Hardwick,50,informed Tigers CEO Brendon Gale of his decision on Monday and has started calling players to tell them,according to a club source.
Highly regarded assistant coach Andrew McQualter is expected to take the coaching reins for Sunday’s match against Port Adelaide at the MCG.
SEN Radio first reported the news Monday night and although the reasons for Hardwick’s decision were not clear,burnout was cited as a possible factor.
Hardwick is Richmond’s longest-serving coach,having overseen 307 games. He has 36 games remaining on his contract. He will be remembered as the coach who turned the Tigers from a club that was a perennial underachiever,and often ridiculed for its failures,into a modern colossus of the competition.
He restored Richmond at all levels,awakening the often dormant Tiger army.
The club famously showed faith in Hardwick after a wide-ranging review of the football department in 2016,and the former Essendon and Port Adelaide hard man went on to lead the Tigers to three flags in four seasons,breaking a 37-year drought in 2017.