OUTGOING Richmond captain Chris Newman says the popular perception vice-captain Trent Cotchin will be his successor is far from a fait accompli.

Mindful that at 30 he was getting towards the latter stages of his career, Newman said his decision to step down was largely influenced by the fact that anyone in the Tigers' leadership group (Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Daniel Jackson and Jack Riewoldt) was capable of replacing him.

And despite Cotchin's outstanding 2012 season - when he has emerged as one of the competition's best midfielders, averaging 27.5 possessions - and obvious leadership qualities, Newman suggested the 22-year-old faced stiff opposition to take over as Richmond skipper in 2013.

"Anyone of the boys in our leadership group could step into my shoes and lead the club forward," Newman said in Richmond's post-match press conference.

"'Cotchy' is certainly one of those; he leads naturally no doubt.

"Brett Deledio is another one who'd be keen to take that position too. 

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"But I think any of those boys could quite easily fill my shoes but not only do that but do a better job than I did."

Sitting alongside Newman, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick also suggested the race to replace Newman would not be a one-horse affair.

"We'll go through a process like we did last year. Obviously our group play by a set of standards and values and we'll just work our way through who the best candidate is ... I'm not too sure when," Hardwick said.

Hardwick paid tribute to the leadership Newman had given Richmond since taking over from Kane Johnson at the end of 2008.

"There are certain blokes at footy clubs that are very, very special and Chris is one of those guys," Hardwick said.

"I've got no doubt he has been the single driver in what has transformed this club from where we've come from three years ago to where we are now at.

"We've still got a long way to go. We understand that. But he's a guy that's certainly dragged us forward ... [when] we weren't quite sure where we were going to be at.

"He'll be remembered for a long time for what he's done for this football club."

Both Hardwick and Newman said the Tigers were confident of playing finals next year after 11 consecutive years on the outer.

Hardwick enters his fourth year as coach next season and does not want a repeat of the club's 2012 season that he described as "a failure".

"[The finals were] where we wanted to get to this year. We understand we've improved in a lot of areas but the season is still by our standards ... a failure," Hardwick said.

"So we've got some steps to make. We think we're capable of making those steps.

"We certainly get some players back - Foley, Vickery, Grimes, they're really good players who will come straight back in. We'll certainly add a few through the draft [and] trade [period].

"There are a number of areas we need to bolster and we'll certainly be looking to do all we can over the off-season."

Nick Bowen is a reporter with AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick