RICHMOND is set to appoint Eastern Ranges premiership coach Jarrad Donders as its new AFLW coach.

AFL.com.au understands the Tigers have settled on Donders as their preferred candidate after an extensive search across recent months, with Jane Woodlands-Thompson set to join him as the club's new head of women's football.

Donders and Woodlands-Thompson are now all but certain to replace Ryan Ferguson and Kate Sheahan respectively at the helm of Richmond's AFLW program, after both departed the club following a highly publicised external review last December.

Donders arrives just months after guiding the Eastern Rangers girls' program to the Talent League premiership, having also taken the reigns of last year's Vic Metro girls' side.

Woodlands-Thompson previously spent three years in charge of women's sport at Collingwood, where she held control over the club's AFLW and netball programs, while she has also recently coached the Australian Kelpies men's netball side.

Donders and Woodlands-Thompson are set to be tasked with turning around a Richmond AFLW program that went 2-10 last season, leading to the departure of both Ferguson and Sheahan at the conclusion of the campaign.

But the club then looked to supercharge its rebuild by trading up to the No.1 pick in last December's national draft, where it took West Australian key forward Olivia Wolmarans with the top selection.

Donders' impending appointment means just Melbourne and Port Adelaide are still searching for AFLW senior coaches with Adelaide (Ryan Davis), Sydney (Colin O'Riordan) and Geelong (Mick Stinear) having already filled their vacancies.

Meanwhile, with Woodlands-Thompson also set to arrive at Tigerland, only Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne are still searching to fill vacant heads of AFLW positions.