Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch has described his first impressions of a new-look Tigers outfit following his return to the Club.

Leppitsch previously served as an assistant coach at Richmond for four years from 2009-13, before a three-year stint as Brisbane’s senior coach.

“(There are) a lot of differences obviously in the Club.  There’s only 15 or 20 players left (from) when I was here, (and) the coaching staff is different,” Leppitsch told RSN.

“There’s a lot of change – that’s the first noticeable thing . . .

“The playing group itself is very committed.  That’s a really big first impression that I had,” he said.

“You never know when you come to a new club what the mood of the group is going to be like, but I’ve been very impressed by our playing group and their attitude.”

Leppitsch provided an insight into the structure of the Tigers’ forward line that he will have responsibility for in season 2017.

“We’ll go into the 2017 season with a medium-sized forward line look, I would have thought, given the personnel we’ve got, unless we do something drastic and move defensive keys down the other end,” he said.

“The look of our list isn’t huge for talls, but fantastic for medium-sized and small players.

“Looking at Daniel Rioli, even our first round pick Shai Bolton, who’s a Michael Walters type, we’re starting to get really dynamic players down there.”