Tigers better placed for finals success in 2019: HardwickBy Nic Negrepontis
SEN
13 Aug 2019Richmond finished the 2018 season two games clear on top of the AFL ladder and were red-hot favourites to win the premiership.
That obviously didn’t eventuate, with Collingwood knocking them out in the Preliminary Final and coach Damien Hardwick admitted they peaked too early in the season.
“I think we probably played too well, too early last year, if that makes sense,” Hardwick said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“As we said, we scraped home with a couple of wins — we probably should have lost a couple of games — I think the Bulldogs and I think the Cats … probably should have beaten us too I think from memory, Gary (Ablett) had that shot late.
“And we probably would have been good to get a kick up the backside at some stage.”
The Tigers have had their ups and downs this season, dealing with significant injury issues which saw them spend time outside the top eight.
Richmond has won seven in a row heading into the final fortnight of the season and Hardwick feels they’re in a better position now than they were last year.
“But this year I feel we’re better placed, I think we’re playing a better brand of footy,” he said.
“What we would say is we’re playing a better brand of footy, I think our guys are better placed this time of year but that doesn’t necessarily correspond to you winning the flag.
“But all we’ve got to worry about is West Coast this week, just try and get that over the line and then we’ll take whatever comes in front of us from there.”
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/08/13/tigers-better-placed-for-finals-success-in-2019-hardwick/
