Makes sense for mine, the pass mark is win a final so unless finals is mathematically impossible a decision like this can't be made until we make or break as it wereBrendon Gale says Richmond won’t be drawn into making an early call on Damien Hardwick’s future
RICHMOND chief executive Brendon Gale says the club will not make any early move on Damien Hardwick’s contract, despite the Tigers’ tremendous start to the season.
Last week, Port Adelaide president David Koch publicly backed Ken Hinkley, who — like Hardwick — had been under serious pre-season scrutiny before a strong start to 2017.
But Gale said he was keen to see how the season unfolded before making any call on Hardwick’s future.
“I’m not going to be saying anything about it. At the end of the day he’s contracted until 2018 and I’m not going to say anything more about it at this stage,” Gale told Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight.
“I’d like to see how things unfold, I mean it’s Round 5 ... it’s Round 5.
“We’ve got a long way to go — this is a long, brutal industry we’re in and our focus is on Adelaide this week.”
Richmond came under fire last year for making an early call in signing Hardwick until the end of 2018.
After a poor 2016 season, the pressure increased, with Hardwick under scrutiny heading into this year.
But Gale said he didn’t feel vindicated over the early decision to re-sign the coach, despite a five-win start to this season.
“I don’t feel vindicated, I just felt it was the right decision at the time,” he said.
“I felt Damien’s a very capable, effective coach.
“I thought at the end of 2015, his win-loss ratio was the benchmark of some other really capable coaches.”
Gale said the club felt it needed to give its coach genuine security and support, aware that the Tigers’ improvement wouldn’t necessarily be “linear” but could come with difficult times.
“I think there was a view that we needed to continue to back him and give him the confidence and the strength to be able to continue the job and to be able to get through some difficult times, should they arise,” he said.
“And that happens — that happens in footy. We’re not on a perfect linear trajectory — sometimes you hit humps.
“So it’s not a sense of vindication — I think the view was we always felt it was the right decision, it was a strong decision and we’ve got full belief in our coach.”
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Can you imagine it?
i revel in chaos so it'd be glorious for me to see.
Stop pouring petrol on the fire
I'd do it just for the melts
Haha FT I think they've learnt their lesson from experience more than competence.
this one is a big one for me
in years gone past we'd have sacked Hardwick and none of the trades we made in the offseason would have happened, so no Prestia, no Caddy, and no Balme either
What else was he supposed to say? We cocked up and had to have a review and fd shake up ? Yeah brilliant
Well for starters...'stop pulling my chain' TI...
What else was he supposed to say? We cocked up and had to have a review and fd shake up ? Yeah brilliant
Edit : I thought they signed him up bc they didn't want to face the pressure from the media ?
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So the story is that there's no story? Cool.What else was he supposed to say? We cocked up and had to have a review and fd shake up ? Yeah brilliant
Edit : I thought they signed him up bc they didn't want to face the pressure from the media ?
My response was more in regards to what FT stated . I suggested that the club has learnt it's lesson from going in early. Considering there's an article there's obviously a story .
