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Cousins recruitment has Tigers ready for integrity department

Cousins recruitment has Tigers ready for integrity department

Richmond believe they are well prepared to enter the AFL’s new era of ramped up integrity departments.

The AFL has indicated it wants every club to have its own integrity officer, but the Tigers are adamant they already have a structure in place to short-circuit potential problems.

It is a bi-product of Ben Cousins arriving at Punt Rd in 2009 as controversial recruit with a lot of baggage.

“In a lot of ways we had those processes in place … we can certainly do more, but it stemmed back to when we recruited Ben Cousins and some of the measures we had to put in place to deal with those issues,” Richmond president Gary March told Seven News.

“I think it has put us well placed to deal with some of the requirements the AFL has put in place with clubs going forward.”

Key Tigers officials met with AFL powerbrokers Andrew Demetriou and Gillon McLachlan last week, with the league delivering a stern message in the wake of the Essendon drugs saga.

All clubs are meeting with league heavies on the issue of integrity.

March said the integrity of the game was paramount.

“Every club will be different … obviously the events of recent times have really potentially damaged the brand of AFL football and brand of AFL clubs and we’ve all got a role to play in restoring integrrity,” March said.