Heat is on Hardwick to deliverCaroline Wilson
The Age
April 2, 2015That the stakes are just that little bit higher when Carlton and Richmond lift the curtain on a new AFL season seems to have become an annual reality disproportionate to the four points on offer, but commensurate with the rivalry and the big stage, and the anticipation of a new season.
Over the years it has been suggested that the Tigers would be better to slide into the season more quietly given their historic tendency to freeze on that stage. It is a notion rightly rejected by the club working its long way back into contention.
But it is also true that round one has often mirrored the fortunes of both clubs. Certainly back in 2009 the hiding Carlton handed Richmond effectively ended Terry Wallace's coaching career.
Ben Cousins made his heavily anticipated Richmond debut on the same night and pulled a hamstring after a mediocre opening half. Things never really got much better for Cousins in his attempted comeback and the club would now admit it erred in recruiting him. Six years later the public scrutiny is on Carlton coach Mick Malthouse to retain his job. Should the Blues get beaten, Malthouse's fifth quarter will also prove a symbolic stage-setter given his club's stated insistence he behave more politely in public.
But the big first night game for season 2015 at the MCG, which will be lit up in navy blue, sees both coaches entering the season under significant pressure. For the first time Damien Hardwick is under the pump to retain his job certainly beyond next season and potentially although unlikely even sooner. This is despite being contracted until the end of 2016 and despite being seen by Richmond as a long-term coach. And despite the Tigers' new-found pride in their stability.
Hardwick is well aware of that fact. Barring the unforseen, only a finals victory would be considered par for him and his team, which at least in terms of age and so-called premiership windows must make the eight this year. And the dismal fashion in which his Tigers have handled their past two Septembers means only a top final six finish will cut the mustard.
The Tigers enter 2015 healthy with only David Astbury unavailable. They remain wedded in their belief and trust of their coach – if not all of his assistants. How 2015 plays out depends on their on-field leadership, but football's reality is that Hardwick will be the fall guy if they fail. That is not to say he would face the sack but internally the question would be raised if the season proved a failure.
Hardwick has been a fillip for Richmond, a job he won at a time when he faced significant odds. The Tigers had been an administrative basket case still emerging from the depths of a poor football operation and an equally under-resourced recruiting operation.
While questions remain over the club's tendency to source an over-abundance of top-up players under Hardwick, Blair Hartley and Francis Jackson, the fact remains he became senior coach in the era of expansion. The Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney curtailed the progress of struggling clubs, whatever their other failings.
That Hardwick continued to improve the Tigers over his first four years after a disastrous debut season start in which the team lost nine in succession by an average of about nine goals, speaks of his toughness and his heart. Just how much responsibility he deserves for the club's so-called attempt to "copy Hawthorn" – according to Jack Riewoldt – in the first half of last season remains unclear, but again he managed to lift his team and set 2014 alight for a two-month period leading into the spring.
Hardwick has instilled an honesty into Richmond performances. He has lifted the team from struggling to middle-ranked and capable of performances worthy of the top four on its day. The next step from mediocrity to success has been tougher and again the AFL's reality is that Richmond will run out of patience with their coach if that step cannot be achieved over the next two years, and perhaps even this season.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/richmond-tigers/heat-is-on-hardwick-to-deliver-20150401-1md4t8.html
