RICHMOND assistant coach Xavier Clarke has emerged as another candidate in the hunt for the senior coaching vacancy at Punt Road.
The 39-year-old is understood be set to go through the process after being shortlisted to interview for the role.
The Tigers are in the process of replacing triple premiership coach Damien Hardwick and are conducting a different search compared to other recent coaching processes, with interested applicants applying for the position before progressing.
Caretaker coach Andrew McQualter has been shortlisted for the role, while AFL.com.au revealed former Richmond captain and current Hawthorn assistant coach Chris Newman is also in the process, but Port Adelaide assistant Josh Carr has opted to remain at Alberton.
Interviews are expected to take place in the next week or two.
Clarke has a wealth of experience at the highest level and is highly regarded inside the Swinburne Centre, where the club's decision to shortlist him is affirmation for his decade of coaching experience and growing status in the industry.
The Northern Territorian played 105 games for St Kilda after being selected with pick No.5 in the 2001 AFL Draft and added one more appearance for Brisbane, but was plagued by injuries at Moorabbin where he tore his ACL for the first time before doing it again at the Lions.
After retiring at the end of 2011, Clarke was appointed the AFL's Indigenous co-ordinator at AFL House, working in a strategic role that aimed to help Indigenous players transitioning out of the game.
Clarke had minimal coaching experience when he applied for and won the coaching gig at the NT Thunder ahead of the 2014 season, but was named coach of the year in his first season in the NEAFL and became a premiership coach in his second, after leading a side that many in the industry believed at the time was the hardest state league coaching gig, to the ultimate prize.
At the end of a challenging season for Richmond in 2016, Clarke joined the Tigers as a development coach and has been part of the football department across the past seven seasons.
In that time, Clarke's ambition to be a senior coach has grown to the point where has now put his hat in the ring for the first time, following time as the VFL coach and now the role as forwards coach.
Richmond announced a six-person panel in July to lead the search following Hardwick's shock resignation in May, with CEO Brendon Gale, GMs Tim Livingstone and Blair Hartley joined by vice-president Henriette Rothschild on the panel.
Melbourne Storm football manager Frank Ponissi and Football Australia performance director Paddy Steinfort are the external administrators included in the sub-committee to find the next coach of the Tigers.
Experience at coaching a team at state league level is understood to be appealing to Richmond, which is why Carr was admired internally for his exploits leading North Adelaide to the SANFL flag back in 2018.
Clarke is one of only a few Indigenous coaches at AFL level, alongside Neville Jetta at Collingwood and Travis Varcoe at the Western Bulldogs.
There have only been two senior Indigenous coaches – Graham Farmer and Barry Cable – in VFL/AFL history, with Clarke aspiring to be the next one, whether it is at Richmond or down the track.
