Richmond doing the hard yards by: Michael Warner
From: Sunday Herald Sun
December 04, 2011 DAMIEN Hardwick is talking like a man whose plan is on track.
After a morning hike with his players up Sabino Canyon outside Tucson, the Tigers coach offered a glimpse of his hopes for the club and its long-suffering Tiger Army.
"As a Richmond supporter, I think you would be mildly excited about our future," Hardwick says.
"You see the development of Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin, and then we're looking for the emergence of guys like Ty Vickery, Jake Batchelor, Reece Conca and Ben Griffiths.
"You only have to look at the top five in our best and fairest, their average age was 22.
"For a developing footy club, it's a really important thing to look at. It's exciting. And you can imagine in three or four years, touch wood, that they're only going to get better."
Throw in Brett Deledio, Jack Riewoldt, skipper Chris Newman, Nathan Foley and highly rated draft pick Brandon Ellis and you can mount a case that the Tigers might finally be coming.
Training in Arizona has been intense, including a heavy match-simulation session yesterday on a baseball field.
Coaches and staff held their breath when a nasty collision among players was only narrowly avoided. But that's been the theme of Hardwick's pre-season plan so far - fierce competition.
The players have had little time to take in the Tucson sights, with back-to-back sessions and meetings scheduled at the University of Arizona since the team arrived last Tuesday.
The group has been divided into teams, with points earned for tasks and performances. Tomorrow, the travelling party of 80, including 20 of the club's staff and a band of corporate supporters, moves to Phoenix where the players will spend three days at the Athletes' Performance elite fitness academy.
The quality of Richmond's stars is not in dispute, but Hardwick says it's an emerging group of lesser lights that will drive the climb back up.
Names such as Brad Helbig, Matt Dea, Dylan Grimes, Jaydn Post, David Astbury, Robbie Nahas, Shane Edwards and Alex Rance. Then there's mature-age recruits Ivan Maric, Steven Morris, Shaun Grigg and Bachar Houli.
Hardwick says for the first time in a long time the Tigers are building depth.
"We spoke about it to our guys the other day," he says.
"When you look at those Grand Final sides, it's not your top five or six, because they will always play well, it's your bottom six.
"We probably haven't had that depth, but it's something we are starting to get now."
The Essendon and Port Adelaide premiership player says the rise of West Coast from last in 2010 to fourth last year had been adopted as a lesson for what could be achieved.
"You've only got to look at West Coast as a fantastic example for us," Hardwick says.
"Considering where they finished the year before, you wouldn't have thought that they were going to finish top four and that's a great template for us.
"And the thing that they did really, really well was working their backsides off defensively. And that's something we have tried to take on board. We showed the players vision of the things they were doing.
"But the thing that they've got probably a little bit over us is that they've got maturer bodies, they can win that contested ball count a little bit higher than what we can do at stages."
Defence - not only in the backline but across the ground - has been a major weakness.
The Tigers had the third most points kicked against them last year (108.9) and the second most (106.7) the year before.
Worse still, in 2011 the club finished 16th in contested possession.
"There's no doubt it's an area of concern and we've brought in a defensive formation coach in Ross Smith who has been with Hawthorn for seven years," Hardwick says. "I obviously worked with him and realised just how good he is.
"The points against is obviously the end result, but our contested possession, I think, was 16th in the AFL. So that will be a key indicator for us. If we dramatically improve that, then the ball goes our way instead of the opposition's.
"This game is a brutal game. Nothing has changed over the last 150 years - at the end of the day you've got to get the ball. It's something we fell down in last year and we're going to rectify. Sixteenth last year, hopefully top eight next year."
Hardwick's love of pure competitors was on show at the national draft, where hard-nut midfielders Ellis and Matthew Arnot were selected. Big bodies who can kick the ball.
"We wanted to get in competitive beasts and that's what we felt we got with Ellis and Arnot," he says. "Two guys who are going to be able to compete and win contested possession. We wanted footballers and that's what those two are, with them you won't die wondering."
But Hardwick has revealed the club's other pick - tall forward Todd Elton, taken at 26 - was almost snared by the Tigers with the 15th selection used on Ellis.
"Toddy was a guy that we were considering with pick 15, but Brandon was obviously there and so we took him," he says. "And Todd kept sliding down. He's a guy who has got enormous ability, but it's inconsistent and that's our job as coaches. He looks very impressive - fantastic speed and good hands.
"We were really happy with the way the draft panned out."
Defender Kelvin Moore is the club's only long-term injury concern, making a slow recovery from serious hip surgery.
It's a loss that has forced the Tigers to find another centre half-back.
"With Rance, Grimes, Griffiths, Astbury, Post and McGuane,we think we've got some options up our sleeve. But once again, they're young and are going to take time to develop," Hardwick says.
Changes are also planned for the midfield, with Conca - likened by the Richmond coach to a young Marc Murphy - to get his chance on the ball next year. He will be joined by dual best and fairest Deledio, set to be released from his role at halfback thanks to the recruitment of quality kicks like Ellis, Morris, Dea and Houli.
Three new faces on the coaching staff - Smith, from Hawthorn, Greg Mellor and Mark Williams - have added to Hardwick's off-field team.
"You've got to get quality people in and people often make the mistake of thinking the head coach is the be all and end all, but the support team is so important now," he says. "I think it's the next big thing. You've got to be able to communicate and have great relationships with players."
The Richmond players were reminded this week no fewer than 30 players have come and gone since Hardwick joined the club. But while satisfied with the progress of the Richmond rebuild - the latest in a string of failed attempts - Hardwick says he's under no illusions that his third year as senior coach must deliver results.
The honeymoon is over.
"The expectation rises once again next year - and we spoke about that in our team meeting," he says.
"The reality is, if you aim for perfection and fall a little bit short, you're still a bloody good side. If you set the bar for mediocrity and you fail, then you're still an average side.
"So we talked about upping the ante and the expectation stakes and driving our guys to meet them."
As for the success of Arizona, Hardwick says the Tigers are planning a return at least once every three years.
"As you can imagine it's quite an expensive exercise, but for a group where we are at, it's a really important step. It brings the group together and they learn a hell of a lot about each other," he says.
"There's no doubt we'll look to come back, and you generally turn over a quarter to half your list in that time anyway. So it's becomes a recurring theme."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-doing-the-hard-yards/story-e6frf9jf-1226213219882
