Damien Hardwick on Talking Footy tonight

[Francois Jackson]

Did you see the lackadaisical defensive effort by Lids highlighted on the couch last night ??

He must have very mixed feeling at the minute.

yep i think i was critical at the time when we got rid of him but it seems i was wrong. Lets hope he doesnt save his best for us in a prelim. It will be his 250th game should they advance.

[Eat_em_Alive]

Did you see the lackadaisical defensive effort by Lids highlighted on the couch last night ??

He must have very mixed feeling at the minute.

yep i think i was critical at the time when we got rid of him but it seems i was wrong. Lets hope he doesnt save his best for us in a prelim. It will be his 250th game should they advance.

I think they will get through this week
Reckon he would have a good game on the G and im definitely not going to discount any team at this stage of the year.

[one-eyed]

Damien Hardwick says Dustin Martin's maturity has increased tenfold since arriving at Richmond

Anna Harrington
News Corp
12 September 2017

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick says star midfielder Dustin Martin has matured “tenfold” since arriving at the Tigers in 2009.

Martin is the red-hot favourite for this year’s Brownlow Medal, having enjoyed a standout season, and recently recommitted to the Tigers for seven more years.

Hardwick said the in-form midfielder “did everything right” when it came to his preparation — and Martin was reaping the rewards.

“He’s a fantastic player. It’s hard to believe he’s been in our system eight years now — he’s improved every year. He’s an incredible athlete,” Hardwick told 7mate’s Talking Footy.

“What I love about him is his maturity level now has increased tenfold.

“He looks after himself as good as I’ve seen from an elite athlete — he boxes twice a week, he does yoga, he does all these things which I never thought I’d see him do.

“But he knows that this is what he has to do to stay at the top of his game and that’s why we’re really happy as a footy club to have him for seven years because he does everything right, plays the game incredibly hard.”

Martin’s combination of skill, physicality and pure explosive power has set his apart from his contemporaries this season.

Hardwick said he marvelled at the 26-year-old’s ability.

“I’d love to say I’ve made him an incredible player but he just goes and he does what he does,” Hardwick said.

“I’ve got very little control over what he does. I marvel at the things that he does.

“Every now and then we say ‘listen, you don’t have to give a don’t argue every time you get the ball’ but I think the joy it gives our fans to see him looking for them when he goes around (is great).”

Martin’s decision to stay at the Tigers — potentially for the rest of his career — came after a season’s worth of speculation.

The midfielder ultimately knocked back a monster free agency offer at North Melbourne to remain at Punt Road.

Hardwick said the pressure of the decision on his future had become “tiring” for Martin, with the Tigers giving their star on-baller time off to rejuvenate.

“It probably got to a level where he was really tired … you’ve got to remember this is a big decision and free agency — it is what it is — but he was asked to make a really big decision,” Hardwick said.

“He turned down $2m to stay at our footy club — that is a hell of a lot of money for a guy that is 25, 26 years of age.

“So it did become tiring for him — we gave him a couple of days off just to relax and get back on track and we’ve seen the dividend of that for giving him a couple of easy days.”

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/richmond/damien-hardwick-says-dustin-martins-maturity-has-increased-tenfold-since-arriving-at-richmond/news-story/999fbc117cecedb91765cdb4dd334edc

[one-eyed]

Richmond Tigers' small forwards turn up the AFL finals heat

Jon Pierik
The Age
12 September 2017

Richmond's forward line has been branded "cheap as chips" but sparked by Damien Hardwick's change of mindset it could soon be the super-sized reason why the Tigers end a 37-year premiership drought.

Former Richmond assistant coach David King has pointed out how "cheap" the Tigers forward set-up is in terms of its combined salary compared to fellow finalists. And his comments about Dan Butler, Jack Riewoldt, Daniel Rioli, Kane Lambert, the recycled Josh Caddy and Jacob Townsend, the latter with 13 goals in three games, stack up.

While it's felt Riewoldt would pocket about $700,000 a season, his fellow forwards may not be on much more than the average wage, excluding, of course, blue-chip midfielders Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin when they push forward.

The Swans have Lance Franklin, understood to be on $1.2 million this year, and Sam Reid on major money; the Cats have the highly paid Tom Hawkins, Harry Taylor and Steven Motlop; while the Crows have skipper Taylor Walker, star small forward Eddie Betts and key forward Josh Jenkins. Greater Western Sydney has Jonathon Patton, Brett Deledio and the injured Jeremy Cameron, while West Coast has Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling and Mark LeCras.

Regardless of their pay scale, the Tiger forwards are humming, their manic pressure - whether that be tackling or harassing - a crucial cog in their surge into a preliminary final.

AFL great Wayne Carey said he was on the "Tiger bandwagon" and "believes they can go the whole way".

"It's a very different-look forward line but, it just goes to show you, you have to play with what you have got and make the best of what you have got," he said.

"They just have a lot of speed up there. That makes that forward line unbelievably dangerous and that [on Friday against Geelong] was without Jack Riewoldt having a real influence, either.

"They are a very good team. I know a lot of people are making comparisons with the Bulldogs last year. I agree with that comparison, because their game is built off pressure and everyone doing their bit. I know 'Dusty' was brilliant in big moments but they don't rely on anyone."

Hardwick, having enjoyed a breakthrough September victory as coach, said the decision to rubber-stamp a small line-up had been a "slow burn", having initially trialled this through the pre-season competition.

He said Justin Leppitsch, his assistant coach in charge of the forwards, "had wanted to go with a smaller-type forward line and the pressure that we had".

    "I was probably first and foremost on offensive-minded coach. I thought your best form of defence was your offence - we just threw it on its head."
    - Richmond coach Damien Hardwick on his change of mindset

"We consistently went with it but we always felt, as most sides do, that we needed that second key [forward], that forward-ruck, so I always felt a need that we had to get that guy in there," he said.

That "guy" initially was to have been Ben Griffiths but head knocks and injuries have curtailed his season. His last senior match was against Collingwood in round two but he has resumed in the VFL.

"We probably felt with injury and form that we weren't quite getting what we were after from that player so we just picked the next best guy, and he just happened to be a smaller guy that we consistently went with. Then we just plonked a mid [fielder] down there through various stages," Hardwick told Channel Seven's Talking Footy.

"We are pretty fortunate with Dustin and Trent down there that we get a reasonably good result."

Hardwick said the speed of Castagna, Rioli, Butler and Lambert had been pivotal but a change of mindset, even his own, had been critical.

"I was probably first and foremost an offensive-minded coach. I thought your best form of defence was your offence - we just threw it on its head," he said.

"We thought it's not working, let's go completely opposite. We have just smashed our defence. We have backed in our players to play offensively, we draft them because they have key strengths ... so let's just relax the offence and smash the defence."

The Tigers returned to training at Punt Road on Tuesday, ready to maintain a tempo that will have them in the right frame of mind to face the winner of Saturday's cut-throat clash between Greater Western Sydney and West Coast.

"Our players have played a really consistent brand of footy all year. We don't have to play any tricks. We just have to get them on the park on Saturday [week] - wind them up and off they go," Hardwick said.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/richmonds-successful-offseason-is-driving-its-onfield-success-and-premiership-hopes/news-story/ea5be88375c475c5458a92e8f73bfbe1

[Diocletian]

Which ultimately begs the question- would super coach have even implemented Leppa's idea had first Hamspud & then Balsa wood Benny not both gone down?

Does it really matter? Not the first time a club has created opportunities from adversity

Not sure I'd classify losing Hamspud as "adversity"......

[lamington]

Did you see the lackadaisical defensive effort by Lids highlighted on the couch last night ??

He must have very mixed feeling at the minute.

yep i think i was critical at the time when we got rid of him but it seems i was wrong. Lets hope he doesnt save his best for us in a prelim. It will be his 250th game should they advance.

I think they will get through this week
Reckon he would have a good game on the G and im definitely not going to discount any team at this stage of the year.

I too was very vocal about the departure of Lids. I am happy to eat my words.i thought he was going to have a Steve Johnson of 2016 type year at GWS. I would say Lambert has done a great job at providing pace and hard running across the ground and has been that dynamic link up player that lids was when he could get on the park and play HF for us

[Hard Roar Tiger]

Re the tall forward

"I waned to play a tall but WE decided not to"

Anyone catch that?

So does that make him a good coach or a bad one? To me listening and implementing what your advisers say make him a good coach. I will add that I dont think he has always been like that. Making the change in himself to do this deserves to be acknowledged.

It makes for good leadership and there's a difference...

[(•))(©™]

Re the tall forward

"I waned to play a tall but WE decided not to"

Anyone catch that?

So does that make him a good coach or a bad one? To me listening and implementing what your advisers say make him a good coach. I will add that I dont think he has always been like that. Making the change in himself to do this deserves to be acknowledged.

Making the change, others brought to the table is far less admirable than delivering of f ones own back, during the first 8 years.

Technically speaking, he's obsolete.

Politically speaking, he's required.

[YellowandBlackBlood]

I think Hardwick is great at bonding a team. I think he is a poor game day coach and tactician.
The combination of him with the brains of Caracella and Leppa cannot be underestimated.