Hardwick extension means little: KennellySource: SportsFan
Tuesday, March 08, 2016A contract extension for Damien Hardwick is imminent, and Tadhg Kennelly thinks this is a sign of solidarity by Richmond - but they have to perform in the 2016 finals.
Richmond shouldn't hesitate in ripping up Damien Hardwick's new two-year contract extension, argues Tadhg Kennelly, should the coach fail to take his team to the second week of the finals.
Having first discussed a new offer late last season, the Tigers appear set to have Hardwick put pen to paper before round one.
Former Swans defender Kennelly says that while the contract is part show of faith and part stability, it will mean little if the results don't come.
"You'd think it would be (a good move) at the start of the year because they're trying to sell the message of 'it's secure, we're backing you in, you're the man for us to get us into the top four and get a premiership'," he told SportsFan's Will McCloy.
"Fact of the matter is they haven't won a final the last three years they've been in there. I actually thought last year if they made the top four, they were a chance of making the grand final.
"They looked like a team that was extremely dangerous and they'd beaten all the top four teams in the home and away season. They didn't do that, they finished outside the top four and lost the first final."
Kennelly expects Richmond to have little trouble making the finals again in 2016.
However, even a 10-year contract would be torn up if the Tigers fail to win their first final – elimination, qualifying or even semi, should they finish top four and lose in the first week – since 2001.
"If he loses another first final, if they don't make the top four, well you can guarantee if they gave him a 10-year contract right now, it's gone," he said.
"You can't, as a coach, go through three years in a row losing the first final, that's what you're really judged on. (If he loses again) I think it's scrap, scrap. I think it has to be."
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