Sack Hardwick [merged]

[WilliamPowell]

Everybody saying we should sack Hardwick need to have their heads read.

This is the same attitude that has kept the team in the lower regions of the ladder for 30 years.

Can you understand that it is a personnel problem at Richmond, not a coaching problem?

It does't matter if you have the leading Professor in Education in the world if you give them a class full of severely autistic children then they will not produce rocket scientists!

Unfortunately, for Hardwick, he came in and cleaned out as much as was contractually possible and then began the long road of team rebuilding. This was as little as just over 3 years ago.  In the time we spent near the bottom, we had to put up with one pick equivalent to a mid 20's pick because of GC concessions. The next year he had to endure similar problems with GWS's concessions.  Last year we had pick 9 as well as putting up with compensation picks. 

Now I want to ask all the smarties here, how would he be expected to have a top 4 team or even a top 8 team with certainty under these conditions.

I think he has done a remarkable job in making us competitive.  Other clubs like Melbourne who many in the industry placed ahead of us in 2009, are a lot worse off despite having better draft choice selections.  Our young guns have had no role models to copy in the team, something that Geelong/Hawthorn/Collingwood youngsters have in bucket loads.  We didn't ever tank like a West Coast. We haven't even had as good selections as Port (who by the way still have players in the team with finals experience).

So you see, blaming Hardwick on him being unable to drill players on how to win a close game is unfair.  If you've been to training, a lot of effort has gone into defence.  If the players are not good enough, Hardwick will have to slowly get rid of them and replace them. This takes time.  We need another two years before our leaders have the experience and hardness to pull the new lot of 22 to 24 year olds along for the ride.  In the mean time hopefully we will be replenishing our 18 to 22 year olds through drafts and development.

Get off Hardwick's back!!!!

    

Great post

[Chuck17]

We beat two bottom 4 sides, st kilda and western bulldogs and fluked a win against Carlton. Hardwick almost cost us that win by going ultra defensive.  The only thing that saved us was Yarran couldn't kick straight.

Our list has improved, our facilities have improved, our finances have improved, our football department spending has improved, our coaching and game plan hasn't. 

People who put blind faith in Hardwick and play up "the coach doesn't matter" line should have a look at Port from Primus to Hinkley.  This is Hardwicks 4th year and he was an assistance for a fair period of time as well.  If he hasn't been able to compete on match day by now, its not likely he ever will.  If he hasn't been able to drill into players how to win a close game when we are in front by now, what is his purpose?

Need to come up with a succession plan.  We might make the finals because of the unevenness of the competition at the bottom end, but Hardwick isn't the coach that will bring us our next flag.

Time to put the plug back in

[big tone]

Everybody saying we should sack Hardwick need to have their heads read.

This is the same attitude that has kept the team in the lower regions of the ladder for 30 years.

Can you understand that it is a personnel problem at Richmond, not a coaching problem?

It does't matter if you have the leading Professor in Education in the world if you give them a class full of severely autistic children then they will not produce rocket scientists!

Unfortunately, for Hardwick, he came in and cleaned out as much as was contractually possible and then began the long road of team rebuilding. This was as little as just over 3 years ago.  In the time we spent near the bottom, we had to put up with one pick equivalent to a mid 20's pick because of GC concessions. The next year he had to endure similar problems with GWS's concessions.  Last year we had pick 9 as well as putting up with compensation picks. 

Now I want to ask all the smarties here, how would he be expected to have a top 4 team or even a top 8 team with certainty under these conditions.

I think he has done a remarkable job in making us competitive.  Other clubs like Melbourne who many in the industry placed ahead of us in 2009, are a lot worse off despite having better draft choice selections.  Our young guns have had no role models to copy in the team, something that Geelong/Hawthorn/Collingwood youngsters have in bucket loads.  We didn't ever tank like a West Coast. We haven't even had as good selections as Port (who by the way still have players in the team with finals experience).

So you see, blaming Hardwick on him being unable to drill players on how to win a close game is unfair.  If you've been to training, a lot of effort has gone into defence.  If the players are not good enough, Hardwick will have to slowly get rid of them and replace them. This takes time.  We need another two years before our leaders have the experience and hardness to pull the new lot of 22 to 24 year olds along for the ride.  In the mean time hopefully we will be replenishing our 18 to 22 year olds through drafts and development.

Get off Hardwick's back!!!!

    

Great post

That all sounds about right....
But ask yourself the question- do you think DH is a good coach? Not is he a good list manager.. Or not if he has been hardly done by in terms of draft picks.. Not did he inherit a car wreck of a list?
I personally think he has done OK till now. Not great by any means but enough to be still given another opportunity to prove himself a good coach.

The real questions for me now are the following-

Is he actually a good coach on game day?
Does he have a good eye for talent?
Is he good at the selection table?
Has he employed the right coaching staff?
Is his style of footy the style that's going to win us enough games to get us into the finals?
Does he have a plan B?..... Or C?
Is he a good developer of young players?
Is he forward thinking enough to get ahead of the other clubs?
Can he see things that other cannot see?
Do the players play for him?

How do you score him?

[YellowandBlackBlood]

Everybody saying we should sack Hardwick need to have their heads read.

This is the same attitude that has kept the team in the lower regions of the ladder for 30 years.

Can you understand that it is a personnel problem at Richmond, not a coaching problem?

It does't matter if you have the leading Professor in Education in the world if you give them a class full of severely autistic children then they will not produce rocket scientists!

Unfortunately, for Hardwick, he came in and cleaned out as much as was contractually possible and then began the long road of team rebuilding. This was as little as just over 3 years ago.  In the time we spent near the bottom, we had to put up with one pick equivalent to a mid 20's pick because of GC concessions. The next year he had to endure similar problems with GWS's concessions.  Last year we had pick 9 as well as putting up with compensation picks. 

Now I want to ask all the smarties here, how would he be expected to have a top 4 team or even a top 8 team with certainty under these conditions.

I think he has done a remarkable job in making us competitive.  Other clubs like Melbourne who many in the industry placed ahead of us in 2009, are a lot worse off despite having better draft choice selections.  Our young guns have had no role models to copy in the team, something that Geelong/Hawthorn/Collingwood youngsters have in bucket loads.  We didn't ever tank like a West Coast. We haven't even had as good selections as Port (who by the way still have players in the team with finals experience).

So you see, blaming Hardwick on him being unable to drill players on how to win a close game is unfair.  If you've been to training, a lot of effort has gone into defence.  If the players are not good enough, Hardwick will have to slowly get rid of them and replace them. This takes time.  We need another two years before our leaders have the experience and hardness to pull the new lot of 22 to 24 year olds along for the ride.  In the mean time hopefully we will be replenishing our 18 to 22 year olds through drafts and development.

Get off Hardwick's back!!!!

    

Great post

That all sounds about right....
But ask yourself the question- do you think DH is a good coach? Not is he a good list manager.. Or not if he has been hardly done by in terms of draft picks.. Not did he inherit a car wreck of a list?
I personally think he has done OK till now. Not great by any means but enough to be still given another opportunity to prove himself a good coach.

The real questions for me now are the following-

Is he actually a good coach on game day?
Does he have a good eye for talent?
Is he good at the selection table?
Has he employed the right coaching staff?
Is his style of footy the style that's going to win us enough games to get us into the finals?
Does he have a plan B?..... Or C?
Is he a good developer of young players?
Is he forward thinking enough to get ahead of the other clubs?
Can he see things that other cannot see?
Do the players play for him?

How do you score him?

Fair questions but they are almost impossible to answer.
Barassi was supposedly one of the greatest game day coaches of all time. He went to Melbourne and had a shocking record there. Bottom line is that you still need the players that can play! You need players that will push themselves to the limit and work just as hard defensively as offensively. We don't have enough of them. We have development coaches with great experience (Williams) so we don't need Hardwick to play a huge role there.
The most important thing at the moment is the players love him and play for him.
If he loses them we will go backwards fast. It is then that we will need a change.

[WilliamPowell]

The real questions for me now are the following-

Is he actually a good coach on game day?
Does he have a good eye for talent?
Is he good at the selection table?
Has he employed the right coaching staff?
Is his style of footy the style that's going to win us enough games to get us into the finals?
Does he have a plan B?..... Or C?
Is he a good developer of young players?
Is he forward thinking enough to get ahead of the other clubs?
Can he see things that other cannot see?
Do the players play for him?

How do you score him?

Really good questions big tone

Bloody hard to answer because in part it comes back to ones expectations of where we are at and if you are satisfied with that and where we are heading

Having said I'll give it a go and will score each out of 10 where appropriate.

Is he actually a good coach on game day? 7 - into his 4th year think he still has a few bad days. think he needs to be more proactive at times when teams get a run on
 
Does he have a good eye for talent?  N/A IMV - only because it is the job of recruiters to find the talent, not his. All a coach can do is say I want a certain type pf player then it's up to the recruiters to find those who can best do that job. They don't watch potential recruits live all he gets is the vision and the recommendations

Is he good at the selection table? 3-4 this is his biggest weakness IMV, backs blokes who constantly let him and our team down. Should drop them but wont

Has he employed the right coaching staff? 8.5 yes, especially bringing in Williams and bringing back Tim Clarke

Is his style of footy the style that's going to win us enough games to get us into the finals? 8.5 yep - it's a good brand of footy when it is executed properly blody exciting to watch

Does he have a plan B?..... Or C? Some days you really have to wonder. But the Collingwood game is a great example. as part of my coterie membership we get Pre-match briefings for certain games. First one for 2013 was the Pies game we get told what the plan is for the day and what they are supposed to do if teams get a run on against us. Can tell you we had a plan "B" for when or if the Pies got the run on our players didn't adhere to that

Is he a good developer of young players? 7.5 - yes, the improvement in Rance is a case in point. Rance was going nowhere under the previous regime

Is he forward thinking enough to get ahead of the other clubs? In a way too early to answer. That he can come up with a game plan that can beat last year's Grand Finalists shows he is a thinker. But unfortunately losing games like we did last year against GC and the other week agaisnt Freo raises doubts

Can he see things that other cannot see? See previous question/aswer
 
Do the players play for him? 10 - not a doubt in my mind about this one. 100% yes

Ready for the whacks heading my way   

[Yeahright]

The real questions for me now are the following-

Is he actually a good coach on game day?
Does he have a good eye for talent?
Is he good at the selection table?
Has he employed the right coaching staff?
Is his style of footy the style that's going to win us enough games to get us into the finals?
Does he have a plan B?..... Or C?
Is he a good developer of young players?
Is he forward thinking enough to get ahead of the other clubs?
Can he see things that other cannot see?
Do the players play for him?

How do you score him?

Really good questions big tone

Bloody hard to answer because in part it comes back to ones expectations of where we are at and if you are satisfied with that and where we are heading

Having said I'll give it a go and will score each out of 10 where appropriate.

Is he actually a good coach on game day? 7 - into his 4th year think he still has a few bad days. think he needs to be more proactive at times when teams get a run on
 
Does he have a good eye for talent?  N/A IMV - only because it is the job of recruiters to find the talent, not his. All a coach can do is say I want a certain type pf player then it's up to the recruiters to find those who can best do that job. They don't watch potential recruits live all he gets is the vision and the recommendations

Is he good at the selection table? 3-4 this is his biggest weakness IMV, backs blokes who constantly let him and our team down. Should drop them but wont

Has he employed the right coaching staff? 8.5 yes, especially bringing in Williams and bringing back Tim Clarke

Is his style of footy the style that's going to win us enough games to get us into the finals? 8.5 yep - it's a good brand of footy when it is executed properly blody exciting to watch

Does he have a plan B?..... Or C? Some days you really have to wonder. But the Collingwood game is a great example. as part of my coterie membership we get Pre-match briefings for certain games. First one for 2013 was the Pies game we get told what the plan is for the day and what they are supposed to do if teams get a run on against us. Can tell you we had a plan "B" for when or if the Pies got the run on our players didn't adhere to that

Is he a good developer of young players? 7.5 - yes, the improvement in Rance is a case in point. Rance was going nowhere under the previous regime

Is he forward thinking enough to get ahead of the other clubs? In a way too early to answer. That he can come up with a game plan that can beat last year's Grand Finalists shows he is a thinker. But unfortunately losing games like we did last year against GC and the other week agaisnt Freo raises doubts

Can he see things that other cannot see? See previous question/aswer
 
Do the players play for him? 10 - not a doubt in my mind about this one. 100% yes

Ready for the whacks heading my way   

What was plan A and what was plan B

[Tigers of Old]

In Dimma we trust.

[rogerd3]

Everybody saying we should sack Hardwick need to have their heads read.

This is the same attitude that has kept the team in the lower regions of the ladder for 30 years.

Can you understand that it is a personnel problem at Richmond, not a coaching problem?

It does't matter if you have the leading Professor in Education in the world if you give them a class full of severely autistic children then they will not produce rocket scientists!

Unfortunately, for Hardwick, he came in and cleaned out as much as was contractually possible and then began the long road of team rebuilding. This was as little as just over 3 years ago.  In the time we spent near the bottom, we had to put up with one pick equivalent to a mid 20's pick because of GC concessions. The next year he had to endure similar problems with GWS's concessions.  Last year we had pick 9 as well as putting up with compensation picks. 

Now I want to ask all the smarties here, how would he be expected to have a top 4 team or even a top 8 team with certainty under these conditions.

I think he has done a remarkable job in making us competitive.  Other clubs like Melbourne who many in the industry placed ahead of us in 2009, are a lot worse off despite having better draft choice selections.  Our young guns have had no role models to copy in the team, something that Geelong/Hawthorn/Collingwood youngsters have in bucket loads.  We didn't ever tank like a West Coast. We haven't even had as good selections as Port (who by the way still have players in the team with finals experience).

So you see, blaming Hardwick on him being unable to drill players on how to win a close game is unfair.  If you've been to training, a lot of effort has gone into defence.  If the players are not good enough, Hardwick will have to slowly get rid of them and replace them. This takes time.  We need another two years before our leaders have the experience and hardness to pull the new lot of 22 to 24 year olds along for the ride.  In the mean time hopefully we will be replenishing our 18 to 22 year olds through drafts and development.

Get off Hardwick's back!!!!

Great post ..will be lost on some in here.

[blaisee]

I have a question for you all,

WHy is it that port and nth and essendon, have gone right past us?

WHy is it that other teams have improved faster and for longer than us?

We better beat Port or the natives will be restless

[Crazy_Ivan]

I have a question for you all,

WHy is it that port and nth and essendon, have gone right past us?

WHy is it that other teams have improved faster and for longer than us?

6 rounds in.Lets wait and see.

[Smokey]

I have a question for you all,

WHy is it that port and nth and essendon, have gone right past us?

WHy is it that other teams have improved faster and for longer than us?

We better beat Port or the natives will be restless

Port were better than us before 2 years of p-poor coaching dropped them down the ladder.  No surprise that they've recovered quickly because their basic list structure was still ok.

North were never worse than us in recent times.

Ditto Essendon.

Other teams haven't improved as much as us, we have just had to come from so much further back that I think a lot have forgotten just how far behind EVERY other club we were.

Yes Blaisee, I agree the natives will be very restless, justified or not!   

[Owl]

We have to shake off the psychological inferiority complex.  It irritates me and it is reflected in the language used even by the club, it immediately creates a mindset of being inferior to the teams that have been floating around the top of the eight for some time.  I really hope they don't talk the same poo behind closed doors with players, they need to be arrogant, angry and be discussing how to pull these arseholes off of their perches not how they aspire to be like them... stuff THEM, they shouldn't be the poo on their boots!  Grow some stuffing hair on them peaches and start busting some stuffing heads, stop going to stuffing water whenever the pressure is on!

[hyperlite]

essendon have gone past us because they rarely go into their shell.

The pies game sums it up perfectly. The difference between the game we played and game the bombers played up until half time was identical.

After halftime: we all know what happened.

The pies attacked us and we went into our shell.
The Pies attacked the bombers and the bombers responded with their own attacking.

I don't believe the bombers are that much different to us in terms of available skill, talent, types of players etc. But they attack and hunt on a consistent basis.

If we are any chance to be on par with the bombers and in the 8 this year, we MUST attack and take the game on.

It will be interesting to see if the same thing happens on friday night with the bombers vs cats.

[Gracie]

I have a question for you all,

WHy is it that port and nth and essendon, have gone right past us?

WHy is it that other teams have improved faster and for longer than us?

We better beat Port or the natives will be restless

Port beat Melbourne then GWS then Adelaide by 9points then Suns then West Coast by 5.

Lost to North and now play us Carlton and Geelong

Port will crash and burn lucky to get to 10 wins. We should be in front of them

With North they have been higher on the ladder than us since 2007. We will be going past them not the other way around.

Essendon have played in two finals series and finished higher than us last 4 years.

Port are not going past us. North and Essendon have been in front of us in recent years.

Start worrying if Melbourne goes past us.

[Smokey]

We have to shake off the psychological inferiority complex.  It irritates me and it is reflected in the language used even by the club, it immediately creates a mindset of being inferior to the teams that have been floating around the top of the eight for some time.  I really hope they don't talk the same poo behind closed doors with players, they need to be arrogant, angry and be discussing how to pull these arseholes off of their perches not how they aspire to be like them... stuff THEM, they shouldn't be the poo on their boots!  Grow some stuffing hair on them peaches and start busting some stuffing heads, stop going to stuffing water whenever the pressure is on!

Really agree with this Owl.