Richmond’s most recent premiership coach Tony Jewell questions Damien Hardwick’s comments and direction of Tigers listGlenn McFarlane
Herald-Sun
June 08, 2014TONY Jewell, the last man to coach the Tigers to a premiership, has insisted he had no idea what current coach Damien Hardwick meant by wanting his team to “play the Richmond way”.
Jewell admitted to sharing the frustration of long-suffering Richmond supporters who have had to wait without a flag since the club’s last triumph in 1980.
He has backed Hardwick as he tries to get the club out of their miserable first half of the 2014 season, but was confused by the coach’s comments on 3AW this week.
When Hardwick was asked what “the Richmond way” was, he said: “Winning games.”
Jewell said: “I found it quite a peculiar statement, to be honest. I have never heard anyone refer to a culture as being the Richmond way.
“We haven’t had a ‘way’ for 30 years. We haven’t been successful (in that time). It was a strange comment. I bet he wishes he hadn’t said it now.”
Jewell said he had approached 2014 with a sense of enthusiasm given the strong ground the club had made in recent season, particularly the stable administration led by chief executive Brendon Gale.
“I think Brendon Gale has done a fabulous job, the board seems to be united, we have a strong membership base and I thought the football side of things was going OK, too,” Jewell said.
“Hopefully we can learn from this setback and come back strongly (in the second half of the season).”
Jewell questioned why Richmond needed so many recycled AFL players on its list, saying sides such as Hawthorn basically cherry-picked recruits from other clubs rather than looked for too many.
“To have 13 players on the list from other clubs just doesn’t seem to be right to me,” he said. “I’m probably too far away from it these days, but it just seems to be too many.
“Hawthorn just looks for the ones they really want, like Brian Lake, and Shaun Burgoyne, and Jack Gunston.”
Jewell said the old “Richmond way” might have been described as pure ruthlessness during the late 1960s and ’70s, but said that attitude ultimately proved destructive over time.
“That sort of attitude hung around the (Richmond) boards for a long time, and it hurt the club,” he said. “Even when (long-time secretary) Graeme Richmond was gone from the club, people still sought advice from him.
“It was almost destructive in the end.
“They aren’t like that now. I don’t think we have to go back to that, other clubs have shown us that.
“Look at Geelong, they have been a great example of a good inclusive environment. They have been so well administrated and they manage their list so well, as have Hawthorn and Collingwood.”
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/richmonds-most-recent-premiership-coach-tony-jewell-questions-damien-hardwicks-comments-and-direction-of-tigers-list/story-fndv8t7m-1226946841441
