Damien Hardwick can go past Jack Dyer on the list of games coached at Richmond if Tigers come good with contract extensionJON RALPH,
Herald Sun
December 1, 2017 DAMIEN Hardwick’s off-season contract extension will ensure he goes past the legendary Jack Dyer on the list of games coached at Richmond.
Hardwick’s transformation of his tactics and new-found motivation of his players was one of the central ingredients in the Tigers’ rousing premiership win.
He is contracted until the end of 2018 but president Peggy O’Neal said the day after the premiership the board would consider an extension later in the summer.
Hardwick’s three finals wins — the first of his career — mean he has coached the Tigers in 182 games for 92 wins, 88 losses and two draws.
Two more years of coaching would take him past Dyer’s 222 games as coach and put him behind only four-time premiership coach Tommy Hafey (248 games).
AFL official legend Dyer, known as “Captain Blood”, played 312 games as a fearsome six-time best-and-fairest winner.
Of his 222 games coaching Richmond, 159 were as the club’s playing coach and 63 were purely as a coach.
Despite a 50.5 per cent win-loss record, Hardwick’s past five seasons have been exceptional even as he waited until this year for his first finals win.
The Tigers have won 15, 12, 15, eight and 18 games in those five years, with an extension to ensure he at least coaches Richmond for a decade.
When the Tigers most recently extended Hardwick’s contract in March 2016 it was after an exhaustive review that drilled into his strengths and weaknesses.
It allowed the club to back him in during a problematic 2016 season, aware he was made of the right stuff.
Then he admitted he had to change after becoming insular and bad tempered as that year went from bad to worse.
“I learnt a big lesson from last year because sometimes you learn most when you are in your darkest places,’’ he said.
“Brendon Gale and Peggy O’Neal have been outstanding. They could quite easily have said, “Dimma, it’s time”.
“But they backed me in and I am glad they did and we are lot better for it.”
In 2012 then-president Gary March hoped Hardwick could become a Hafey-esque figure at the Tigers.
“We would sincerely hope Damien is a Tommy Hafey-type who coaches for 10-plus years and coaches us to premierships,” March said.
He was criticised for his optimism given Richmond’s predicament back then but Hardwick is now in a rare position of strength.
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