Damien Hardwick Q&AHOW HAVE you rated the season so far? It's been a bit of a roller-coaster ride.It's hard - we don't tend to do 'rate the season thus far'. I suppose the way we look at it is more of a team point-of-view and at the development of our players. We've seen the emergence of Shane Edwards, Dustin Martin's probably above expectations, as is David Astbury. So from that point of view it's about the individual improvement of players, and I think we've been pleasantly surprised.
With three wins in the last four matches, have you readjusted any expectations for the season?We've always said this year is about transformation and transforming the playing list, the game plan, our facilities in general. So our goalposts haven't moved; it's still firmly that we're just building our side to get a tilt at a premiership. Nothing changes. We try to take the scoreboard out of it as much as possible and get the development in to the players and play as many young kids as we can. Over the next two years we want to pump 500 games of experience into the kids 22 and under, and last time I looked at that stat I think we were by far the leader, which is a great result. You've only got to look at St Kilda, Geelong and Hawthorn - sides that have rebuilt though the draft that have proved dividends for them, so we're trying to go that same way.
Tough draft this year, isn't it?Yes it is. It is. But we'll be right, we'll battle on.
The skills seem to have improved considerably - is it actually the skills, or it the different game plan/style where decision-making is better?It's a good point - someone else said that to me the other day, but as funny as it is, it's really hard to improve a player's kick once they're in the AFL system. What you can do is improve their decision-making - the thing that the players are enjoying is having a game plan where they know what phases of movement we're trying to achieve at any given stage. I think the guys are making a lot better decisions. Early days they were rushing it a bit and getting a bit carried away with how quickly they wanted to move the ball, but they didn't realise that the ball actually moves a lot quicker by foot and hand than it does by running and carrying. I think we've got the balance right now - we've still got a hell of a long way to go, but the guys' decision-making has improved enormously, I reckon, over the last six or seven weeks.
I talked to Shane Edwards a couple of weeks ago, and he said it's vastly easier this year and that's why he's come along so quickly.We like to say we give them the answers before they play - we play the same way every week, and we develop our players individually so they become better. Sides will figure out what we do, and we know how other sides play - we know how Geelong plays, but they're just that good that it's so hard to stop, and I think that's an ingredient for a successful side, you do the simple things very, very well, and that's what we're striving to achieve here. We've got a great group of coaches, a great group of player who are willing to learn, and I think it's going to hold us in good stead over the coming years.
How are you finding it in your first season as an AFL coach? It was a rough first month.Oh look, it was but it wasn't. Myself and Brendon Gale (CEO), Craig Cameron (head of football), Gary March (president) - we knew exactly where we were at; we knew it was going to be tough. We said at the start of the year we thought our second half of the year would be better than our first - trying to implement a whole range of systems, protocols, parameters was always going to take a great deal of time, and to the players credit they've taken that on board and they've actually started to see some improvement a little bit earlier than we thought. It has been tough, but it's been enjoyable. I was just rapt to sing the song in round 10 - we've won three games so far, and we've still got a long way to go, and hopefully a lot of wins ahead of us.
It's been positive here at Punt Rd all year, but now there's an air of confidence being added.We try to create a positive learning environment. We want to encourage the guys to make mistakes, because if they make a mistake on the field we can show them how they've done and what they can do better next time. We've always said to our guys that we'll never drag them for making a positive mistake. What we would be annoyed or discouraged about is if you take the easy option and don't try and improve. Probably what they're now starting to see is that they're starting to believe in what we're doing - they can see it actually works, and belief within a footy club and confidence within a footy club are two such important factors, and you never know where it leads you.
You must be pretty happy with your backline - I was just talking to (backline coach) Justin Leppitsch…It's a credit to Leppa! (Laughs)
They get referred to as the anonymous backline, but you must be happy.The system they're trying to learn is not difficult, but it requires great cohesion, and getting them to play it together in a certain amount of time. We used it when I was with Essendon, and also with Justin at the Brisbane Lions. I can't really explain the system that much, but it requires you playing together for a great deal of time, and that's what we're starting to get now. It's been a steady improvement every week, but we're starting to get the results scoring-wise, we're starting to limit sides below a certain amount of points, which has worked out very well, but it does take time. What we have been able to do is train the next batch coming through - getting Matty Dea working together with Dylan Grimes and those sort of players to develop that system further.
The stats show some huge improvement in plenty of areas since round nine.Once again, that's just the understanding of the system and the belief in playing together. I think over the first seven rounds we probably averaged four or five changes to the side every week, trying to find the right mix of players in certain positions to take us forward, but it does unsettle the side, and that's why we've always said the second half of the season is when we'll start to get some players into the positions where want them, to take us forward.
You're the number one long-kicking team in the comp over the last month - is that down to Jack's sticky hands?Probably to a degree, but we're willing to back our forwards in one-on-one. I think a lot of sides look to lead up all the time, but if we can get a ball long to one of our forwards, we're prepared to back it in. We're also prepared to kick it short, but I think that generally, if we see Ben Griffiths one versus one with his oppo, let's kick it to Ben and let him do what he does. And I think it's exciting for the crowd to see a big long kick inside-50, and seeing a one-on-one battle, which is great.
Old-style footy!It is old-style footy - it all comes back into vogue at some stage.
Brett Deledio across half-back - that's just working so well.I love the strength of a back six as a collective group, and I still like the thought of your best kicks being behind the ball. Now, with Deledio, (Chris) Newman and (Daniel) Connors, they make for a very good back six as really good users of the ball, which helps us transition. The thing is, they don't stay down the back six, they basically float across the midfield anyway, so I think Lids is our leading rebounder but also our leading inside-50, with Chris Newman not far behind. Defensively he's improved enormously; his ability to chop-out, spoil and dive on loose balls has been a standout for mine.
Daniel Connors - he's had a topsy-turvy season, hasn't he?The man we don't speak of - Voldemort. He's back! (Laughs) Yeah, he has. Look, the important thing for us with Dan was that one, he could play footy, but two, he just needed to get his life a little bit in order. To his credit, the eight weeks that he had off he put some parameters in place and some safety nets in his life that are going to take him forward. It was a massive eye-opener for him - whether it makes him as a footballer I don't know or I don't care, really, but as a bloke, it's going to improve him. He's realised the error of his ways, and going forward it's going to reap benefits. On a football note, we think he's going to be a good player - he's still got some issues and makes a few schoolboy mistakes every now and then, but with good training through Leppa and the other coaches, he'll become a good player for the footy club.
I notice you're talking about him as an integral part of your back six.I was - he's going to be a good player.
A line or two on a few blokes now, if we can: Cuzzy?His last month has been very, very good. His first five or six weeks were injury-interrupted, and he probably struggled with the pace of the game, because the game is as quick as I've seen it. It's probably slowed down a little bit in the past month, which has helped Cuz, given he's 31 or 32. He's going well, and we'll make a list management decision at the end of the year.
Dustin Martin?He's getting better and better every week. He was consistent without being outstanding, but I think over the last three or four weeks he's had a couple of breakout games. He's just a very exciting prospect. He's so strong. At the start of the year he was struggling to get through those tackles, but now he's starting to break them and use the ball more effectively inside 50, which is very beneficial for us. We think he's going to be a very good player for our footy club.
Jordie McMahon?He’s got to work on some facets of his game. Offensively Jordie can play the game, no doubt, but he probably has to work a little bit on his kicking/decision-making. Defensively he was average at the start of the year - he's actually got a little bit better in his last couple of games at Coburg. So he just needs to work on those things and get himself right for the second part of the year.
Shane Tuck?Tucky was very much like Jordie; he had some defensive deficiencies which needed some work. That's why we played him down back. I think when you're a defender you have to actually base your game on defence, and he went back and did that very, very well. I think Tucky's excited by how much better he's got defensively. We base his game on defence now instead of offence, because he'll always get the ball. What we need to do is keep working on the defensive side, but he's made some massive inroads.
Nathan Foley - where's he at with his injury?We probably could have played Axel, but he's had a wretched run and we're just not prepared to put him out there to play when he's not pain-free. There's no doubt he could play now, but we're in no rush - we think he's going to be a massive player for this footy club, and we're just not prepared to put him out on the park when he's not right.
What does the rest of the year bring? Is it still not taking notice of wins, it's just the improving graph?Yeah, it's the same thing. There's players we want to see. We're looking forward to getting Jayden Post into the side, Dave Gourdis into the side - we just need to play these players, and as much as it's a learning process, they learn better at AFL level. No disrespect, but we've got Justin Leppitsch as defensive coach, we've got Danny Daly who's coached forwards - we've got great coaches up here, so let's teach them at the highest level. We've got great vision, great resources so we can go and teach them how to play the game. Some players will go out for a rest, and Posty will come in and play his role for three or four weeks, or something like that. For the Richmond footy club going forward it's important to get all these guys into our system, get them up and playing with each other.
It's still mathematically final to make finals, you know.It's not about finals this year, it's about transformation. (Laughs) Getting them up and going.
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