Tom Lynch officially chooses Richmond

Richmond will land Gold Coast free agent Tom Lynch after he officially informed the Suns he wants to join the Tigers in 2019.

The decision was no surprise, with Fairfax Media reporting Lynch's intentions at the start of last month.

The Suns put out a statement on Tuesday saying they had been officially informed that Richmond would lodge Lynch's new contract with the AFL at the start of the free agency period on Friday.

The Suns can then choose to match Lynch's offer in order to force the Tigers to trade with them.

However the Suns are not expected to match the offer, preferring to take a compensation selection from the AFL which is expected to be pick No.3 in November's national draft.