New Richmond Development Coach, Luke Breust, has revealed he got “a really good feel” about the Tigers after a meeting with Head Coach, Adem Yze, and General Manager, Football Performance, Tim Livingstone.
Breust joins the Club after a stellar 308-game career with Hawthorn, which included three-premierships and two All-Australian nods. Yze was coaching at the Hawks for nine of Breust’s playing years (2011-2020), including as his line coach during the 2013-15 premiership era.
Once Breust met with Richmond, he knew where his coaching career would begin.
“I had a few clubs reach out, fortunately I've got a number of people in the industry that are at other clubs now, and Adem reached out,” Breust told Richmond Media.
“Went and had a meeting, sat down with him and Tim, and I just got a really good feel straight away.
“I had an existing relationship with Adem, but then to meet Tim as well, I could pitch to them what I thought I could bring to the table, and then they obviously gave something back and talked about Tigerland.
“Just got a really good feeling from the moment I sat down with those guys.”
Breust added the emphasis the Tigers put on the development coaching department, which now includes Taylor Duryea, Jack Ziebell and Ivan Maric, influenced his decision to join the team.
“I met with multiple clubs, assessed all that over the last few weeks, and ultimately landed here because of (the Yze and Livingstone) relationships, (Assistant Coach) Chris Newman, who I'd worked with as well,” Breust said.
“I didn't know Taylor was coming at the time…Jack Ziebell is here as a development coach as well. There was a number of things that fell into place for me and helped with the decision.”
Speaking specifically about his links with Yze, Breust was full of praise for the Tigers’ Senior Coach and is stoked about reuniting with him at the Swinburne Centre.
“I feel like, of all the coaches I've had across my journey as a player, I probably learned the most from Adem,” he said.
“I was so appreciative of that relationship and everything that he's given to me.”
After winning five games this past season and having eight debutants, Richmond is in an exciting phase of its journey, with Breust set to play an important role in the growth and development of the young list.
One of the greatest small forwards of the modern era, Breust will be assigned to the forwards group in his role, as he looks to pass on the lessons he learnt throughout his sensational career.
“I just got a really good feeling and an excitement about where the list is at and what they've been able to achieve in the last couple of years and the build ahead of us,” Breust said.
“(Working with the forwards) definitely added to my decision in terms of trying to strip back who you'd actually be working with, so not only the coaches you'd be working with, but then the playing group.
“There's a few names like that (Taj Hotton, Sam Lalor) that pop up where you go, ok, these guys, they're just scratching the surface in terms of what they can do.
“You get another two-to-three pre-seasons into them and another 40 to 50 games, and I'll be really excited to see what they can produce week in, week out, for the Tigers.
“There’s a few things that held me in really good stead…looking forward to being able to (pass) that on to some of these young guys at Tigerland and looking forward to their improvement and watching them grow.”
In terms of immediate priorities, building relationships and connections with the players is at the forefront of Breust’s mind.
“One of the biggest things I've learned across my career, and I've always valued, is relationships,” he said.
“I feel like a lot of really, really good coaches do that extremely well…I'll be putting a lot of time into that. I feel like you can't coach very well unless you've got that relationship.”
