Hardwick says Riewoldt let his teammates down with criticism of gameplan (H-Sun)

[one-eyed]

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says Jack Riewoldt let his teammates down with criticism of Tigers game plan
Herald-Sun
May 22, 2014 10:56AM


RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has refused to guarantee Jack Riewoldt a spot in the side to play Greater Western Sydney in Saturday’s crunch game, saying the forward “let down” the Richmond family with his critical comments about the team’s game plan.

Riewoldt said on Wednesday that the Tigers had tried — and failed — to replicate premier Hawthorn’s game plan during the off-season.

“Unfortunately we went one way with our game, and the game went the other way, really,” Riewoldt said.

Hardwick hit back this morning, criticising Riewoldt for going “outside the boundaries” of the club.

The coach said he had spoken to Riewoldt on Thursday morning and would do so again later in the afternoon.

He didn’t rule out further action and said the club’s leadership group would be consulted.

“Obviously we were pretty disappointed with his comments,” Hardwick said.

“We caught up with him this morning and removed his foot from his mouth and my foot from his arse.

“We’re disappointed, those comments don’t help. He probably was stumbling along and kept getting himself deeper and deeper in to trouble.”

The Tigers have endured a week of harsh criticism after last weekend’s loss to Melbourne left them stranded in 16th position on the ladder with a 2-6 record.

Here’s the rest of what Hardwick had to say about Riewoldt.

QUESTION: Was there some meaning behind his comments, is he confused about the game plan?

DAMIEN HARDWICK: Our last year’s game plan we’ve pretty much got the same, we’ve also polished a few things up — whether they’ve worked or not is a reflection of our form at the moment. Jack understands what he said and probably by his own admission would say ‘listen, I buggered that one up’. We’ll just work our way through it and move on.

Q: What disappointed you most about those comments?

DH: We sit here and we talk about being a united footy club and Jack went outside those boundaries. At the end of the day we are what we are, we’re a family, we work hard, we make sure we stay within these four walls and we get our game up and going. The disappointing thing for Jack is that he went outside those boundaries and unfortunately he’s learned a harsh lesson from that.

Q: What did he say to you?

DH: He’s upset, obviously If there’s one guy I know is going to play for me it’s Jack Riewoldt. I expressed how he let our family down really. He was remorseful, he’ll move on, he’ll get better.

Q: Is his place in the side in jeopardy this week?

DH: We’ve got match committee this afternoon. His form has been OK. Whether we take any of this in to account we’ll see this afternoon.

Q: Have you tried to take elements of Hawthorn’s game plan in to your own this season?

DH: If we are we’re not doing it overly well are we? Our game plan is our game plan, it’s been the same for about three to four years and we have subtle changes with that. From our point of view some things have worked and some things haven’t. We constantly reassess, but the overall philosophy stays the same.

Q: What do you think Jack meant when he said the club’s game plan had gone this way and the competition had gone the other?

DH: That’s the baffling question. I’m not too sure about that.

Q: Did he try to explain what he meant?

DH: I’m don’t think he actually knew what he was saying. That’s the thing, it was one of those interviews where he just constantly got himself in deeper trouble. He is remorseful, he’s thought about it and he doesn’t actually know why he said it, what he said, so we take it for what it is.

Q: Will there be some form of discipline?

DH: We’ll work our way through that this afternoon. Like anything, with every action comes an equal and opposition reaction. We’ll work our way through that. We obviously have some standards that we abide by here and he went outside those.

Q: Will the leadership group be involved?

DH: Yes, of course.


http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-coach-damien-hardwick-says-jack-riewoldt-let-his-teammates-down-with-criticism-of-tigers-game-plan/story-fndv8t7m-1226926717064

[Simonator]

If jack gets dropped for being the only stuffing honest one at the whole club I'll lose it.
What he said was obviously true and Hardwick is too stubborn to admit it.
He wanted jack to say, 'look we will get better'. Eventually the players are going to share their frustration and say what is true, which is we failed to replicate hawthorns game plan this year. 

[Willy]

Good on Jack, i say. Much better than the KPI horse poo you offer us Dimma.

[Diocletian]

Jack becoming disgruntled..... trade for Cameron or Patton.

[WilliamPowell]

Hmmmm

Family? Aren't we the members partof the Richmond Family?

If you can't be honest with your family then who can you be honest with?

Obviously no one 

[🏅Dooks]

Jack becoming disgruntled..... trade for Cameron or Patton.

or Fyfe

[Smokey]

DAMIEN HARDWICK: Our last year’s game plan we’ve pretty much got the same, we’ve also polished a few things up — whether they’ve worked or not is a reflection of our form at the moment.

In my humble opinion nothing could be more unbelievable than this answer.  Saying we have pretty much the same game plan (just polished)    and that our current form may or may not be a reflection of the success or otherwise of said polishing is probably the single biggest slice of tripe I have heard from Dimma's mouth this season.  And that includes such howlers as saying we are playing better than last year!  WTF?      Our game plan so far this season is soooooo far removed from or unidentifiable to that of 2013 that it's like comparing rugby to soccer.

Talk about heads in the sand - I reckon they have them shoved so far up their own anal cavities at present that they will need a block and tackle to see daylight again.

 

[Phil Mrakov]

At least we know now that the club is genuinely not united and is a rabble. Dimma will be gone by the end of 2015

[mightytiges]

Q: Will there be some form of discipline?

DH: We’ll work our way through that this afternoon. Like anything, with every action comes an equal and opposition reaction. We’ll work our way through that. We obviously have some standards that we abide by here and he went outside those.

But this is the problem Dimma. You claim we have standards (that's a laugh this year) and Jack went outside them and should be disciplined even dropped yet onfield we have the same players continually show poor standards, ill-discipline and go outside the boundaries of the fundamentals of footy yet they receive no discipline such as being dropped.

Furthermore, you yourself Dimma have made contradictory and quite frankly ridiculous public statements as have others from the Club this year treating us members and supporters (ie. the family) as mugs. Claiming we were better than last year when we clearly aren't and using injuries to three players as an excuse for losing to the Dogs and struggling to get over bottom side Brisbane when even with Lids and Rance back in the side we can't even beat a Melbourne side missing two key forwards and their full back.

Q: Will the leadership group be involved?

DH: Yes, of course.

So Chaplin who has shown no onfield leadership this year is going to judge Jack .

[Diocletian]

Thought Hardwick looked the goods back in 2010, maybe he and his predeccessors actually were all good coaches but we just Richmondise them like we do players.

Perhaps he should start coaching from the boundary again - air's obviously too thin way up in the box.

[RollsRoyce]

I'd say it's pretty obvious what Jack meant when he said our game plan's gone one way and the competition went the other. Richmond under Hardwick has always tried to play a positive, free flowing, high scoring style of game. Last year it worked pretty well, except against teams that were adept at bottling us up with extra numbers around the ball -like Fremantle and Nth. Melbourne. Unfortunately more clubs have started copying the Freo style this season (Melbourne with Paul Roos, the Bulldogs, Collingwood, whose more open style last year didn't yield their desired results.) So as he says the game is becoming more and more about constriction, and we are not coping well with it. Unfortunately the only way to beat these sides is to play ugly too and beat them at their own game. But we are just playing hapless and confused.

[lamington]

If Jack gets dropped I will lose my poo and probably my entire colon and GI tract. The team has been crap. The delivery i50 has been crap. No one blocks for the captain and there are way too many passengers. Although Jack may've broken some code about being upfront to the media, it was refreshing for Jack to say the team is stuffed and I think it's the game plan. It's certainly more sincere than the constant "we're a good side capable of very good footy, we just have to regain some form"

[Darth Tiger]

No gameplan will succeed with the current RFC list as the top 5 is ok, but the rest are not fit enough, hungry enough or good enough.

Move the duds along (including a coaching panel refresh) and set a high standard rather than make pitiful excuses for poor fitness, absence of desire and continual non-performance.

[georgies31]

It wont suprise me the way things a going Jack ask's for trade I cant see him ending hi career at us you can see he's not happy.As people said atleast his honest Dimma and his crew got this preseason wrong bigtime changing the game plan and recruitment etc.Why change the gameplan when we just finished out of the top 4 last year ??? if anything we just needed to fine tune a few things.

[WilliamPowell]

And it's Terrific, just terrific TM to see we are currently the main news on all news websites with the "threat" to drop Jack 

It wont suprise me the way things a going Jack ask's for trade I cant see him ending hi career at us you can see he's not happy.As people said atleast his honest Dimma and his crew got this preseason wrong bigtime changing the game plan and recruitment etc.Why change the gameplan when we just finished out of the top 4 last year ??? if anything we just needed to fine tune a few things.

Jack won't leave, he loves the club. He is actually the one player that you can tell loves this club like supporters do. Just need to chat with him for 5 minutes and you tell. 

 No doubt he is peeved at the moment but it is IMV because of how we are playing and our results not because he wants out.

As for Chaplijn as part of the leadership group having any sort of say in what happens to Jack, well that would go down as the most farcical event of season 2014 at the RFC