BARRETT: Yellow and back? Special feeling brewing at Punt RdThere is a growing buzz among Tigers players that something extraordinarily special could still occur this season, writes Damian Barrett
By Damian Barrett
afl.com.au
18 June 2023THE LAYERS of intrigue attached to the Richmond Football Club increase by the week.
All-Australian forward Tom Lynch out indefinitely with a broken foot after round four. The team sitting third-last on the ladder after round seven with just six premiership points. The three-time premiership coach walking out, physically and mentally exhausted after round 10. The stand-in coach losing his first game. An important player charged by WA police of 12 offences, including aggravated burglary, stealing and criminal damage.
And now add three consecutive wins, the most recent a typically gritty 20-point victory against top eight team St Kilda on Saturday night. With nine matches remaining, Richmond has six-and-a-half wins, and sits just two points outside the eight. On current form, it will start favourite in six of those upcoming contests. It is a genuine chance to make finals.
When Damien Hardwick walked out after round 10, he publicly referenced a belief that the Tigers, despite his off-season premiership hopes being buoyed by watching The Last Dance documentary featuring the 1998 NBA success of the famous Michael Jordon-led Chicago Bulls, were not going to be adding the 2023 flag to those of 2017, 2019 and 2020. It remains a long shot that they do. But there is a growing buzz among Tigers players that something extraordinarily special could still occur.
"I made the fatal mistake of watching The Last Dance (and) thought what may have been. But once I decided that that part of the equation started to slip away then I started to question myself," Hardwick said on the May 23 when he announced his exit. "As soon as I started asking the question more I started to understand what the answer was going to be."
Interim coach Andrew McQualter has effectively kept the Hardwick system in place, the 'let's roll-the-dice attitude and see what happens' approach, with the players' blessing. But he has made one very significant change - he's reintroduced former captain Trent Cotchin to the centre bounces. From none in either of Hardwick's last game (a one-point loss to Essendon in round 10) and McQualter's first (a 10-point loss to Port Adelaide), Cotchin was inside the centre square for bounce-downs on 23 occasions in a six-point win against GWS in round 12, 14 times in a 15-point win against Fremantle the following weekend and then 19 in the big win against St Kilda.
The high-end emotion of Cotchin's 300th match on the weekend became a compelling storyline. It was Cotchin's best game of the season by some distance. It was also Dusty Martin's best match of 2023. It was probably Tim Taranto's best game as a Tiger, and given he has been in sparkling form for two months, that is a high benchmark.
Richmond's best players are back playing their best football. Jayden Short, Nick Vlastuin, Shai Bolton, Deon Prestia, Daniel Rioli, Liam Baker, Nathan Broad and Jack Graham have been excellent in the past month.
Jacob Hopper, who was in very good form before being injured in round nine, is expected to return after the Tigers' bye in round 16 – a now-massive game against Brisbane at the Gabba on a Thursday night.
At this stage, Richmond intends to select Marlion Pickett in that same match. Lynch may return inside the next month.
Hardwick had nothing left when he officially departed on May 23. But since walking away from his beloved Tigers, he has given every impression that he desperately misses them.
He wanted the world to see him cracking open a beer, while wearing official Richmond merchandise, on the morning of McQualter's first game. For McQualter's second game in charge, Hardwick again used social media to let everyone know he was tuning in from a bar in Denver.
Last Saturday night, he was sitting in the high-end Richmond corporate seats as Cotchin led the Tigers to their big win.
There is no reason to think there is going to be a massive fall for Richmond in coming seasons, and it will inevitably secure a couple of desperately required key defenders in the next trade and draft period.
Even if the Tigers fail to make finals in 2023, they have already caused damage for opponents, and at the very least will continue to do so in the remaining nine matches of the regular season.
That is what teams with ingrained pride do. Hardwick may have chosen to vacate the best coaching job in footy.
https://www.afl.com.au/news/952976/barrett-yellow-and-back-special-feeling-brewing-at-punt-rd
