VIDEO: Dimma's post-match media conference ...
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2014-08-09/round-20-hardwick-post-match-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damien Hardwick says Richmond playing better footy than last season after win over Essendon at MCGSAM LANDSBERGER
HERALD SUN
AUGUST 08, 2014 11:30PM
RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick says the Tigers are now playing better football than they produced last season after recording their sixth-straight win to surge into finals contention.
The winning streak is the Tigers’ best in 19 years with their three-goal victory against Essendon at the MCG bringing them within one game of sixth-placed North Melbourne as the logjam between sixth and 12th on the ladder tightened.
Richmond’s six-goal second quarter sparked the win while it withstood the Bombers’ last-quarter charge to effect a 68-point turnaround from their loss to the Dons just nine weeks earlier.
Hardwick praised former GWS midfielder Anthony Miles as a “huge addition” with the terrier accumulating 14 first-quarter disposals to help blunt Essendon’s scoreboard damage while youngster Brandon Ellis won 28 damaging disposals, the 16th consecutive game he has breached the 20-possession mark.
“(Miles) been outstanding. His ability to win the ball and then distribute to others is at an elite level. He worked incredibly hard and he’s a very good player for us,” Hardwick said.
And Hardwick clipped Gillon McLachlan after the AFL’s new chief executive labelled Reece Conca’s strike on Devon Smith last week as “appalling”.
“I’ll be sending him a please explain,” he quipped.
“I was a little bit disappointed with that. Reece knows he’s disappointed (in his) actions, as are we, but I don’t think we need to be having the CEO speak about it now.”
McLachlan said Conca should have been sent straight to the tribunal but the No. 6 draft pick was dealt a two-game suspension by the match review panel to follow Ty Vickery’s four-match ban a week earlier.
Richmond’s run of wins is its best since starting the 1995 season 7-0 and sets up a virtual elimination final against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval next week.
“Yeah, I think so (we’re playing better than last year),” Hardwick said.
“It’s probably a more consistent brand of footy.”
Hardwick lamented his side’s inability to handle injuries to stars Brett Deledio, Alex Rance and Ivan Maric early in the season as the Tigers slumped to 3-10.
“We always knew we’d be a better side when those guys came back, we were really disappointed though that we didn’t perform when we needed players to stand up,” Hardwick said.
“We knew what was going wrong, it just took a bit of a lag to fix it, which was a little bit disappointing.
“There always was going to be a bump in the road at some stage and it defines your organisation how you handle that bump.
“Hopefully ours was in the first part of this year and then we move forward.”
“I think we lost six games by under three goals. We should have beaten sides that we didn’t and we didn’t take our chances when they presented, so we’ve only got ourselves to blame.
“Is it unfortunate? Who knows, as long as you learn a lesson from it and move forward.”
The Tigers face bottom-placed St Kilda after the Crows and finish their season with a trip to face Sydney and a trio of wins would almost certainly send them into a September elimination final as the in-form team.
Hardwick said the Tigers had lost some key-performance indicators — the Bombers won more disposals, contested possessions and inside 50s — but praised their effort to produce the efficient win.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/damien-hardwick-says-richmond-playing-better-footy-than-last-season-after-win-over-essendon-at-mcg/story-fni5f9jb-1227018639308
