A decade of Dimma

[one-eyed]

This time 10 years ago, the Club’s official magazine ‘The Fighting Tiger’ got up close and personal with new Richmond coach Damien Hardwick before his Yellow and Black coaching debut. The man entrusted with leading the Tigers out of the football wilderness and into the promised land provided a fascinating insight into what made him tick. Here, in full, is that interview . . .

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/572406/dimma-from-a-decade-ago

“Look, there’d be no greater club to coach than Richmond into a finals series, come when that may. I still remember playing against Richmond – I was injured on that day, but in 1995, when Matthew Knights tore Essendon apart in the first half.

“Because I was injured I was in the crowd, but the roar was staggering. I’ll never forget it – I still reckon it was one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever been a part of.

“To get this club back to that would be an outstanding result. It’s surprising how many Richmond faithful are out there – you meet them down the street, all around. It’s amazing how many people are out there who support the Tigers.

“It would just be great if we could turn all those people into members. You can imagine the day when there’s 60,000 Richmond faithful at the ‘G’, and we’re playing Essendon, and there’s only 20,000 Bombers fans . . . it becomes like a cauldron.

“That would be outstanding.”

[lamington]

Excellent flashback Friday! Dimma I ripped into you and called you a poo coach during 13-16 but I take back all those comments. Thanks for delivering us to these happy times

[Rampsation]

This bloke should be considered to be as great a coach ad Tom Hafey. Dimmas winning flags in the most professional era of Australian football in a league of 18 teams not 12 and he is winning with drafts and salary caps in place. Tommy will always be a great coach but so is Damien Hardwick.

[skiddymcghee]

He's done a fantastic job to date with 2 flags, but still has a way to go before he's mentioned in the same breathe as Tom Hafey.

[Rampsation]

I disagree.  I outlined why. Dimma is right up there and a future immortal of our club.

[mightytiges]

It's also hard to compare as Hafey coached in time when every second game was played at an opposition's smaller suburban ground while Dimma coaches in a national comp. where Victorian grounds have been "rationalised" to only the MCG & Docklands (so there's more derbies for us than in Hafey's era of just playing Melbourne) and true away games occur at interstate grounds.

Hafey has the better coaching record by far and obviously more premierships won but one thing he had to his advantage over Dimma was that he inherited a team on the cusp. The previous year's (1965) side finished one spot out of the top 4/finals with 10 wins 8 losses. Dimma started with the "worst team since Fitzroy". Only Cotch, Sheds and Jack (plus Rance*) survived from the pre-Dimma era up to the post-2016 when we became a premiership(s) side.

By the way, Dimma only needs to coach 18 more games to pass Hafey's coaching games record at Richmond.

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/coaches/richmond.html

[lamington]

I’m still inclined to go Hafey because the league wasn’t the professional outfit it is now where you have such a large pool of people who might not have the skills and footy smarts but at least are athletes and fitness machines.

Pre AFL i would say it’s hard to get a bunch of people together with competing interests outside of footy and getting them to dominate on the park

I will seriously need to revise  my thoughts on this if Dimma delivers us a 3rd though

[mightytiges]

It's really a question for a period of time well after Dimma has stopped coaching (hopefully that's a long way away as it would mean even more success for us to come ).

It's harsh but history (fans in the distant future) will ultimately judge and compare both based purely on the number of flags we won. It's what everyone plays for. Checker Hughes got us to as many GFs are Hafey did and had a better winning % than Hafey but we only won one flag. No one mentions during Hughes' era that the old Challenge system up until 1931 favoured Collingwood (they have 9 of their 15 flags thanks to it  ). Hughes would eventually win 5 flags from 11 GFs but sadly 4 of those premierships were at the Dees.

Dimma even if he retired now with 2 flags would go down as a great (Richmond) coach and a legend because he broke the 37 year drought but Hafey with 4 premierships from 5 GFs still pips him at this stage IMHO.

[JP Tiger]

Hafey Vs Dimma is a really tough call because of the differences in professionalism of the two eras. 
Seriously, there were plenty of blokes out there in the 60's & 70's who could barely kick, plenty were completely one sided, some couldn't hit a target with a handball from 2mtrs away & some blokes had a dart in the rooms at half time!  Parts of the 70's from the athletic skills point of view were absolutely shambolic!  But, Hafey was personally responsible for changing all of that.
As good as Dimma is he will always have the benefit of standing on Hafey's shoulders. 
Hafey was a trend setter in his day who carved out the modern era single handed.  He was a fitness fanatic, skills freak, a superb tactician & a brilliant motivator.  He turned all that into a group of players who would run through brick walls for their coach!  That is his legacy & the entire sport is better for it.       
Dimma is an excellent coach & I'm so glad we kept faith in him, he has rescued a once great club from the brink of extinction ... but he will never be a Tom Hafey!     

[one-eyed]

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/580750/what-a-difference-a-decade-makes

[the claw]

Hafey by the length of the flemington straight.

Lets not rewrite history in many ways Hardwick was lucky to survive to go on and win two flags. In his first 7 yrs we had not won a final.

Even now the system based footy we play today is debated about. Who came up with the fwd handball and pressure systems we use.
Weather people like it or not there is a strong case that can be made for Caracella.
What cant be denied is Harwick is loved by the players who play for him but i just dont think he was that great in his first 7 seasons.

[Assange Tiger 😎]

He wasn't great in his first 7 seasons, but he is a dual premiership coach and the only premiership coach I have seen coach our club in my lifetime.

Forever grateful for what he and the boys did for me (and others) in 2017

[the claw]

He wasn't great in his first 7 seasons, but he is a dual premiership coach and the only premiership coach I have seen coach our club in my lifetime.

Forever grateful for what he and the boys did for me (and others) in 2017

Me too. Ive been lucky enough to see three premiership coaches but i think of all the premierships 2017 was the most emotional and satisfying.It literally lifted a burden off all tiger supporters shoulders.