New Richmond coach Adem Yze would welcome Andrew McQualter as his right-hand man but the former caretaker appears destined for a fresh start elsewhere.
Yze won the head coach role in a tight call ahead of long-standing assistant McQualter, who took the reins after Damien Hardwick's abrupt resignation in May and led the Tigers to six wins from 13 games.
"If he stays I'd love him to stay at the footy club," Yze said at his press conference.
"He's created some strong relationships, he understands the place.
"So I'd have no issue with him staying around and being my right-hand man.
"But if he does move on - we'll find that out in the next few days - he'll go with our blessing and I'll try and fill that spot."
Last year, McQualter was chased by his former coach Ross Lyon to join the St Kilda panel before opting to remain at Richmond.
Chief executive Brendon Gale conceded "an appetite for change" had proved a factor in opting for Yze over McQualter, and whether the latter would stay "remains to be seen".
"We'll give him some time and space and Adem will sit down with Andrew and Tim Livingstone and Blair Hartley and work through that," Gale said.
"He put 10 years into this club, he put his heart into it, he did a wonderful job. He'll be disappointed, naturally and we'll address that with some time.
"It's tough. The club's been like a family to him, he's been a really important part of our club and a really important part of delivering great success.
"So these decisions are never easy, you've got to make a decision based on the based interests of the club and the club's needs now and future needs.
"So they're hard decisions but we think we've made a really, really strong one."
Former Carlton and St Kilda coach Brett Ratten, who was caretaker at North Melbourne this year, is among those in the mix for a role in Yze's new set-up.
"I've got some ideas of the people I might try and bring in, but right now we've got an amazing staff, we've got some really strong line coaches that have already created a foundation and relationships that I don't want to break," Yze said.
"So we'll work through that in the next couple of days.
"'Ratts is a mentor of mine, so I'll give him a call this afternoon, but we're just trying to work through what spots we need to fill," Yze said.
"If there is an opportunity (with Ratten) then there's a possibility. So he'll be one that I obviously will talk to."
