Hardwick's post-match media conference / Dimma defends Vickery

[one-eyed]

Dimma post-game:

* A tough win. Conditions make it incredibly tough a game. Whichever side put their head over the ball would win and I thought we did that.

* We've had a couple of games in the wet this year. Once the rain came down, all the preparation went out the win. We don't train in those conditions. We train at the same time so it is what it is. If we are playing at Etihad we'll train indoors.

* Vickery's attack on the ball has been outstanding. He's a good player for us. We'll look at the incident during the week. Sometimes you step over the line but to us Ty is a hard, tough player.

* If you've got a couple of lunatics leaning over the fence there's not much you can do. That doesn't happen in other professions. You couldn't do that to a bank teller. Preferred Ty not to react to them.

* We won the contested footy by 25.

* We were probably too careful preserving rotations earlier in the year. We're a lot better at using our rotations now. We use basically all the allocation (120).

* Edwards, Ellis were good. Jack's one-on-one contests were outstanding. Dusty was good again. Foley was outstanding getting the ball moving our way.

* We believe our best footy is good enough to win a lot of games. We didn't show that early in the year. Yep it's frustrating. Some things went against us losing a couple of close games but when you're not playing well you don't make your own luck. We have set high expectations and we want to finish off the year strongly.

* Yeah tough night for Lloyd. He was playing on a good player. He's a good footballer but we decided to yank him off and put Gordon on who gave us something tonight when he came on.

* Thomas & Grimesy copped broken noses but that's about it as far as injuries.

[one-eyed]

VIDEO: Hardwick's post-match media conference ...

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2014-07-26/round-18-hardwick-post-match

------------------------------------------------------

Hardwick defends 'hard, tough' Vickery after controversial Cox KO
Sean Cowan 
afl.com.au
July 26, 2014

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has bristled at suggestions there should be questions about the way key forward Ty Vickery goes about his football.

Vickery was reported for striking Eagles ruckman Dean Cox during a ruck contest in the second quarter of Friday night's 17-point win by Richmond at Patersons Stadium. The incident left Cox with concussion, and he took no further part in the match.

The 24-year-old was also suspended for two matches in June for striking North Melbourne's Michael Firrito.

"To me, he's a hard, tough player," Hardwick said of Vickery.

"That's what we want at the Tigers. At the end of the day, sometimes you step outside the boundaries, the rules are there. We know the rules. He's a hard, tough Richmond player and that's the way we like him."

Hardwick said he loved the way Vickery played football. And he didn't appear too upset that, after the incident, Vickery had become involved in a heated argument with two West Coast supporters.

"At the end of the day, if you've got a couple of lunatics hanging over the fence and yelling abuse, I don't know any other profession in the world where you can walk into (for instance) a bank teller and start calling them names like that," Hardwick said.

"It is what it is. I would prefer it if Ty didn’t react to the fans but, look, it's a volatile game. It's a hard game. Every player and every fan's got the right."

Hardwick is now left wondering what could have been in 2014 after the victory took Richmond to seven wins – just two games outside the top eight.

He said he was frustrated because the team's best was very good.

"There's some things that went against us, some sliding doors," he said.

"We lost a couple of games by under two or three goals, but unfortunately when things aren't going well you don't take your luck.

"So, from our point of view we are where we are because we didn't play well enough."

He said the Tigers had put in a more consistent effort in the past six weeks, but the return from injury of Ivan Maric, Brett Deledio and Alex Rance had also been important.

"The disappointing thing is whether it's too late," he said.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-26/vickery-hard-tough-