Retired Hawthorn premiership players Luke Breust and Taylor Duryea have taken up development coaching roles at Richmond.
The pair recently retired as players from the AFL, with Breust finishing his time at the Hawks, while Duryea finished off his career with a VFL premiership for the Western Bulldogs.
Breust's career came to a crashing halt a fortnight ago, suffering a season-ending ACL and MCL injury in his right knee during the Box Hill Hawks' VFL preliminary final loss to the Footscray Bulldogs.
The 34-year-old announced his retirement in August, but quickly flagged his desire to remain in the league in some capacity.
Breust, if he joins the Tigers, will reunite with former Hawks coaches Adem Yze and Chris Newman at Punt Road.
The three-time premiership forward has indicated his intention to work with youths coming through the ranks, enjoying his time steering Nick Watson, Jack Ginnivan and Dylan Moore.
"I'll try and stay in footy. Obviously, footy has been so good to me and I'd like to pass on some knowledge to the younger generation," Breust said on Triple M last month.
"Hopefully, there's some opportunities that pop up in terms of footy and staying in there.
"I've really started to enjoy the coaching side of things in the back end of the career and getting some satisfaction from [helping guys] like Dylan Moore, Nick Watson, and Ginnivan and the guys coming through.
"When I see them do something on the weekend that we've been working on for 10 weeks, it's pretty cool."
Breust finished with 308 games, ranking third in Hawthorn's all-time matches list. He kicked 553 goals and claimed two All-Australian blazers.
Duryea played 100 AFL games at both Hawthorn (118) and the Western Bulldogs (101), and won two flags alongside Breust at the Hawks.
"We are investing in putting the best people around our young players to ensure that they have every chance of success in their AFL careers,” Richmond's EGM of Football Performance, Tim Livingstone, said.
"All of these guys are driven, experienced and successful in their own right and will be great assets for our football department.
"We welcome Luke and Taylor and their families to Richmond."
Breust (Forwards) and Duryea (Backs) will join Jack Ziebell (Midfield) in the development coaching team to fast-track the club's emerging talent under Ben Rutten.
