RICHMOND has wasted no time in boosting the club's coaching department by snaring the services of retired Adelaide defender Ben Rutten.
Rutten recently hung up the boots after playing 229 games for the Crows and will now relocate to Melbourne to take up an assistant coaching role at the Tigers.
"We are very fortunate to have Ben at the Richmond football club, and we look forward to welcoming him to our coaching group," said football manager Dan Richardson.
"Ben's playing achievements speak for themselves, and his leadership skills, knowledge of the game, and experience guiding Adelaide's younger players will hold him in good stead as he embarks on a coaching career."
Rutten has completed the "Next Coach" program run by David Wheadon, which nearly 50 ex-AFL players have done since 2009.
He has also worked closely with Crows' backline coach Darren Milburn in recent years and helped in the development of the club's recent best and fairest winner Daniel Talia.
Rutten started his career as a rookie and was named at full-back in the 2005 All Australian team.
This year, the Tigers had Ross Smith in the role of defensive analyst and Greg Mellor as defenders development coach.
Meanwhile, Daniel Jackson has revealed he planned to tell coach Damien Hardwick of his decision to retire via email before deciding to do it in person instead.
Jackson pulled the pin on his 156-game career on the eve of Richmond's elimination final against Port Adelaide after losing faith in his body.
He retired with a year to run on his contract and just 12 months after winning the club's best and fairest.
"A few wise heads who had been through it before said 'you owe it to yourself and your teammates to do it in person and be able to shake hands and look them in the eye and give them the reasons'," Jackson told 3AW.
"That's kind of why it got brought forward."
Jackson was named in the 25-man squad for the elimination final against Port Adelaide but decided on the Friday morning he would struggle to get through four quarters after an injury-hit year.
"I was fairly confident that I wouldn't last a full game and I'd battled through some VFL games the weeks before," he said.
"Friday morning I woke up and thought 'I'll be OK, this is just nerves'.
"But I came into the football club and I thought 'Nah, I can't go out there and get injured and leave us a man down in such a big game'.
"So I had to go tell Damien Hardwick 'I don't know if you've made a decision yet but it's probably better that I don't play because I don't want to let anyone down'."
The 28-year-old then told Hardwick to make plans for next season that didn't include him.
Jackson said he told Hardwick: "For the same reason I'm not going to play next year because you guys have got big things to do and I don't want to slow you down," he said.
"I really didn't want to get to the start of next season and have the body give up or the mind not have the will to keep grinding on and leave the guys a man down for 2015."
