RICHMOND has bolstered its recruiting department on the eve of the 2023 season by adding former Northern Knights talent manager Rhy Gieschen.
Gieschen will join Tigers GM of football talent Blair Hartley and national recruiting manager Matt Clarke at Punt Road.
After starting his career at AFL Victoria and then joining the NAB League for five seasons, Gieschen has spent the past couple of seasons working as Melbourne Grammar's director of football.
Gieschen has also worked for the AFL Coaches' Association under CEO Alistair Nicholson, where he led the Tackle Your Feelings mental health program.
It is understood that Gieschen will fill the spot left by Will Thursfield after the former Tiger was poached by North Melbourne in December to join Brady Rawlings and Scott Clayton at Arden Street.
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Gieschen also coached Melbourne Grammar's First XVIII in the APS competition, where Hawthorn trio Josh Ward, Ned Long and Max Ramsden were recently recruited from, as well as West Coast's first-round pick Campbell Chesser and young Saint Jack Peris.
It won't be the first time a Gieschen has called Punt Road home. Rhy's father Jeff coached the Tigers between 1997 and 1999 before becoming the longest-serving AFL umpires' manager in the history of the game.
Gieschen's brother Nick is a leading player agent for Connors Sports Management, where he manages the affairs of Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines and Melbourne star Clayton Oliver amongst a stacked stable.
While the soft cap has marginally increased this year, it is still well down on pre-pandemic levels with recruiting departments yet to fully recover following COVID-19 enforced layoffs and job cuts in 2020.
However, that hasn't prevented some other recent additions in list management teams around the competition.
Port Adelaide great Robbie Gray will work for his old side in recruiting this year, joining Jason Cripps and Geoff Parker's team to help identify the next Travis Boak or Connor Rozee.
Triple Richmond premiership player Shane Edwards has also started his life in recruiting, joining Adelaide's list management team around a role as the Crows' Indigenous player development manager at West Lakes.
St Kilda has made the most significant changes this off-season, signing Carlton great Stephen Silvagni to replace James Gallagher as list manager, increasing the recruiting remit of Jarryd Roughead and moving veteran administrator Graeme Allan from an advisory role to head of talent and acquisition.
Gieschen will commence his new role at the Swinburne Centre on March 13.