We all made mistakes in final minutes against Gold Coast, admits Richmond coach Damien Hardwick Eliza Sewell
From: Herald Sun
July 17, 2012 2:02PMRICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has mulled over the last seven minutes of Saturday's shock loss to Gold Coast, insisting the players and coaches all made mistakes.
Hardwick said the club, which faces North Melbourne in a crunch game on Sunday, could not afford to make the same errors again.
"We had a pretty full on review yesterday," Hardwick said.
"There's a two minute period where we just make some fundamental errors.
"...There were areas no doubt I need to fix, the playing group need to fix.
"It's a game of mistakes AFL footy. The side the makes the least generally wins."
Hardwick said star midfielder Trent Cotchin was on the bench in the crucial final minutes because of a "breakdown in communication".
"We just couldn't get him back on ... it was just another lesson," he said.
The coach said the absence of Dustin Martin ( club suspension), Dan Jackson and Matt White (both suspended) had cost the club.
Martin and Jackson will return on Sunday.
“Dustin trained today and will go about his business this week and we probably expect a big couple of weeks from Dusty. He will be fresh obviously, but also Dan (Jackson) is the same,” Hardwick said.
“When they come back into the side, we expect them to play some good footy for us.”
Hardwick believes Martin will benefit from what he’s experienced over the past couple of weeks . . .
“He’ll get better from it, he’ll learn a lesson from it, our young blokes will learn a lesson from it, and we’ll march on,” he said.
“Obviously, he is disappointed. He wants to be out there with his team-mates and he has let them down. But he will be a better player as a result.”
Hardwick was happy the club won't sell anymore games to Cairns after next season, but he backed the Tigers "sound economical decision" to do it in the first instance.
"It's been a decision we had to make," he said.
Hardwick was confident Ivan Maric (groin) would play against the Kangaroos, but the Tigers will have to nurse him though the remainder of the season.
"He probably won't train for the remainder of the year, just get out there and play," he said.
Defender Jake Batchelor has hurt his medial ligament and will miss about three weeks.
Hardwick believes his charges have the mettle to bounce back and grab the precious four premiership points.
“We get an enormous opportunity versus the Kangaroos on Sunday, who have been in terrific form, probably the form side of the competition,” he said.
“But we’re confident we can play to our best and beat them . . .
“It’s going to be a real test, but after the weekend we’ve had, we’re really looking forward to it.”
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