Hardwick's press conference - Tues 22-07

[one-eyed]

Hardwick's press conference today ....

VIDEO: http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2014-07-22/hardwick-press-conference-july-22nd


* To play against a quality opponent [Port], get the result and especially play the want we wanted to, was really important. It’s a good confidence builder for our blokes but we’ve certainly got to continue to play well.  We’ve been really disappointing this year. Our supporters have trudged out week in, week out, and we haven’t quite got the result we’re after.  We have to continue to play good footy and get some wins on the board.

* This year is really even.  You look at the wins of the bottom four sides this year, compared to last year – they’ve probably nearly doubled. The competitiveness of the competition has got a lot better.  There’s not much difference between the side that’s fifth on the ladder and the side that’s 12th. Week in, week out, there can be a variance of results.  From our point of view we’re not as far away as what the win/loss column suggests. We just need to continue to work hard, continue to find players who are going to take us forward, and more importantly, get wins on the board. We need to continue to earn the respect of our fans back.

* It’s always good for a mental freshen up as well as a physical one from our players’ point of view. So, they’ve come back and trained well, which is always important. There is the danger that you come back and you’re a little bit in holiday mode but we had a pretty good session on Saturday to make sure we blew those cobwebs out. We’re really refreshed, get a couple of players back so we’re looking forward to taking on West Coast on Friday night.

Full articles at:
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2014-07-22/win-for-the-fans-hardwick
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2014-07-22/tigers-refocus-for-west-coast-challenge

[one-eyed]

Hardwick wary of Cox tribute
Ben McKay
wwos.ninemsn.com.au
13:35 AEST Tue Jul 22 2014


If momentum is the hardest thing to stop in footy and keeping players motivated over a long season the biggest coaching challenge, Damien Hardwick must be cursing the AFL fixtures.

After finally finding form in a lacklustre season, Richmond's charge was interrupted by the split round.

And after witnessing St Kilda and Port Adelaide earn wins for departing club legends last weekend, the Tigers travel to Perth to play West Coast in the week of Dean Cox's retirement.

The Richmond coach acknowledged both the Eagles' poor home form and the ability of clubs to lift to honour departing players.

"Most sides come to play week-in week-out from our point of view," he said.

"West Coast by their own admission wouldn't have played as well as they would have liked at home but it makes it no less daunting going over there, especially against a side playing for one of their great players."

Before the week off, the Tigers beat St Kilda, Brisbane and Port Adelaide - what coach Damien Hardwick called probably their best win of the season - in succession before a week off.

Hardwick said maintaining momentum over the course of the season was "really hard".

"Clubs ride highs and lows," he said.

"Momentum in footy is really hard to continue to get the best results while you're up the top for a sustained period of time.

"You're always going to hit that down patch - it's a matter of sustaining that consistency for a longer period of time."

He said the growing ability of the worst sides in the league to knock off higher-placed rivals had hurt the Tigers' season.

"The league has got their wish with regard to the competitiveness of the league."

"There's not much difference between the side fifth on the ladder to the side 12th on the ladder.

"It's great for the game. Is it great the for Richmond footy club this year? No it's not."

Helping Richmond's cause is the availability of Reece Conca and Ben Lennon for Friday night's game against West Coast, while Shaun Grigg will play for Richmond's VFL side after a hamstring injury.

Daniel Jackson has suffered another setback, a glute injury, expected to sideline him for up to three weeks, while Ricky Pettard will also miss the Eagles game with a finger injury.

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8878467

[tony_montana]

* This year is really even.  You look at the wins of the bottom four sides this year, compared to last year – they’ve probably nearly doubled. The competitiveness of the competition has got a lot better.  There’s not much difference between the side that’s fifth on the ladder and the side that’s 12th. Week in, week out, there can be a variance of results.  From our point of view we’re not as far away as what the win/loss column suggests. We just need to continue to work hard, continue to find players who are going to take us forward, and more importantly, get wins on the board. We need to continue to earn the respect of our fans back.

Stop trying to paint this season in a positive light, its been an umitigated disaster. To suggest there is nothing between us and a team like Port, Hawks or Freo who are battling for 4th/5th is just another in a long line of stupid pie in the sky BS statements. As jackstar once said - this bloke plays Wallace on a break