Peggy O’Neal president On the Couch: what a premiership is worth to Tigers
September 26, 2017 9:42pmMax Laughton@maxlaughtonSource: FOX SPORTS
RICHMOND president Peggy O’Neal has revealed exactly what a premiership will mean to the club while explaining the reasons behind the decision to keep Damien Hardwick as senior coach.
The Tigers boss was awarded as the AFLCA Coach of the Year on Tuesday night, just 12 months after an internal review had his position up for debate.
Richmond has risen from 13th in 2016 to the Grand Final this year — the biggest year-on-year jump since Melbourne went from 14th to the season decider from 1999 to 2000 — with Hardwick’s coaching receiving plenty of credit.
O’Neal, the first female AFL club president, said the board was “willing to take the risk” of stepping backwards this season that keeping Hardwick represented.
“The principal thing for me that came across was that he was a man of great character,” she told Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
“The players loved playing for him, he’s someone who puts the club first and has no second agenda and his coaching record was very good for that stage of a career.
“We made the decision on what he had done and we did talk, because you always talk about if things go wrong, what happens if we go backwards next year and we were willing to take that risk.
“We still thought he was the right man for the job and I kept saying it all year, “he will coach, we’ll see out his contract.” We thought that some things around him needed to change and that’s what we put our mind to do.”
The president herself was also under fire this time last year as the ‘Focus on Footy’ group tried to challenge the board.
But with Richmond heading to a Grand Final — and set for a $3 million boost to the club coffers, according to O’Neal — she now appears to be secure.
Yet having been targeted in the past by less savoury types, O’Neal still believes some people don’t believe she should be in her position based on her gender.
“There’s no doubt that a lot of people still think that women have no role in this game — either playing it or working in it, or having roles in governance,” she said.
“I’ve always thought — and being a lawyer, I’ve been the only woman in the room a lot of times — that the best thing is just to go on and do a good job.
“My principal job is to be president of the Richmond Football Club and so I just do it, and all that entails ... I have no doubt that it still continues to be said to this day.”
O’Neal also said that the Tigers have heard the rumblings that they have been unsuccessful in bidding for an AFLW license.
“We’ve heard that. We hope not,” she said.
“If we are (unsuccessful), we’ll be disappointed. I thought our application was extraordinarily good.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/richmond-president-peggy-oneal-on-why-the-tigers-kept-damien-hardwick-and-what-a-flag-is-worth/news-story/b524ebab1b5836f0d11cc35d82aef897
