Is Damian Hardwick the right coach to lead Richmond forward ???

[lionel_luthor]

Now the Tigers have just had a 2nd half of the season from hell, after they appeared to be one of the big improvers this year after they wiped out the Bombers in the dreamtime.

Now after a month of hell starting with a deplorable effort against Carlton and a embarrassing loss to the Suns in Cairns, many Tigers fans are turning on Hardwick, wanting him sacked.

In my opinion, Hardwick should be given at least 5 years to rebuild that club. Look how long it took Carlton to rebuild following our first wooden spoon season in 2002.

The fact is, the rot in Richmond can be placed in the later Frawley years and the mistakes of the Wallace/Miller era.

Richmond's list was the worst in the league when Wallace finally sacked a couple of years ago.

I know Tiger fans have been patient for over 30 years, but you cannot expect a team of kids and other mediocre mid tier players to race up he ladder after only a year and a half in the job under Hardwick.

The Tigers are on the right track with Hardwick, no short cuts and he is blooding many kids as possible.

Shane Tuck is not going to be a part of their next finals squad so why play him.

The Tiger cubs will come good over time, and Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt and Vickery is a solid core they can build around.

They will also use The money from the fighting tiger fund and sold away games to boost their vastly under resouced recruiting and football departments.

Under the circumstances, i don't think anyone could much better then Hardwick right now.

Patience is required by Tiger fans, they are in much better shape then clubs like Port and Brisbane going forward.

 

[Barnzy]

Don't see the point of the thread. You're asking if he's the right man but then you say with our list we need a lot of patience (which is correct). So reassess after he's had the necessary time to try and turn it around which is not 1-2 years with what he started with.

 

[CamTinley]

Now the Tigers have just had a 2nd half of the season from hell, after they appeared to be one of the big improvers this year after they wiped out the Bombers in the dreamtime.

Now after a month of hell starting with a deplorable effort against Carlton and a embarrassing loss to the Suns in Cairns, many Tigers fans are turning on Hardwick, wanting him sacked.

In my opinion, Hardwick should be given at least 5 years to rebuild that club. Look how long it took Carlton to rebuild following our first wooden spoon season in 2002.

The fact is, the rot in Richmond can be placed in the later Frawley years and the mistakes of the Wallace/Miller era.

Richmond's list was the worst in the league when Wallace finally sacked a couple of years ago.

I know Tiger fans have been patient for over 30 years, but you cannot expect a team of kids and other mediocre mid tier players to race up he ladder after only a year and a half in the job under Hardwick.

The Tigers are on the right track with Hardwick, no short cuts and he is blooding many kids as possible.

Shane Tuck is not going to be a part of their next finals squad so why play him.

The Tiger cubs will come good over time, and Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt and Vickery is a solid core they can build around.

They will also use The money from the fighting tiger fund and sold away games to boost their vastly under resouced recruiting and football departments.

Under the circumstances, i don't think anyone could much better then Hardwick right now.

Patience is required by Tiger fans, they are in much better shape then clubs like Port and Brisbane going forward.

Five years is about he longest contract you can get in the public service !! I think twelve month contracts for coaches should be used every now and then.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Hardwick is the right man. I reckon his aim is to turnover 80% of the senior/rookie list which he took over when he first arrived. So far he's done about 50%, so another 30% to go. That will probably be split at 20% later this year and the other 10% next year. We need to trade away some picks and players to get 2 ruckman later this year. If we can keep our first pick and get a midfielder while gaining 1 young athletic ruckman and 1 experienced ruckman we'll be alot closer to playing good footy after a cleanout of about 10 players later this year. Get the midfield right and we'll be fine and the best way to do that is get the 2 ruckman and extra midfielder we need and get our whole midfield fitter. Cleanout the players with skill/composure problems and we'll be in a much better position. Hopefully by the start of next year we are in a position where we'll only have half a dozen player on the list playing for their careers. That's about the normal situation at most clubs we should aim for

 

[Defacto]

OP is spot on. he has alot of work to do. he hasnt walked into a successful club like chris scott has. i think he deserved atleast another 2 years, 3 at most. that will atleast see the tigers past the poached gws/gc drafts.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

I say yes. They guy has come in with a plan in mind and a job to do. Is probably a 3rd of the way through and they have shown signs. Made the wrong call on Tuck IMO, but has made the right call on others.

They simply can't cut him now othewise they will be back where they started. Stick with him and success will follow. This guy knows success, Essendon, Port, Hawthorn, has been around great coaches in Sheedy, Williams, Clarkson and knows his footy.

I know it's been 30 years but don't rush it now. Stay the course FFS

 

[lionel_luthor]

Don't see the point of the thread. You're asking if he's the right man but then you say with our list we need a lot of patience (which is correct). So reassess after he's had the necessary time to try and turn it around which is not 1-2 years with what he started with.

Yes, but the point is i have seen a lot of tiger fans on the Richmond board here and other Tiger online forums demand that Hardwick's be sacked, which is unfair considering what he has to work with.

His vision for the club is much more sustainable then Frawley or Wallace for example, but some Tigers fans don't see it that way

 

[Antz]

I like Hardwick as a person and as a coach. Its not his fault most of Richmonds list has no talent.

 

[Pinpoint Pass]

For where Richmond were, no he isn't the right man.

Not because we know he can't coach but because we don't know if he can.

Everyone knew that Richmond needed a complete rebuild, so why not do it the right way right from the very start with a proven AFL coach.

The coach is the one implementing game plans and teaching young kids what they need to do so why put in someone who you don't know if they have what it takes or not?

I'm not sold on Hardwick and have seen nothing from him to suggest he is any good but only time will tell on that but what happens if he is no good in another 2 years?

They weren't in a position to take the risk....

 

[AstroboyUK]

Yes, but the point is i have seen a lot of tiger fans on the Richmond board here and other Tiger online forums demand that Hardwick's be sacked, which is unfair considering what he has to work with.

His vision for the club is much more sustainable then Frawley or Wallace for example, but some Tigers fans don't see it that way

liar. About 1% of Richmond posters have made some vague comment in post-loss frustration about HArdwick. the rest you claim is total BS.

The wheels have fallen off our season 4-5 rounds earlier than our first half season form suggested it would, but to be fair most of us expected 6-8 wins this year.. so we're broadly tracking to that expectation (maybe we didnt expect to win as many early or lose so many late, but overall we about where we thought we would be.)

That said our form has been horrible lately; we'v definately lost our mojo and need someone like JAck to regain a bit of form and create a spark. A win,.. hell any kind of win.. would do wonders but in reality we just hope the club/coach/team is using the rest of the year wisely and will be ready to up the ante next year.

 

[MightyTiger]

I like Hardwick as a person and as a coach. Its not his fault most of Richmonds list has no talent.

Sums it up really.

 

[lionel_luthor]

For where Richmond were, no he isn't the right man.

Not because we know he can't coach but because we don't know if he can.

Everyone knew that Richmond needed a complete rebuild, so why not do it the right way right from the very start with a proven AFL coach.

The coach is the one implementing game plans and teaching young kids what they need to do so why put in someone who you don't know if they have what it takes or not?

I'm not sold on Hardwick and have seen nothing from him to suggest he is any good but only time will tell on that but what happens if he is no good in another 3 years?

They weren't in a position to take the risk....

Denis Pagan was a two time premiership coach who had 5 years at Carlton and couldn't get them from the bottom of the ladder and Wallace was known as a decent coach before his stint at Richmond.

I don't subscribe to the belief Malthouse could turn Richmond around straight away, next year for example

 

[Pinpoint Pass]

Denis Pagan was a two time premiership coach who had 5 years at Carlton and couldn't get them from the bottom of the ladder and Wallace was known as a decent coach before his stint at Richmond.

I don't subscribe to the belief Malthouse could turn Richmond around straight away, next year for example

Of course he couldn't but at least you know without doubt that he can coach.

So you are not taking a risk with all the youth you bring into the club, they will be taught the correct way right from the beginning.

With Hardwick you just don't know.

 

[MightyTiger]

For where Richmond were, no he isn't the right man.

Not because we know he can't coach but because we don't know if he can.

Everyone knew that Richmond needed a complete rebuild, so why not do it the right way right from the very start with a proven AFL coach.

The coach is the one implementing game plans and teaching young kids what they need to do so why put in someone who you don't know if they have what it takes or not?

I'm not sold on Hardwick and have seen nothing from him to suggest he is any good but only time will tell on that but what happens if he is no good in another 2 years?

They weren't in a position to take the risk....

Was thinking the same thing about Essendon and Hird.

 

[blitzer]

So far I've mostly liked what I've seen from Hardwick. But expectations will rise over the next 2 years and then if performances don't rise in line with them then he will be in trouble. At the moment though, wait and see.

 

[Altum Volantes]

It's Richmond. The guy is probably just marking time, but considering the all time low standards the place has now, it's likely anything vaguely competitive will keep him in a job for another couple of years at least.

Plus the media do like him, that helps a lot too.

 

[theyellowsash]

it took clarkson until his 3rd year to get the hawks into the finals, and they were in a much better position than us in that a lot of their best players were already there but still young or already good (players like hodge, mitchell, brown, williams, croad, and so on).

its baileys 4th year and he has the demons still struggling to break into the 8. in that time they have had a draft advantage with picks 4 (morton), 1 (watts), 1 (scully) and 2 (trengove) compared to 2 (cotchin), 8 (vickery), 3 (martin) and 6 (conca).

if we are still looking the same at the end of next year you would have to be worried, but if we are in the 9-10 win range then the development of the team is going fairly well.

 

[theflea]

yep spot on. some idiot tiger fans vent anger but in the end its going to take alot of time to get the list to were we need it. assess after 4/5 years, in a clinical way, with supposed money filtered into development/debt hopefully we are on the way up.

 

[CAS79]

We all saw the tigers at the start of last year, below AFL skills, poor understanding of the spread and at the start of this year in round 1 an average game per player margin to rival the Suns.

With the state of the club hardwick waled into this was never going to be a qucik fix. He has already achieved a fair bit on the turn around but his younger players, of which there are plenty are starting to tire and the run home is going to see some blow outs.

But in some games we've seen glimpses of the Tigers future and for the first time in a long time it's heading in the right direction. Don't blow it by crashing with impatience now.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

I thought Jade Rawlings had potential

 

[LordLucifer]

Give Hardwick two more draft & trade periods and then see what he makes happen.

He is coming from a long way back and he has made some inroads, but crikey, no coach could turn that list into a Grand Finalist in less than 2-years.

I rate the guy, his attitude & approach is excellent, all he needs is some time to nurture the good ones he has at the club whilst bringing in some other newbies with talent.

It will happen, Tiger fans just have to be patient for another year or two even though it may be killing them right now.

 

[overtheline]

Unfortunately he is the wrong man.

Other than nahas and Vickery(king earlier) few very players have actually gone forward and a whole host have gone backwards. It is an extensive list of players who have had a worst year

The coach has to take some responsibility for this.

 

[CAS79]

Unfortunately he is the wrong man.

Other than nahas and Vickery(king earlier) few very players have actually gone forward and a whole host have gone backwards. It is an extensive list of players who have had a worst year

The coach has to take some responsibility for this.

Name them, try to convince me.

 

[Rustof]

Nope... We should be top 4 after 18 months into our biggest rebuild. Not good enough Dimma! Sack him right now...

I'm waiting til we actually have a decent list that can carry out the simplest of gameplans til I pass judgement on Dimma.

 

[Blue1980]

Unfortunately he is the wrong man.

Other than nahas and Vickery(king earlier) few very players have actually gone forward and a whole host have gone backwards. It is an extensive list of players who have had a worst year

The coach has to take some responsibility for this.

Well Riewoldt made massive strides last year with Hardwick as coach. I think Martin and Cotchin have definitely improved further.

Thing is at the beginning of last year, people thought Richmond would be lucky to win a game, then for the 2nd half of last year and first half of this year, probably played to their optimum level. That optimum level probably has them 10th-11th when everything is working for them.

However at the moment they are arguably the worst side in the competition, as they were for the first 9 rounds last year. This is them without confidence.

So truth is, their very down at the moment, but most people would of thought the Tigers would of been 13th/14th, which is where they will end up.

BTW, Hardwick is the right man, the club would be under no illusions of where the list is at. There are major deficiencies in all areas of the ground, the ruck issue being the most galling. The midfield has talent, but is shallow and too inexperienced/one way to challenge with the very best regularly, the defence is nearly as poor as the ruck, and the forward line is so-so, but potentially good with a Vickery/Riewoldt duo, and King/Nahas as crumbers.

Next year, I think if all went right, 8-10 wins is as good as it would get for Richmond. At least next year won't be a compromised draft, free agency could be handy in snagging some more ready made players to fill some gaping holes, while still building the list steadily via the draft.