Damien Hardwick puts Richmond midfielders on notice (Herald-Sun)

[one-eyed]

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick puts midfielders on notice

    Al Paton
    From: Herald Sun
    March 30, 2011 5:36PM

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has given a rocket to his midfield, demanding a lift against St Kilda after being "smashed" by Carlton last week.

Hardwick said today many of his key onballers deserved to be dropped after the Tigers' Round 1 defeat.

"If our midfield's not better than last week we're in a lot of trouble, they were very very poor," he said.

"I think we got smashed in clearances by 18, which is a smashing of Biblical proportions.

"So we need our midfield to generate some ball. We had some really disappointing performances in there which we spoke about this week and if those guys get up and going and the ball gets going in our direction it solves a lot of problems."

Hardwick said the Tigers would miss young defender Alex Rance, who was suspended for three weeks for an off-the-ball clash with Carlton's Jarrad Waite.
 
The Tigers coach said there was little to gain by appealing the decision, even though he described the contact as a clash of heads.
 
He said Will Thursfield and Dylan Grimes were in the running to replace Rance.

"We'll look at probably Thursfield and Grimes to fill that role, but in saying that selection-wise it's tough, backs and forwards were relatively competitive, our midfield was really poor last week.

"The guys that deserve to be dropped, we can't drop because they're good players."

Jake King is certain to return after serving a one-week suspension carried over from last season, but Shane Tuck appears set to stay on the outer.

"He (King) is a player I love to have in the side. He brings everything we are about as a footy club - he's tough, he's resiliant, he's competitive," Hardwick said.

"(Tuck) is thereabouts, he had a reasonable game at Coburg last week, it's just a matter of how we fit him in. There's only a certain number of players you can play in those positions."

Hardwick said Nathan Foley had recovered from a bout of gastro and he was looking forward to an improved performance from the experienced midfielder.

He said Richmond's recent poor record against St Kilda counted for little on Friday night.

"There are certain sides that you match up really well against and St Kilda is one of those sides that we over the course of the last couple of times we've played them have actually competed really well.

"They're a side we enjoy playing, they're a terrific outfit, a well structured outfit, and something we strive to be.

"It's a great test for our guys again and one we're very much looking forward to."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-coach-damien-hardwick-puts-midfielders-on-notice/story-e6frf9jf-1226030894828

[tiger101]

Hopefully we got better in the ruck this week.
But its also good to see Dimma putting the mid fielders on warning and hopefully they lift.

[bojangles17]

looks liek he got my return email

[Hard Roar Tiger]

I get a bit tired of hearing about Dimma "putting mids on notice" and "reading Dusty the riot act".
He is just telling it straight to the players - its hardly reading any kind of riot act.not that big a deal.

[crackertiger]

I hope the main midfielder he was targeting was our Ruckman Graham. It's hard to compete when the opposition ruckman has the ball on a string and is handing it to your opposition midfield. It's so obvious it's ridiculous! Sure Cotchin and co were a bit flat early on. A good ruckman would bring them into the game.