Dimma's post-game presser

[one-eyed]

Dimma's presser was just on Ch 7:

* We didn't capitalise on our opportunities in the 2nd qtr. Sam Lonergan got to work with the mids at half-time and we made a couple of changes. Marlion and Sheds went in there and the mids turned it around.

* What Dimma said he enjoyed was we had guys come in and do their jobs.

* Leaders took control. Cotch stepped up & Lynch responded. Jack had low possessions but his impact was enormous.

* Dimma said he lost what he was talking about at half-time and just said to the boys go out there and get the job done  .

* We kmow if we get the ball forward we'll get chances. Had 57 inside 50s tonight. Had 60 last week but didn't make the most of it.

* Dimma said he played defence and only kicked 12 goals in his whole career so he doesn't tell Lynch how to kick at goal.

* Happy with our ability to hunt the ball tonight. Credited Nank. Dimma said Nank is undersized but he is hard, tough and underrated outside our 4 walls. He is important to the way we play. Having a great year.

* Cotch - hammy. Will miss a couple of weeks. Need to wait for the scan to get exact details.

* We want to go out and show how we play. We've been playing reasonable footy this year without playing great footy. Players were disappointed with their performance last week and wanted to respond.

* With our outs, it was an opportunity to see guys in different roles. You want your best players playing like Dusty but Bolton played Dusty's role tonight and really showed something in that role. Baker likewise was excellent tonight.

* We don't look at individuals; we look at the collective. Dusty is of course brilliant individually but we look at all our players and how they can play their best for the team (mentioned Aarts as an example).

[one-eyed]

Here's the vision of Dimma's post-match presser: https://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/924322/round-7-hardwick-post-match

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

When Hardwick was asked in his post-match conference if the hunger to disprove the doubters remained alive despite the three flags in four years, he answered without hesitation.

"I think every player individually wants to come in and show their wares, but I think collectively as a side we want to show how we can play," Hardwick said.

"We were disappointed in certain facets of our game last week, but we still gave ourselves opportunities to win or get closer than what the scoreboard probably reflected.

"We've been playing some reasonable footy without playing great footy. But what I love from this group is they always respond. We've seen it before and we'll see it again. When they're challenged they'll jump. They enjoy the challenge."

Hardwick said his side relished the chance to challenge itself against such formidable opposition.

"You've just got to be grateful that you can get the opportunity to play a great game like we do and play against a really good opponent where you can test yourself," Hardwick said.

"Our guys are a proud group.

"They were disappointed with last week and the result, but they responded very well tonight."

https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/news-2021-richmond-tigers-western-bulldogs-damien-hardwick-proud-of-win/9a3b0b48-9f6b-42ea-b6ee-93783b32f51d

According to Hardwick, he can't take any credit for his side's change of fortunes after fluffing his lines during what was supposed to be a motivational team talk at the main break.

"The leaders really take control of that part," Hardwick said.

"My half-time speech was probably … I lost where I was towards the back-end of it. I said to the players, 'I don't even know what I'm talking about so just go out there and get the job done'. It was a bit funny.

"Our players just lifted. We weren't far off in the first half, we just didn't take our chances and we probably gave them a couple of easy goals. But our effort and intent was there, we just had to be a little bit cleaner. That happened in the second half.

"Our clearance game got up and going, I was really proud of the way the mids responded and got the ball moving forward. If we give our forwards enough entries, we're a chance of winning the game."

https://www.afl.com.au/news/603832/hamstring-injury-set-to-sideline-top-tiger-trent-cotchin-for-some-weeks