Richmond has problems but Damien Hardwick can coachMARK ROBINSON
Herald Sun
30 April 2016SUDDENLY, Damien Hardwick can’t coach.
If that’s the case, and it’s surely not, it can also be said neither can Ross Lyon at Fremantle.
Lyon is 0-5 and Hardwick 1-4, and the commentary is not so much to kick them to the kerb, but to ask why both Fremantle and Richmond offered their coaches contract extensions.
The knee-jerk reaction has been typically staggering.
Hardwick can coach.
He might not have the full battery of support staff, and development might be internally questioned, and recruiting under query — which always happens in big-time professional sport when expectations aren’t met — but Hardwick can coach.
In fact, he might be a genius coach, depending on how you judge coaching.
Hardwick took over a club in crisis after the 2009 season. Richmond was $5 million in debt, in the previous three seasons it had won three, 11 and five matches, and Gold Coast and then Greater Western Sydney were double, triple and quadruple-dipping at the ensuing national drafts.
The best youngsters were scarce, and not just for Richmond, so Hardwick had no alternative but to go searching for experience.
In his first draft, 2009, Hardwick went for youth — Dustin Martin (No. 3), Ben Griffiths (19), David Astbury (35), Matt Dea (44), Troy Taylor (51) and Ben Nason (71), promoted Robin Nahas from the rookie list and took Dylan Grimes in the pre-season draft.
The Tigers lost their first nine matches in 2010 and then six from 13 coming home.
They needed mature bodies, a draft strategy they have never really abandoned because there’s always hope a player here, a player there and general improvement might get it done.
From 2010-15, the Tigers brought in Bachar Houli, Shaun Grigg, Steven Morris, Ivan Maric, Chris Knights, Troy Chaplin, Aaron Edwards, Shaun Hampson, Anthony Miles, Taylor Hunt and, at the end of last season, Andrew Moore, Jacob Townsend and Chris Yarran.
In hindsight, that 2013 squad was the best Hardwick had in front of him.
At the drafts, they tried to keep their first and second-round picks. They recruited Reece Conca and Jake Batchelor (2010), Brandon Ellis and Todd Elton (2011), Nick Vlastuin, Kamdyn McIntosh and Liam McBean (2012), Ben Lennon (2013), Corey Ellis and Connor Menadue (2014) and Daniel Rioli (2015).
They spun the dice at the rookie table as well with more bigger bodies. Brad Miller, Tom Hislop, Ricky Petterd, Sam Lonergan, Orren Stephenson, Matt Thomas and Nathan Gordon were all given second chances.
Hardwick took the club to three consecutive finals campaigns with an initially battered list, propped up with recruits who weren’t wanted by their original clubs, one top-rated draft pick (Martin) and two maybes (Brandon Ellis, Vlastuin) and a handful of rookies who must have thought it was Christmas Day when their names were called out.
On top of them were Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Alex Rance and Chris Newman — their best players — and solid campaigners in Daniel Jackson (albeit a best-and-fairest winner), Shane Tuck, Jake King and Ty Vickery.
Hardwick cobbled together this mishmash of players and by 2013 — in just three seasons — had the team playing finals, only to beaten by Carlton by five goals after leading by five goals at halftime. In hindsight, that 2013 squad was the best Hardwick had in front of him.
He followed up with two more September finishes.
Let’s make that comment again: Hardwick could be a genius.
Now to 2016.
Hardwick’s problem now is that his rookies didn’t work out, although Kane Lambert does show promise as a 24-year-old; most of the trades are sliding or have hit the ceiling; Miles is in a slump; Yarran hasn’t played; Conca is always hurt; Brandon Ellis might have been found out on the outside; Vlastuin has stalled; Griffiths needs aggression and the rest of the draftees are finding their feet.
The upshot is they are in a world of pain in the short and long term.
In contrast, the Western Bulldogs, who won seven games in 2012 and eight games in 2013, went skyrocketing down the youth path in the same period and are now a premiership challenger.
The Tigers didn’t do that. They went old. The Dogs went young.
Has it worked for the Tigers? No.
In further contrast, North Melbourne had a better base of players to start with under Brad Scott — he also started in late 2009 — but North brought in Shaun Higgins, Nick Dal Santo and Jarrad Waite, their quality clearly greater than Richmond’s mature add-ons.
There are other critical aspects, too, such as Richmond drafting Vickery at No. 8 and Griffiths at No. 19, in its search for a key forward. North landed Ben Brown with pick No. 47.
Vickery is inconsistent, Griffiths hardly a competitive animal, while Brown looks the next big thing at the Kangas.
There are other sliding door moments.
In 2010, the Tigers drafted Conca at No. 6 and Dion Prestia and Dyson Heppell went at No. 7 and No. 8 and Luke Parker at No. 40.
In 2011, it was Ellis at No. 15, while Lachie Neale went at No. 58 and Brad Hill at No. 33.
In 2013, it was Lennon at No. 12, while Patrick Cripps was taken at No. 13 and Zach Merrett No. 26.
If only they could have jagged, say, Parker, Neale and Cripps from that lot.
Despite all this, Hardwick has showed he can coach.
He coached the team out of crisis (2014 and 2015), but the fact remains he has also coached the team into crisis (2014 and 2015) and he has failed in his three finals.
He has changed strategy. In 2013, the Tigers moved the ball more quickly than any team, but turnovers killed them. Last year, they slowed their ball movement out of the back half, but North, in the elimination final, stifled that movement and on an overcast Sunday afternoon at the ’G, their season was kaput.
The season in between, 2014, was a lottery before the annihilation against Port Adelaide.
This year, there has been stunted movement, turnovers are killing them again and injuries, too. There are various levels of stupidity (Round 2 v Collingwood, plus Rance) and, of course, fans are breaking microwaves.
The fact is Hardwick had to change his team this year.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and again but expecting different results. This team couldn’t get past the elimination final weekend so Hardwick had to retool.
Arguably, Hardwick got everything out of the group and it came up short.
He described it as taking one step backward to go two steps forward, which confused people. What he should have said was: “Guys, we gave it our best shot with a handful of stars, a team of cast-offs and sprinkling of draftees, and we can go no further with this group. It’s time to move on.’’
And if he had said that at the start of the season, he would have been crucified by all for sending the wrong message.
Yet, that’s where Richmond sits before its game against Port Adelaide.
Hardwick was given a two-year extension because the club believes he can coach, although president Peggy O’Neal could have been stronger with her support at last month’s announcement.
“We also considered whether he was the right man to take us further and, after thorough analysis and discussion, the unanimous view was that Damien is the right man,’’ she said.
Perhaps it’s the process you have to go through. And perhaps “thorough analysis and discussion’’ could also be viewed that it wasn’t a lay-down misere at the board table.
O’Neal also said: “The players have great respect for their coach and his approach to getting the best out of them.’’
Arguably, Hardwick got everything out of the group and it came up short.
The next phase will be interesting.
The Tigers won’t go over the top on mature-age recruits again, so that means they need draft picks, need to nail the early picks and have some astute drafting in the third and fourth rounds.
Do they go ballsy and trade out? Perhaps Deledio to a premiership chasing team, similar to St Kilda’s Dal Santo move, or put up Vickery and cross their fingers, and Griffiths. There are not too many others.
As for Hardwick, he effectively starts his second phase of coaching and, despite the scepticism, there is no rule that a coach gets only one crack at building a list.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/expert-opinion/mark-robinson/richmond-has-problems-but-damien-hardwick-can-coach/news-story/96c217f7e3c9d3e7ce93412940e5f6e2
