Damien Hardwick will enter the 2014 season as the equal second-longest serving coach at his club in the AFL competition.

Only Hawthorn’s dual premiership coach Alastair Clarkson (nine years) has been in charge at his club for a greater length of time than Hardwick, who took over the coaching reins at Richmond at the end of the 2009 season.

And, only Clarkson, Mick Malthouse (Footscray, West Coast, Collingwood and now Carlton), Ross Lyon (St Kilda and now Fremantle), Paul Roos (Sydney and now Melbourne) and Mark Thompson (Geelong and now Essendon), have been coaching at senior league level for longer than Hardwick, who has completed four full seasons as the Tigers’ coach, which is the same tenure Brad Scott has had at North Melbourne.

Hardwick has coached Richmond in 89 games all-up, and he’s poised to move past Dan Minogue, and perhaps a couple of other former coaches, on the Tigers’ all-time coaching games list in 2014.

Minogue, who is ranked seventh on the list, coached Richmond in 105 games from 1920-25.

The Club’s last premiership coach Tony Jewell and Danny Frawley are equal fifth on the Tigers’ coaching games list, with 113.

Four-time Richmond premiership coach and Club ‘Immortal’ Tommy Hafey has coached the most games for the Tigers (248).