The shake-up at Richmond has begun with five assistant coaches expunged from their regular roles in the club's end-of-season reviews and strongly encouraged to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams, Ross Smith, Brendon Lade, former Carlton and Footscray player Mark P. Williams and forwards coach Greg Mellor were not required to report for work at Tigerland on Monday. All five are out of contract.
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Although the Tigers have guaranteed the contracted coach Damien Hardwick for at least one more season, the club has reacted savagely to its dismal 2016 season and will move to reshape its recruiting, development and assistant coaching personnel.
Although the final outcomes of the Ernst and Young review into the club's struggling football operation have not been tabled the above assistant coaches have known for some time that they could not be guaranteed contracts beyond the end of the season which for Richmond concluded with a 100-plus point loss to Sydney on Saturday.
Neither chief executive Brendon Gale nor football boss Daniel Richardson could be contacted on Monday as the review entered its final days. Further dismissals are expected with calls for the club to consider bringing Neil Balme from Collingwood to mentor the less experienced Richardson.
Balme has been demoted by Collingwood and both him and the Magpies list manager Derek Hine have been left disenchanted with the appointment of Graeme Allan to the role of director of football — a move the club bosses had denied to them would happen after Allan returned to the Magpies in May.
However Brisbane, searching for an experienced director of football, has shown some interest in Balme and CEO Greg Swann is expected to contact his former Collingwood colleague in the coming days.
Richmond's recruiting manager Francis Jackson is also under pressure.
![The fallout has begun at Tigerland after a disappointing season and Saturday's smashing in Sydney.](/web/20160829150811im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/2/r/g/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gr40hd.png/1472468665069.jpg)
It remains unclear where the replacements in the coaching department will come from, although one possible new face looms in the recently retired Troy Chaplin. The pending dismissals signal a savage reaction to what has been identified as poor development of players.
Williams, who came to the club from GWS, has headed up the development program at the club.
■ The AFL players' pay dispute looks certain to ramp up again at scheduled talks this week after it has emerged that head office has in fact offered its footballers a wage rise next season of just six per cent in real terms. Pushing for a set percentage of revenue of at least 25 per cent, the players bosses will meet the AFL after Tuesday's commission talks disenchanted that the stated 10 per cent pay rise offer for next season in fact included the AFL's salary cap compensation for the now scrapped veteran' allowance — an estimated $400,000.
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