Opinion Hardwick's match day coaching

[TigersMan4]

Is it just me, or had Dimmer's game day coaching gotten better at what seems to be a similar rate to the teams improvement over the last two months?

Last week against the Crows, Griffiths was dropped back to deep defence and contributed with a crucial clearance. Dusty was pushed into the forward 50 in a 1 on 1 and kicked the sealer.

Opinions?

 

[Nostradumbass]

I started a thread about this 2 years ago. I felt he wasn't very good on matchday, I felt the same earlier this year. I do believe he's making better decisions of late, maybe he's had some help/guidance from someone? I don't know but I believe he has improved this part of his coaching.

 

[tigs2010]

Has improved since the Port game. Been swinging some match winning moves.

 

[_RT_]

I think it goes back to the Dreamtime game when Dimma reportedly gave the group the mother of all sprays post game, that was the turning point in Dimmas coaching. No longer was he seen as a mate first and coach second, rather the roles were reversed, he became the coach first and the mate second and in all good sides that is the way that it should be. Speaking from my own time playing, I always found that when the coach was seen as a coach first and mate second our sides performed much better than it did with the roles the other way around.

Just watching highlights of Dimma in the box and you can now see that steely resolve that hasn't been evident before. The clip of him bashing the phone after a free kick against Gordon in the Essendon game. The stern look on his face now, even when something that should be amusing happens, to me says that Dimma is now fully engaged in coaching and getting the best out of the team.

I know some will look at this and ask why wasn't he like this earlier and I look at it like the change in Cotchins leadership. Hardwick needed a reason to lose it with the softly softly approach and the Dreamtime game was the perfect platform, especially after the first 8 games of the season had gone. I believe post that game Cotchin was also told that he too needed to lose the I'm everyones mate approach and actually be a leader and demand more. In hindsight I reckon the Dreamtime game this year will be looked upon down the track as the moment it all clicked for us as a club.

 

[Nostradumbass]

This season, however it turns out, could be the best thing to happen to him.

 

[Hank Heavenly]

Should we look to get Bomber Thompson in the Coaches Box in 2015?

And I don't mean to replace Hardwick, I meant to sit along side him, help him coach on matchday and help his development?

Clearly has the itch to be involved again, won't give a definitive answer on whether he will stay at the Bummers next year, get the feeling he can't stand Hirdy anymore....

Thoughts?

 

[Tiger71]

No

 

[Ralll]

Last week against the Crows, Griffiths was dropped back to deep defence and contributed with a crucial clearance. Dusty was pushed into the forward 50 in a 1 on 1 and kicked the sealer.
Opinions?

Its hard to tell from the outside, the moves you mention have been happening for years. (Dusty forward and its usually Vickery down back when we desperately dont want an opp goal)
Im sure with experience he's better now and maybe he's quicker with the moves or gets the timing right but I dont see any real evidence, although I dont think he was ever bad, alot of it was our players inexperience at fault instead of Dimma not pulling out some sort of match winning move.

 

[_RT_]

Should we look to get Bomber Thompson in the Coaches Box in 2015?

And I don't mean to replace Hardwick, I meant to sit along side him, help him coach on matchday and help his development?

Clearly has the itch to be involved again, won't give a definitive answer on whether he will stay at the Bummers next year, get the feeling he can't stand Hirdy anymore....

Thoughts?

 

[FootyBuzz]

I thought Dimma was shocking on match day itself with in regards to the Elimination Final and the earlier Carlton lost. It didn't seem to change anything through out the game.

The best one I saw this year was against Port Adelaide, Ken Hinkley was the one who got out coached for that game. Who would of thought Chaplin would kick 2 goals and stop Ports run off half back. Brilliant. But majority of the onus does have to fall back on the players, even though our game style at the start of the year wasn't working.

 

[FootyBuzz]

What coaching? They have been under performing for the last three years. Such a talented list and disappointing to see

Core of the list is full of talent; Cotchin, Deledio, Martin, Ellis etc. There are few too many B graders that we would have to change to get more A grade players. I'd say 5-8 on the ladder is about right for the list.

 

[FootyBuzz]

It's been like this forever though. Surely it's frustrating being dubbed ninthmond and names like that? Is is a culture problem in your club? Poor Management?

It's funny about the ninth part, it's just a myth. Richmond hasn't finished 9th that many times in the last 15 years and doesn't hold the record for finishing 9th. Something that come up in the 90s I think and just stuck.

Earlier on it was poor management within the club where coaches were just sacked all the time and there was no money. However now the club is profitable organisation with a top notch training and administration facility. The list probably has taken longer to put together now due to the introduction of the expansion teams that have compromised the draft. Hence why there is a few mature age players from other clubs.

Equalisation I believe may slow as down a fraction.

 

[Livonski]

Its hard to tell from the outside, the moves you mention have been happening for years. (Dusty forward and its usually Vickery down back when we desperately dont want an opp goal)
Im sure with experience he's better now and maybe he's quicker with the moves or gets the timing right but I dont see any real evidence, although I dont think he was ever bad, alot of it was our players inexperience at fault instead of Dimma not pulling out some sort of match winning move.

True. In fact the reality is that rarely does anything happen on the field that hasn't been thought about prior.
eg. Vs Port, when Westoff went into our F50 it was no surprise, and the response was not an off the cuff, match day decision. These scenarios are formulated ad nauseum for each team each week.
Hardwick's coaching has been consistent all the way thru, it's just that when the team clicks we can all find positive moves, as opposed to when we were losing and he was a dufus.

 

[Bojangles17]

No

X 2

 

[TigerImposter]

Should we look to get Bomber Thompson in the Coaches Box in 2015?

And I don't mean to replace Hardwick, I meant to sit along side him, help him coach on matchday and help his development?

Clearly has the itch to be involved again, won't give a definitive answer on whether he will stay at the Bummers next year, get the feeling he can't stand Hirdy anymore....

Thoughts?

No effing way do we want that sponge near our club

 

[TJTIGER]

Just maybe the coach has started to get a balance in a few areas & the group has lifted including coaches, as well as onfield leadership that changes things up before the coach has to...

 

[TigerImposter]

Just maybe the coach has started to get a balance in a few areas & the group has lifted including coaches, as well as onfield leadership that changes things up before the coach has to...

Post of the day TJ

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

In reality he's pretty ordinary still on match days but he's held the playing group together and it's paying dividends. Here's a list of current coaches I think are better than him on match day

Clarkson
Longmire
Lyon
Chris Scott
Malthouse
Buckley
Leppa
Roos
Hinkley
Bomber Thompson
McArtney
McKenna

But it's only his 5th year so I'm sure he'll grow into the role.

 

[ReaperX]

In reality he's pretty ordinary still on match days but he's held the playing group together and it's paying dividends. Here's a list of current coaches I think are better than him on match day

Clarkson (Yes)

Longmire (Yes)

Lyon (Yes)

Chris Scott (Debatable, I think it's the veterans that drive this side, in 3-4 years if the Cats are still on top maybe, but he inherited an amazing team. If Hardwick had inherited the Cats team, he'd have done just as well imho, and same with if Scott had inherited the Richmond team in 2010)

Malthouse (At his peak, yes, but these days he's lost a step or two I feel. Still probably marginally better simply because of his 30 years of experience, but wouldn't think it'd take long for Hardwick to overtake him)

Buckley (lol nonononono... Buckley is a horrible coach. Inherited a very strong team, much like C. Scott, but has absolutely fluffed it.)

Leppa (Learned from Hardwick, definitely hasn't surpassed him, or shown he's better than Hardwick yet)

Roos (Yes)

Hinkley (I think Hinkley is slightly overrated tbh, but I'd put him about par with Dimma. Once again, he inherited a pretty solid list, that was underrated due to the previous coach being an absolute spud)

Bomber Thompson (Yes)

McArtney (You're clearly trolling with this one. Has done SFA at the Bulldogs in 3 seasons, they haven't looked close to competing for a finals spot, whereas Dimma started from a lower base than he did, and by his 3rd season we were on the cusp of the Top 8. If the Doggies win 14-15 games next season I'll rethink this, but until then, no evidence to suggest that he is better than Dimma)

McKenna (You're taking the piss right? Dimma would have Gold Coast in the Top 4 this year with the talent they have on their list, McKenna is absolutely ******* useless. They will need to sack him before they become a contender.)

But it's only his 5th year so I'm sure he'll grow into the role.

 

[johnno77]

In reality he's pretty ordinary still on match days but he's held the playing group together and it's paying dividends. Here's a list of current coaches I think are better than him on match day

Clarkson
Longmire
Lyon
Chris Scott
Malthouse
Buckley
Leppa
Roos
Hinkley
Bomber Thompson
McArtney
McKenna

But it's only his 5th year so I'm sure he'll grow into the role.

What a load of bollocks. How much time have you spent in each of these clubs coaches boxes?

 

[Cotcho]

In reality he's pretty ordinary still on match days but he's held the playing group together and it's paying dividends. Here's a list of current coaches I think are better than him on match day

Clarkson
Longmire
Lyon
Chris Scott
Malthouse
Buckley
Leppa
Roos
Hinkley
Bomber Thompson
McArtney
McKenna

But it's only his 5th year so I'm sure he'll grow into the role.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[FootyBuzz]

In reality he's pretty ordinary still on match days but he's held the playing group together and it's paying dividends. Here's a list of current coaches I think are better than him on match day

Clarkson
Longmire
Lyon
Chris Scott
Malthouse
Buckley
Leppa
Roos
Hinkley
Bomber Thompson
McArtney
McKenna

But it's only his 5th year so I'm sure he'll grow into the role.

Buckley who knows with him, The Pies have dramatically fallen off each season he has been there.
Leppa learned from Hardwick and it's only his first year.
Hinkey no way, He is a glorified personal trainer.
McArtney I can't tell. Seems like his team doesn't always follows his instructions with setup, structures etc.
McKenna has a gun list full of talent that has been in the competition long enough now that shouldn't be playing the way it currently is.

The rest you could argue probably are, based on their experience and achievements.

 

[Boggle]

Its hard to tell from the outside, the moves you mention have been happening for years. (Dusty forward and its usually Vickery down back when we desperately dont want an opp goal)
Im sure with experience he's better now and maybe he's quicker with the moves or gets the timing right but I dont see any real evidence, although I dont think he was ever bad, alot of it was our players inexperience at fault instead of Dimma not pulling out some sort of match winning move.

I've heard interviews with both Lids and Cotch this week, so I'm now not clear on which one said it (I'd bet on Lids on the Talking Tigers podcast, if I had to bet) but...

Either Lids or Cotch stated that the three of them (Lids, Dusty, and Cotch) decide themselves when to rotate through the forward line, and that he (again, whichever it was giving the interview) was a bit annoyed (in a friendly way, if you know what I mean) that Dusty was the one who had managed to get forward in time to recieve the ball and kick the winner against Adelaide.

Point being that even the move of Dusty to the forward line seems to have less to do with match day coatching and more to do with getting players to "self coach" more constructively.

I leave people to decide for themselves what this says about Dimma as a coach, but for me there's two things to be said.

First, that he can get players working together so constructively is a huge credit to him.

Second, if you think through how complex it is to get the entire squad to understand their roles so well that they know when to make these moves without prompting from the box, then it makes some sense of what Dimma and the players have been saying: they knew what they wanted to do, but just weren't implementing it in games. Perhaps it's getting a better grasp of when to do the on field rotations, when to go one-on-one, and so on that's made the last few weeks so good? Regardless, I reckon it just underlines Dimma's quality and shows the truth of the point made weeks ago (by DrMike I think it was) that coaching is more about how you prepare the team than it is about what you do on game day.

 

[JR#8]

Honestly? He read all the threads here about him. I've noticed his improvement since then.

 

[TheProwler]

Improving his coaching in the box is what I was asking in the dear Dimma thread and to his credit I think he has. Still has a way to go but on the right track.