."

Hardwick has not only already overseen a massive clean-out of the Tigers' coaching ranks but also the playing list with Shane Tuck and Andrew Raines set to be traded while Joel Bowden and Kane Johnson have retired and Mark Coughlan, Nathan Brown, Kayne Pettifer, Cleve Hughes and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls have been delisted.

But this year's boom recruit in 31-year-old former West Coast captain Ben Cousins has been given another one-year deal for next season after he finished an encouraging fifth in Richmond's best and fairest this season in his much-hyped comeback from drug addiction.

However, while Cousins will play on in 2010, the future of the Tigers' oldest player Matthew Richardson remains uncertain with no decision yet as to whether he will play on in 2010.