FINALLY TIGERS TAKE THE 'HARD' ROAD
By RUSSELL HOLMESBY
Inside Football, Vol. 40 No.36, Oct 27-Nov 14 2010
The view that history takes of Damien Hardwick will be revealed in 20 years or so, but to take a guess right now, it will be that he is seen as the man who brought reality to the Richmond Football Club.
For the first time in decades, the club was forced into an honest appraisal of where it was situated in the footy landscape.
The image in the mirror wasn't flattering and it required drastic action - cleaning out list cloggers and taking a punt on youth before drafts became compromised and watered down by the special rules applying for new clubs.
The premiership points tally of 2010 may be up by only two on 2009, but Richmond is in a much better place now than it was 12-14 months ago, and much of the credit must go to a first-year coach prepared to roll the dice, endure some early pain, and trial kids.
There were some courageous selections too. Troy Taylor came to the club with plenty of baggage relating to off-field misdemeanours and Relton Roberts was always going to be a speculative choice.
Roberts didn't stick it out to the end of the season, but Taylor showed enough in the concluding fortnight to justify persevering with him. That's the law of averages in football, and you never know if you don't give it a go.
Hardwick was certainly prepared to gamble and experiment.
At times in the closing weeks of the season his side looked spindly in build against the competition's more muscled outfits, but there was a bigger picture in Hardwick's mind.
Accordingly we saw that Ben Griffiths and David Astbury looked like genuine footballers of the future.
Irishman Jamie O'Reilly is a quick learner who could make a player, and Ben Nason could eventually be remembered for more than just a distinctive hairstyle.
It wasn't all plain sailing in the second half of the season. The trio of Will Thursfield, Kelvin Moore and Luke McGuane were expected to mesh in the backline for a long time to come, but McGuane's form faltered and Thursfield's wavered to the extent that he seemed bound for pastures new.
The form of the much maligned Richard Tambling slid back to frustrating levels and he was eventually traded to Adelaide, with some regret.
At the trade table the Tigers picked up Shaun Grigg - a big possession winner who will add maturity to the midfield. This component of the Richmond team will be further boosted by the return of Nathan Foley after a season destroyed by ankle problems, and lose little by the retirement of Ben Cousins.
Richmond now has a good core of players that can set the bar for the kids. That bracket of leadership would include relative newcomers Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin. Chris Newman is the elder statesman with Foley, Jack Riewoldt, Daniel Jackson and Brett Deledio as back-up.
There are still areas that require improvement, but at last Richmond has lifted off the launch-pad.
