FORMER captain and club champion Tony Free has stood down as a Richmond director ahead of the upcoming board elections due to increased commitments away from the game.

Free, who spent more than eight years as a board member, will be replaced early next year, once the Tigers have interviewed potential candidates.

Richmond is preparing for its second board election in seven years as incumbents Kerry Ryan and Emmett Dunne stand for re-election against challengers Simon Wallace and Peter Casey.  

Nominations for the board election closed on Monday and members will now vote electronically for their preferred candidates, with the results announced at the club's annual general meeting on December 14.

The Tigers confirmed on Wednesday that members would also be given the opportunity to vote on introducing term limits for directors.

The constitutional amendments would see directors limited to three terms and presidents limited to two terms in that role.

As part of the changes, current directors who are beyond three terms would serve out their current term but not be eligible to fill a seat on the board again.

It would also mean president Peggy O'Neal would hand over the presidency and depart the board at the end of her new three-year term as an appointed director.

"Director term limits vary significantly across the AFL, and in business more broadly," O'Neal said.

"The club's governance committee has been considering this for almost two years and the board has accepted the recommendation that term limits be introduced and that will now be put to members."

Rob Dalton and vice president Maurice O'Shannassy are Richmond's longest-serving directors after joining the board late in 2004.

O'Neal joined the board in 2005 and was appointed president in October 2013.

The club has more recently added fresh voices with the appointment of Dunne this year and John O'Rourke in 2015.

Free, who played 133 games for the Tigers between 1987 and 1996, was appointed in June 2008 and was praised by O'Neal for his contribution to the club.   

"I thank Tony on behalf of members for his commitment over a long period of time," O'Neal said.  

"He has demonstrated how much this club means to him both as a player and around the Board table.

"We will undoubtedly see him at the football and it goes without saying that he will always remain a valued member of the Richmond family.

"The entire board wishes him, his wife Paula and his family, the very best for the future."