NEW RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick says the club will decide in the next few weeks on the futures of Matthew Richardson and Ben Cousins.

The fate of the club's assistant coaches will also be worked through at the same time.

Hardwick was appointed as senior coach of the Tigers on Tuesday night, and at Wednesday morning's media conference he said he was starting at the Tigers immediately.

The 37-year-old said many decisions needed to me made in the next few weeks, with many players' futures under the microscope.

And while the new coach was unstinting in his praise of Richardson, he stopped short of guaranteeing his future.

"He is an outstanding talent – I still probably think he's in the top two to three players at this club, and he's 34," Hardwick said.

"I know when Hawthorn plays against him our first thing is 'what the hell are we going to do with Richo?'

"We'll make decisions on that in the coming weeks, but he's still a very talented player."

Hardwick was similarly impressed with Cousins, saying he had been very good for Richmond.

When the former Eagle was selected by Richmond last year, Hardwick admitted he had his doubts but was pleased to be proved wrong throughout this season.

But Hardwick's praise came with a caveat, saying hard decisions regarding the two veterans, and the entire playing list, would not be avoided.
 
"Will I shy away from them? No," he said. "I think it was John Kennedy who said there was no sentiment in football.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we'll have to make some decisions about which way we're going to go.

"Obviously, just getting here I'd like to have a bit of time to go over those decisions, and then we'll see how we go from there."

Hardwick said it was too early to make a call on who, if any, of the club's assistant coaches would remain at Punt Rd.

"When the dust settles, I'll actually sit down and speak to those people involved," he said.

"I'll see where they're at, see whether their principles are the same as mine, and make decisions going forward from there.

"As an outsider looking in, I'm not sure – they might be absolutely outstanding at their jobs.

"At the end of the day, if they've got the same principles and are very good at what they do, then they'll be looking forward to staying at the Richmond footy club."