Lauren Wood and Kate Salemme
Herald Sun
29 September 2019There had been presents to his players - apparel, vinyl records, hockey pucks and movies - and letters from each Tiger to their parents and back again as the connection grew at Punt Road, on Saturday culminating in a second flag in just three years and an after-dark conga line on the MCG with the cup.
And it was an element that could not be matched, Hardwick said.
“I think most kids come in really, really talented,” he said.
“There’s no doubt about it. They’re drafted from the under 18s, they’re highly talented, highly skilled.
“The one thing I think people crave is human connection. I think it’s the one thing within human society that we’re probably missing. We’ve got a lot of friends on Facebook, but we probably don’t have many friends (in real life). That’s something our club really invests heavily in.
“It’s special. I was talking to the players today about what it looks like for me sitting at the front – they’ve got arms on each other, hands on laps.
“It’s who they are and it’s an incredible thing that they’ve got that’s hard to replicate. They’re a special bunch of lads, really.”
At the turn of the season, Richmond was 7-6 and sat outside the top eight.
There had been doubt, both among the coaches and players, Norm Smith medallist Dustin Martin admitted, with key players in Alex Rance, Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin sidelined for significant portions of the season.
“We knew if we hung tough, we were going to get our top-end talent back,” Hardwick said.
“But it takes some time for those guys to jell with the new players we’ve got into the side. We’re very lucky – we’ve got a bunch of guys that are heavily connected and invested in each other a lot, so it makes my job a hell of a lot easier.
“The way these players love each other and continue to challenge each other is incredible. As a coach, I’ve got a relatively easy job with this bunch of lads. Thank god.”
He also revealed that the club had drawn inspiration from abroad at a preseason camp in its pursuit of an AFL dynasty, which it could now be argued is in swing.
“We went through a bit of a journey about, listen, sides can still have dynasties but they might lose one along the way,” Hardwick explained.
“We looked at examples – San Antonio Spurs, the Detroit Redwings and those sort of sides where they’d been a really good side but had a bad day. And we spoke about the fact that if we just concentrate on and continue to focus on what we can control and what we do and have faith in that, we’ll be OK.
“It’s easy to sit here in hindsight and say it was, but I think we had absolute belief that we could get back and play to the very best of our ability.”
It marks an incredible turn of events since the end of the 2016, which drew to a close 1092 days before Saturday's triumph.
At the end of that season, Richmond finished 13th on the ladder with just eight wins.
Speculation had swirled on Hardwick’s future and the club’s board held off an attempted challenge.
But Hardwick said the difficult period had only laid the foundation for the three years that followed – two premierships and a preliminary final.
“It’s funny – you certainly learn the mot about yourself and your organization in its darkest times,” Hardwick said.
“You sit back and look at Peggy (O’Neal, club president) and Brendon (Gale, chief executive) and the faith they had in me and the football department – it was incredible.
“The reality is, without 2016 we wouldn’t be sitting here as dual premiership people.”
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-grand-final-live-coverage-as-richmond-faces-gws-giants-for-2019-premiership/live-coverage/49521086a052bd491149fe47efc53696
