Damien Hardwick rising to occasion * Mike Sheahan
* From: Herald Sun
* August 04, 2010 IS IT credible for a coach of a bottom-four team to be a candidate for the coach-of-the-year title?Unusual, certainly; credible, yep, I think so.
You need to remember where Richmond has come from to fully appreciate its progress under Damien Hardwick.
After six rounds, the Tigers were 0-6, with a percentage of 49.14. Not only winless, but minus 385 points, an average losing margin of 64.
It wasn't a crisis at Round 6, more a total meltdown.
Richmond went into the 2010 season with a first-year coach and without stalwarts Matthew Richardson, Joel Bowden and Nathan Brown after a massive shakeout of its player stocks.
As the season unfolded, the situation was so dire, an experienced and generally measured commentator called on the AFL for unprecedented draft aid for the club, while others said it was a return to the grim days of Fitzroy in its death throes.
The Tigers were to fall to 0-9 before scoring the win that kick-started an extraordinary revival.
They now are 6-12. Oddly, they have beaten the six non-Victorian teams.
What has been overlooked in the revival is the absence of one of their three or four most important players, Nathan Foley, restricted to four games this year by injury.
There has been improvement all over the field, and the attitude is that of a group convinced it is embarking on a memorable journey.
Jack Riewoldt, who was a popular whipping boy last year and early this year, is equal top on the Coleman Medal table with Barry Hall.
He is both exciting and excitable, but Hardwick will keep his feet on the ground - off the field, anyway.
Brett Deledio, another who has had plenty of critics, including me, has blossomed into an elite player.
His supporters say best-and-fairests in 2008-09 made him elite, yet he has matured this year under Hardwick into a better player.
Richmond has played the most first-year players (9) of any club, with Dustin Martin and Ben Nason playing 17 of the 18 games.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hardwick had the sense to back away from what seemed to be a decision to let Shane Tuck's career peter out at Coburg, and only because he had a contract.
The coach recalled him after two rounds, played him in defence to improve his education - at 28- and Tuck has flourished.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale says the club is "encouraged" by the progress.
He said those inside the organisation never felt the hopelessness of those looking in.
"It never felt like we were 0-9. It wasn't doom and gloom. It wasn't like we were trying to pull the side back from the abyss," Gale said. Hardwick is a teacher with a game plan honed from more than 20 years as a dual premiership player and assistant coach at two clubs, and his background gives him the confidence to stick with the plan.
He also picked wisely with his assistants, retaining Wayne Campbell from the past and bringing in Justin Leppitsch and Brendon Lade, both premiership players elsewhere, as senior assistants.
It's a learning environment where the fundamentals are rigidly enforced.
As much as it's a cliche, Richmond is committed to the task of building a solid platform for the 11th premiership Hardwick talked so much about at his maiden media appearance. There will be setbacks along the way, but the progress to date is nothing short of remarkable.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/damien-hardwick-rising-to-occasion/story-e6frf9ox-1225900788385
