Richmond players have mobbed veteran AFL coach Mark Williams after he broke the news that he has been cleared of lymphona.

It is timely great news for Williams, after the tragic death earlier this month of Adelaide coach Phil Walsh.

The pair were long-time friends and Williams spoke at Walsh’s funeral.

TV footage showed Richmond players gathered around Williams, their senior development coach, at Thursday morning training.

As he told them the news, the players erupted and Williams was in tears as he broke from the group.

Williams was diagnosed with cancer last November and underwent treatment, but kept working at Richmond.

He coached Port Adelaide for 11 seasons and engineered their only premiership in 2004.

Williams spent two seasons as a senior assistant coach at GWS before joining the Tigers in September 2012.