MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 08: Damien Hardwick, Senior Coach of the Tigers looks on during the 2017 AFL round 16 match between the St Kilda Saints and the Richmond Tigers at Etihad Stadium on July 08, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Richmond sealed their status as one of the greatest teams of the modern era in 2020, winning back-to-back premierships, including three flags in four years.

They will now look to join footy folklore and become the seventh team to win three consecutive premierships if they can go all the way again in 2021.

So what looms as their biggest obstacle? According to former AFL recruiter Matt Rendell it could be off the field.

Rendell believes that the biggest question mark hanging over the Tigers this season is the fallout from coach Damien Hardwick's new relationship with a female club staffer.

It was revealed during the off-season that the triple-premiership coach split up with his wife Danielle - affectionately known as Mrs Hardwick - and had began a romance with a member of Richmond's commercial sales team.

Reports emerged that Hardwick's new relationship had caused tension at the club.

Speaking on SEN's Dwayne's World, Rendell posed the question of whether the Tigers are mature enough to overcome the controversy.

“They’re not too old,” Rendell said on SEN radio.

“Their top five or six, and we all know who they are, are in their late 20s and early 30s, but they’re still not an old team and they’ve got plenty left in them.

“You know how they’re going to play. You know what they’re going to do and they’re going to be exciting again.

“There’s only question mark over the club and that’s any fallout from the (Damien) Hardwick situation, which there could be.

“I think it’s a pretty mature club, mature players and I think they’ll be able to handle it, but you never know.”