The best I've coached, says Richmond coach Damien HardwickMichael Gleeson
The Age
31 August 2017Damien Hardwick believes this Richmond team is clearly much better than any he has coached and the style of game they play will stand up in finals.
The Tigers played an aggressive contested fast style of game that was suited to finals, Hardwick said, admitting that across the board he felt this side was significantly better than any he had coached.
"This side is a lot better, more consistent" than previous finals teams, he said, with the Tigers going into the finals as a top-four team.
"They play a game style that I feel is certainly finals calibre, we play it a little bit differently because we had to, the personnel, the leadership and the way they play the game is going to hold us in good stead.
"We play a high-pressure game, high-contested game, high-tackle game – those are the sort of things that finals footy are all about. Our guys love it the way they play the game. It is not the prettiest game that we play at certain stages but it is fast, physical and pressured, so they are a lot better than what I have coached in the past, no doubt.
"It's certainly a unique group. I said after the game on the weekend when we clinched top four – a lot of people have said why we can't do it and the reasons we can't win – but our guys stick to a process, they don't worry about the outcome too much and we know if we get that template right and we play to the best of our ability on those measurables, then we are really hard to beat."
Hardwick was candid, open and enthusiastic about his team on the eve of the finals, admitting that in the past he had tried to blinker out the finals buzz from his team but this year he wanted the players to embrace the hype and enjoy the finals so as not take them for granted.
"I want our guys to embrace the hype of the finals series. There are 10 other sides sitting there wishing they could be us and seven others," he said.
Hardwick said he was often unmoved about his own teams and reluctant to watch replays of games afterwards but this team excited him.
"I am not normally a big watcher of us, but I go home and watch our tapes and watch us play with my kids and sit there and marvel at what these guys have been able to do. I enjoy it.
Hardwick enthused that Richmond was exciting as they had only one player on their injury list – Nathan Drummond –and the VFL side was also doing well. He said Josh Caddy would be fit for the first final and would be picked but the club must decide if he should play VFL this week before next week's final.
He said the club would enjoy the fact they would draw close to a sell-out crowd at the MCG for the game – especially after only 3000 Richmond fans could get into Simmonds Stadium last time they played.
"We are the No. 1 drawing club in the AFL at the moment and these guys are incredibly resilient," he said. "We lost three games by a kick or less, so they have real grit in the way they play.
"That is what held us in good stead thus far and will hold us in good stead."
The small forward line had been constructed out of necessity from early in the year when viable tall forwards were not available but now the fleet of small forwards had become the club's first choice structural set-up.
"I think it is our one wood. We look at it and we accept it for what it is – they are small but they are certainly quick and they fight like buggery and we have found a second key forward in Jacob Townsend [said with a laugh]."
Hardwick said there was no monkey on the club's back about winning a final as "the game doesn't sort of know that you have got a monkey on your back ... it's a different side than we have had over the previous years. This side is as good as I have had."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-best-ive-coached-says-richmond-tigers-coach-damien-hardwick-20170830-gy7ekm.html
