Dimma's media conference - May 24 [merged]

[one-eyed]

Hardwick 'rightly whacked'
By Paul Daffey
Thu 24 May, 2012


RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is repentant about his abuse of an emergency umpire during the to 19-point loss to Essendon last Saturday night.

Hardwick was given a suspended $5000 fine on Wednesday for his comments towards the umpire on the interchange bench during the third quarter.

Essendon led by 25 points at three-quarter time after kicking 4.2 to the Tigers' 5.8 in the third quarter.

"It wasn't one of my finer moments," Hardwick said.

"With the state of the game, I got a bit carried away. I overstepped the mark. I regretted it straight away.

"I spoke the emergency umpire Michael yesterday. He was a ripper fella. He likened me to a young John McEnroe, which is probably not a great look.

"They're such important people in the game. I told Michael I understood that and he accepted my apology.

"I was rightly whacked."

Tall forward Tyrone Vickery, who has been out with a calf injury, trained with the main group at Punt Road on Thursday morning and is under consideration for the match against Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/136713/default.aspx

[Jackstar is back again]

Dimma was only saying what the rest of us were thinking
Umpiring was terrible

[one-eyed]

AFL's Tigers to miss Grimes: Hardwick
Sam Lienert
The Age
May 24, 2012

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick admits the absence of key defender Dylan Grimes will be sorely felt as the Tigers try to combat Hawthorn's star forwards at the MCG on Saturday.

Grimes and fellow tall backman Alex Rance have been two of Richmond's best so far this AFL season.

But with Grimes out with a hamstring injury, and other defensive options Luke McGuane, David Astbury and Kelvin Moore also sidelined, the Tigers are light on options to counter Hawks pair Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead.

"He's a huge loss, Dylan, there's no doubt about that," Hardwick told reporters on Thursday.

"We were probably in a similar situation last year when he went down, we were 4-5 and this year we're tracking relatively similar.

"He's such an important player for us."

Hardwick did not reveal who would replace Grimes when the team is named on Thursday night, but named Ben Griffiths and Jayden Post as options.

Injury-prone 200cm key position player Griffiths' previous nine AFL games have been as a forward.

The Tigers have been using him in defence in the VFL this season, although minor injuries have interrupted his progress, but Hardwick said he had the raw talent to do the job.

"At some stage we're going to have to find out whether he can play at fullback, he's certainly got the body size for it and the athletic qualities," Hardwick said.

He backed Rance to curb Franklin's game-breaking potential.

"Rance has done a reasonable job on him in years previous and we'll probably look to a similar type of match-up," he said.

At the other end of the ground, Richmond full-forward Jack Riewoldt struggled to have much attacking impact against Essendon last round, kicking just one goal and appearing reluctant to lead and attack the ball.

Hardwick noted many key forwards this season were finding it hard to adapt to increasingly crowded forward lines, but he has spoken to Riewoldt about making himself more of a target.

"He can play better, there's no doubt about that," Hardwick said.

"Defensively he did some things we were after.

"Offensively you're probably right, he does need to move a little bit more, we had that conversation earlier in the week."

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/afls-tigers-to-miss-grimes-hardwick-20120524-1z6q6.html

[one-eyed]

Tigers won't rush defenders Dylan Grimes, David Astbury

Matt Windley
From:Herald Sun
May 24, 2012

RICHMOND will resist the temptation to rush back key defender David Astbury to cover for the loss of injured youngster Dylan Grimes.

Instead, both Astbury and Grimes have been pencilled in for a return shortly after the club's Round 13 bye.

Grimes has been a defensive revelation this season, winning a NAB Rising Star nomination.

But a hamstring injury last week has left the Tigers' backline short on talls, with Kelvin Moore and Luke McGuane also on the sidelines.

Astbury played his first VFL game last week almost a year after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Sydney.

But Hardwick said the club will not rush his return to the senior side in light of Grimes' injury.

"We think for long-term players such as those guys we'll just take our time and make sure we get them right,'' Hardwick said this morning.

"We think he's an important part of our future, we don't want to rush him back also, he played his first game (in the VFL) last week and obviously needed the run, he was running around more just for fitness sake basically.

"He's more probably after the break also, so five-six (weeks).''

Hardwick lamented the loss of Grimes, who along with Alex Rance and Jake Batchelor had held together the Tigers' defence throughout the first third of the season.

"He's a huge loss Dylan, there's no doubt about that,'' he said.

"We were probably in the same situation last year when he went down, we were 4-5 and this year we're tracking relatively similar.

"He's such an important player for us and we've got a number of different players we need to look at to try and fulfil that role.

"Ben Griffiths is possibly putting his hand up, Jayden Post, whether we bring in another tall at all. We've got Astbury on the sidelines, Moore on the sidelines and McGuane on the sidelines also, so we've got our hands full with that - especially when we've got the twin towers in (Lance) Franklin and (Jarryd) Roughead to face up to this week.''

Hardwick said Grimes would be touch and go to return before the bye.

"We'll probably just give him until after the break.

"He's such an important player for us, I think we've got three or four rounds prior to that and we'll give him five or six just to strengthen the hamstring.

"He's an important aspect to our backline, we don't want to rush him back and have the same thing happen again.''

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/tigers-wont-rush-defenders-dylan-grimes-david-astbury/story-e6frf9jf-1226365606114

[one-eyed]

Stay true, Dimma to Neeld
By Paul Daffey 
Thu 24 May, 2012


RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has thrown his support behind embattled Melbourne coach Mark Neeld, saying he expects Neeld to stick to his guns.

Hardwick told a media conference on Thursday, he felt for Neeld because he went through a similarly tough period at the beginning of his senior coaching career in 2010.

Hardwick's ability to coach at AFL level was questioned when the Tigers lost their opening nine games under his leadership.

"Mark knows what he's trying to do. It's just going to take time," Hardwick said.

"We were in exactly the same situation when we were 0-9. You could see the pieces of the puzzle come together slowly.

"It does take time for a playing group to get the game plan you're trying to implement.

"Mark will be feeling flat at some stages, but he'll get there.

"He's very, very thorough. He'll continue on his pathway. He won't deviate from his plan.

"That's what will get the job done for him."

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Since Hardwick took over as coach, respect has grown for the Tigers, who are fighting for a position inside the top eight.

They face Hawthorn on Saturday and Hardwick has indicated the Tigers will not be spooked by the Hawks' forward power.

The Tigers will be stretched to cover gun tall forwards Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead given that key defender Dylan Grimes badly tore a hamstring during last weekend's 19-point loss to Essendon.

But Hardwick said the Tigers would not deviate from the plan that has taken them within a breath of defeating several top teams this season.

"Good sides play their own game," he said.

"Not much will change from our point of view. We'll just go out there and do what we do and try to control the opposition's best players as best as we can."

Hardwick said it's been that way since he took over as coach.

"I don't think much has changed. We've just got better at what we do."

The coach indicated that Alex Rance would take Franklin on Saturday, but the absence of Grimes means the match-up for Roughead remains up in the air.

Jake Batchelor, Ben Griffiths and Jayden Post are being considered for the role.

Batchelor has impressed whether playing short or tall in the Tigers' defence this season, while Griffiths and Post have impressed recently with Coburg Tigers.

Hardwick said Grimes would return after the Tigers' bye in round 13.

Statistics show that Richmond and Hawthorn play similar styles.

The link is Hardwick, who was an assistant coach at Hawthorn before joining Richmond.

Both teams are at the bottom of the table in terms of forcing stoppages. The Hawks are equal 16th and the Tigers are 18th.

Once stoppages do occur, both teams are adept at winning the clearances. Hawthorn is fifth on the table while Richmond is sixth.

Richmond is slightly better at defending at stoppages.

The indications are that the fortunes of Saturday's match should come down to match-ups in attack and defence.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/136739/default.aspx

[Ruanaidh]

Sounds like Griff is a certainty this week