Hardwick's post-match media conference/ Dimma slams diabolical umpiring decision

[one-eyed]

Dimma's post-match presser ...

VIDEO: http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2015-09-13/elimination-final-hardwick-postmatch

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Hardwick slams 'diabolical' umpiring decision late in heartbreaking loss

AFL.com.au
September 13, 2015

Hardwick laments 'diabolical decision' Damien Hardwick reflects on a third straight elimination final loss

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has slammed an umpire non-decision in Sunday's elimination final as "diabolical" after Shane Edwards was not rewarded for a tackle on Ben Cunnington at a pivotal point in the fourth quarter. 

The Tigers were less than a goal behind halfway through the final term and enjoying a brief period of momentum when Edwards wrapped up Cunnington deep in the Tigers' forward line.

No free kick was paid, however, and the Kangaroos rebounded, with Lindsay Thomas snapping an important goal at the other end that gave his team breathing space before running out 17-point winners.

"It was a diabolical decision, really," Hardwick said after the match.

"I can understand one guy being blindsided but there's probably two other blokes and I reckon 80,000 people here could see the decision."

Hardwick stressed that his team only had itself to blame for Sunday's loss at the MCG after getting "beaten up around the contest", losing the contested ball 149-115.

There were also crucial errors in the last quarter, with key forward Ty Vickery missing an open shot on goal from 30m directly in front.

"He should've nailed it (and) he had Miles open in the goalsquare," Hardwick said.

"We back him in to make the right decision but unfortunately he missed the shot on goal.

"We just turned over the ball with a couple of really horrible turnovers where we looked like we were out to score."

Richmond rolled the dice with tall forward Ben Griffiths after six weeks out with a finger tendon injury, but he was substituted with four possessions and 0.2. 

Midfielder Reece Conca also played after four weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury and started as the substitute.

"We thought if we got him (Griffiths) through two-and-a-bit quarters and bring Conca on, like we did, it would be OK," Hardwick said.

"I would have thought he (Griffiths) would have played better.

"We probably left out the 21st and 22nd players in (Sam) Lloyd and (Ben) Lennon and we brought in two players who we thought had more upside.

"You take risks. We put all our cards on the table, so to speak, and the reality is we lost."

The Tigers face a "long six months" before the start of next season, Hardwick said, after being eliminated from finals in the opening week for the third straight year.

The coach, who now has a 0-3 record in finals, urged supporters to "hang in there with us".

"We know we can play better than that. Today wasn't our day and we were beaten by a better side on the day," he said.

"We accept responsibility as leaders and coaches that we didn't get the job done.

"It's a tough six months to sit there and battle through and realise a lot of our better players didn't play to their expectation."

Six things we learned from Richmond v North Melbourne

On the performance of captain Trent Cotchin, who was held to nine possessions by tagger Ben Jacobs, Hardwick said: "'Cotch' is an elite midfielder of the competition and sometimes you've got to fight your own battles". 

He referred to West Coast's long run of finals losses between 1999 and 2004 – before making the Grand Final in 2005 and winning the premiership in 2006 – as a beacon of hope for the Tigers.

"The fact of the matter is we put ourselves in a position to contend, but we failed today," he said.

"Unfortunately it's a long road back and there's no guarantee you're going to get back into finals next year.

"You've got to work your backsides off to earn that right."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-09-13/dimma-slams-diabolical-call

[Hellenic Tiger]

7 things we learned.
Since the late Tom Hafey.
9 out of the last 10 coaches at Punt Rd have never coached again after leaving and that includes Tony Jewell after his second stint. John Northey being the exception.

Scratch your head.
Scratch your nuts.
You failed this year.
No ifs or buts.

[El Guapo]

Fans slam diabolical coaching!
You won't see that headline tomorrow   

[mat073]

Diabolical selection of Griffiths

[WilliamPowell]

Have to say it was the worst umpiring decision of e season, should have been a free. Did it cost is the game? Will never know

But.....

We shouldn't have been in that position.

[dwaino]

Have to say it was the worst umpiring decision of e season, should have been a free. Did it cost is the game? Will never know

But.....

We shouldn't have been in that position.

A real sliding doors moment. Shot on goal for the lead, who knows what would have happened after it. What we do know is they got a goal themselves from it and gained all the momentum.

[Yeahright]

I can understand the Griff decision, it didn't work but it made sense. But how does conca offer more upside than Lennon, maybe even Lloyd especially as the sub.

[one-eyed]

From Emma Quayle
  The Age
  September 14, 2015

The 17-point defeat followed losses to Carlton (2013) and Port Adelaide (2014) but Hardwick said his side had improved on last year and would get even better by adding to the team and developing young players already at hand.

He said the fact West Coast had been beaten in three successive elimination finals and then gone on to play in the 2005 and 2006 grand finals showed the jump that could be made.

"Probably last year we fell over the line, really. This year we earned our place a lot more but unfortunately when we needed to execute on a day in September we didn't," Hardwick said.

"We didn't perform today, from a playing group to a coaching group. We didn't get the job done and unfortunately in our game there's no best of five.

"If we get to bounce back and play North Melbourne next week we might win. We'd probably win, but the fact of the matter is we don't.

"The fact of the matter is, we put ourselves in a position to contend and we failed today. We've just got to give ourselves an opportunity to get back there next year.

"There's certainly some areas of our game we need to improve and know we can improve, so that's what we'll be working on.

"From a performance point of view we didn't execute today. We learn from that and we move on, but unfortunately there's no guarantees you're going to get back into the finals.

"But we're a better side this time as compared to the last 12 months, and I reckon we'll improve again.

"Hang in there with us. We know we can play better than that. Unfortunately it wasn't our day today. We were beaten by a better side on the day.

"We didn't play anywhere near the level I know we could. We've got some talented players who were down today."

Hardwick said the Tigers' poor contested possession count was at the heart of the defeat, forcing them to chase their opponents for too long.

Trent Cotchin was one of the star Tigers who struggled — held to nine possessions by Ben Jacobs — with Hardwick unsure how much help his skipper could have been given.

"I thought Jacobs did a good job. You can only help so much really. Cotch is an elite midfielder of the competition and sometimes you've got to fight your own battles," he said.

" He's a quality player. It doesn't happen often, it happened today. He'll learn from it and bounce back."

Hardwick said the idea of moving Alex Rance onto Jarrad Waite — who finished with four goals on Jake Batchelor — was discussed all game in the coaches box.

Waite kicked three of his goals by half-time — when Richmond led by four points — with Drew Petrie and Ben Brown adding to the North Melbourne score later in the game.

"We were in front obviously and from our point of view, then we would have had to put Batchelor onto Petrie, who's really tall, obviously.

"It was probably the best (option) of the lot. They're blessed with incredibly tall forwards, athletic forwards as well. It was a constant conversation, there's no doubt about that."

Hardwick also described as "diabolical" a non-decision on North onballer Ben Cunnington, who was stripped of the ball in Richmond's forward pocket late in the game.

The Roos were able to take the ball to the other end and score a goal, stretching the lead to 10 points.

"That was a diabolical decision, really. I can understand one guy being blindsided but there were probably two other blokes. I reckon 80,000 people here could see the decision."

Richmond still have not won a final since beating Carlton in a 2001 semi-final under then-coach Danny Frawley.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-finals-2015-north-melbourne-through-tiger-hearts-broken-again-20150913-gjllu4.html

[Knighter]

Hey Emma get stuffed your club is a basket case so don't dine out on us

[WilliamPowell]

Hey Emma get stuffed your club is a basket case so don't dine out on us

So what has Emma done exactly but quote what our coach said in his presser?

Is it the last sentence about not having won a final since 2001? Fact is she is right