Damien Hardwick under pressure as Tigers tumbleJon Pierik
The Age
April 26, 2015Richmond faces a potentially rugged run into the mid-season break, adding pressure on coach Damien Hardwick after a poor start to the season.
Hardwick is contracted until the end of 2016 but there is growing speculation he could be replaced should the Tigers not win at least one final this year.
Hardwick has played a key role in a steady rebuild, but has yet to win a final, falling in an elimination final in the past two years.
The Tigers' season hit a major hurdle on Friday night when they dished up what Hardwick labelled an "insipid" effort in a 32-point loss to a resurgent Melbourne at the MCG.
It was their second surprise defeat of the season, having been crunched by the Western Bulldogs in round two - after which Hardwick promised to fix certain deficiencies. They have wins over only struggling sides Carlton and Brisbane.
As the spotlight intensifies, the Tigers now face a testing six weeks against Geelong (MCG), North Melbourne (Hobart), Collingwood (MCG), Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval), Essendon (MCG) and Fremantle (Domain Stadium) before the round-11 bye.
Former Richmond coach Danny Frawley said on Saturday "there could be some pressure coming down at Punt Road", and described the on-field leadership against the Demons as "very ordinary".
Questions have also been raised about Hardwick's tactics, with the fumbling Tigers unable to handle the wet conditions and regularly kicking to the Demons' spare man in defence.
Missing defenders Troy Chaplin and Chris Newman, and playmaker Brett Deledio also absent with an Achilles problem that could sideline him for a few more weeks, the Tigers' lack of depth — and willingness to fight in the final term — was exposed.
While they had averaged 102.7 points a game this season - third in the league - heading into Friday night's clash, they were held to just six goals by the Demons, including just one after half-time.
They are also likely to be without debutant Matt McDonough (sic) [Ed. Nathan Drummond] for the rest of the year after he seriously injured a knee. .
"To put up that second-half performance when you don't hunt the ball, the side looks stronger than you over the contest – we were fumbling and bumbling away – you're never going to win a footy game," Hardwick said.
"It was as poor an effort as I've seen from our footy club in a long time. Really poor. We were disappointing in an area we're normally good at. Contested ball is normally a foundation block of our footy club.
"We didn't come to play. We weren't tough enough, the opposition outhunted us, outmuscled us. We played insipid footy, plain and simple."
Hardwick will be desperate to ensure there is no repeat, although the Tigers did reboot remarkably well after a woeful start to the 2014 campaign to grab a spot in the finals.
Club president Peggy O'Neal has said Hardwick's future won't solely depend on whether the Tigers make the finals.
O'Neal said the Tigers would take into account any extenuating factors when reviewing the year, should they not feature in September.
"We want to continue to improve - that is the benchmark, are we improving? It wouldn't be so black and white as - if we are not in finals, that's it - because there are lots of circumstances that go round whether you play finals or not," she said on 3AW on Friday before the stinging defeat.
"We would have to get into finals. People are saying a lot of times you have to win one, we have to get in there first, but he has taken us to back-to-back finals campaigns, so we'll just wait and see what happens. But no, we are not even thinking about anything like that now."
O'Neal also said her board would not be directly involved in persuading unrestricted free agent Alex Rance to remain at the club.
Rance is weighing up his football future, including whether to even quit the game. Despite being arguably the league's best key defender, it has emerged he is not one of the Tigers' top nine earners, thereby allowing him to be an unrestricted free agent despite not having served the typically required 10 years' service.
O'Neal said she had questioned her football department as to why Rance, drafted in 2007, had fallen outside the top 25 per cent of earners last season.
"It was because he was injured for a while, so it was a different payment structure," O'Neal said.
Rance played in 18 of the Tigers' 23 games last season.
"So it was a technicality, as to why that happened. We did ask the question and it was a bit of a surprise. But the AFL told us that's what occurred," she said.
"He's an important part of our team. We would hate to lose him. But we'll just have to see what happens. We have every expectation he will stay."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/damien-hardwick-under-pressure-as-tigers-tumble-20150425-1mt3l0.html
