On the Right Track
By Tony Greenberg
The Fighting Tiger - RFC's official magazine
November 2010
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick sat down with The Fighting Tiger's Tony Greenberg to discuss the on-field transformation that took place at Tigerland in his first year at the helm.
Tony Greenberg: What were your aims going into the 2010 season?
Damien Hardwick: There were three main things that we were after...
Firstly, we wanted to get 500 games experience into our players aged 22 years and under, over the next two seasons. At the end of Round 22 this year, we'd given those blokes 333 games, which is by far No. 1 in the competition.
We wanted to do that so we could find out which players are going to take us forward and, when we found them, it was really important for them to play together for a sustained period of time, so they learned the patterns of movement that we're after, as well as how each other play. You've only got to look at a club like Geelong, which started building from its VFL side several years ago. Ablett, Chapman, and a number of other Geelong players won a flag together in the seconds at an early age, before going on to play in an AFL premiership with the Cats a few years later. So, we felt that was really important and we think we've done pretty well in this area so far.
The second aim we had was to establish a solid offensive and defensive game plan. Offensively, we feel we started to see some encouraging signs towards the back end of the season. The game against Hawthorn in Round 8 was probably the turning point of the season for us ... the players actually started to understand and believe in what we were teaching them to do, which was really good.
Defence is probably the one area we let ourselves down in this year. We wanted to set up a solid defensive formation to restrict opposition scores, but we were unable to do that to a degree. In the critical contests, against the more experienced sides, we fell away. We just didn't have the required body strength . . . But we're a young, inexperienced side, so that will come, over time. Also, there were stages where we just weren't hard enough in the contest, which obviously will come, also.
The third aim we had going into season 2010 was to level out our inside-50 differential. In season 2009, the opposition had 234 more entries inside 50 than us. We managed to restrict that this year to 121, but between Rounds 1-11, we were down 119, so, from Rounds 12-22, we actually lost the inside-50 count by just two, which was pleasing.
TG: How did you feel when the team slipped to 0-9 in the first half of the season?
DH: It was funny, because although we were 0-9, we were still relatively pleased with the way we were going. We weren't winning games, but when we went back and had a look at our stats, in every game that we lost, we were blown out in one particular quarter, and that's something we'll address over the pre-season. Off the top of my head, I think Round 3 versus Sydney, they kicked eight goals in the first quarter to our nil, and maintained that lead for the remainder of the game. In the Adelaide game, Round 7, we were level early in the last quarter, but ended up losing by 50 points.
In virtually every game, we had one quarter where the opposition blew us away. So, what we've just got to teach our players, and it'll come with experience, is how to control the game from a tempo point of view. Gone are the days where you can actually throw numbers back. That, in effect, doesn't work anymore - it actually creates a rod for your own back. We've just got to teach our guys to maintain possession a bit more ... I think the great thing about our club is that, at the start of the year, we took stock of where we were at. We accepted responsibility and, more importantly, knew where we were headed. We realised it was going to be a long, hard road and there were going to be plenty of bumps along the way, so we were prepared for it. As long as we stayed positive, we felt we could turn it around, and I think we saw by the back-end of the year, while we still had some disappointing performances, we also managed to play some pretty good football at times.
TG: What were some of the positives from on overall team perspective in 2010?
DH:We have a lot of areas we look at, both offensively and defensively. We rank a lot of areas, from l-16th and we were pretty much in the bottom four in a lot of those areas, but it was the top end of the bottom four. Defensively, we started to see some trends during the second half of the year, where we were actually just outside the top eight in a lot of those areas. We've still got a long way to go with them, but from a learning point of view, I think our guys have taken a lot out of it this year.
Although the wins and losses column will say otherwise, I think it's a really good foundation block for us going into season 2011. We don't have to go over all that old ground . . . we can just keep improving on it. For example, we'll heavily train our decision-making again, and defensively, we'll ramp up our training in that area. We'll get more aggressive in our defensive pressure next season.
TG: How did you assess the improvement shown by many of the players during 2010?
DH: We've got a system in place now, that our recruiting and list management do, where we rate every player on our list out of a score of a thousand. We had 75% of our list improve, from a ratings point of view, which is exciting.
Look, there were obviously guys who rose a hell of lot more than others. For example, Jack Riewoldt's season was excellent, and I thought Shane Edwards took some massive strides forward, too. Then, there are players such as Jake King, Matthew White and Daniel Connors....
When I first came here, I wasn't quite sure where they fitted in, but they became regular fixtures in our side in season 2010, which was particularly pleasing. To see a number of players improve in a lot of areas that we thought they were deficient in was very good, and a real credit to our development and coaching staff.
TG: How did you find the transition from AFL coach to a senior coaching role?
DH: It was enjoyable. Look, there's no doubt it is a time-consuming job, but I love football and I love football clubs. I think the great thing about our footy club is - and I mentioned it in my Best and Fairest speech - from the outside, you hear about the Richmond faithful, but now I've been here for a year, I actually understand and appreciate just how passionate they are! I can't wait to get our guys back into full training and then get into the 2011 season. Almost from the time our season finished this year, I've had so many players come in here and say they just can't wait to get back and start playing again. It's a credit to them and shows how enthusiastic they are. This is a really exciting place to be at the moment, and we'll be looking to build the momentum next year.
TG: Which players at the Club do you believe can step up and really have an impact in 2011?
DH: One of our strategies towards the end of the season was to give some young players a taste of senior football, so they became hungry for more over pre-season. So, you saw Troy Taylor come into the side, along with Dave Gourdis, Jamie O'Reilly, Robbie Hicks and Dylan Grimes. The great thing is they all showed something. Not only does it get them excited, it also gets the coaching staff excited, and thinking: 'Gee, we've got a player here', which is great.
I'd expect a number of players to jump up next year. I think Dave Astbury will improve further. Ben Griffiths, we basically gave a taste of league football to this year - and five games for five wins was the result. I'd expect him and Astbury to both make significant steps forward. I'd also expect Luke McGuane to have a better season than this year. He was disappointed with his season, as were we to a degree as well. They are the sort of players we need to see really jump up, for us to make some significant improvement next year.
TG: Finally, how did you rate Dustin Martin's debut season?
I thought he was terrific. The key for Dustin now is to back it up. He loves his footy, which is a really important factor, but he just has to keep working hard. Look, he's got a few parts of his game, defensively, that he has to get better at. Offensively, he's very good at getting contested ball, but he doesn't get a lot of uncontested ball. This is an area we him need to improve in because, otherwise, the toll on his body, as a young player, could be horrendous. So, he's got some areas he needs to work on, but he's an impressive kid and one we're hoping we can build around for the future.
