Is something wrong in The Tiger Den?

[Tigeritis™©®]

Look, who knows what’s happening behind closed doors? Maybe it’s not Hardwick at all.

But for all we know Hardwick might be acting like an absolute tool now with all the success going to his head, he is human and this can happen. Unfortunately, unlike the end of 2016, he doesn’t have the cool head of Mrs Hardwick to tell him some home truths about his attitude.

I know it’s all speculation but I guess that’s all we can do at this stage. Add to that age, injuries and fatigue and we are losing to teams below us playing our worst footy since 2016 and look like a bottom four team. 

The bloke has got us 3 premierships that i didn’t expect. I’m willing to cut him some slack and show some confidence is his abilities to get us playing the brand of footy we love to watch.

[eliminator]

Use the rest of the season with an eye to the future eg get games into Stack, Miller, Dow, RCD and Rioli Junior. Father time has caught up with great servants of this club eg Cotch, Jack, Houli and Astbury. Houli should definitely retire at season's end. This draft is critical for us. Wise decisions need to be made.

[one-eyed]

Leigh Montagna on Fox Footy last night reckons Richmond has lost its "mojo" and the past two weeks is 'mental'. Subconsciously thinking you're trying as hard as usual when you're not. Thinks/hopes Dimma's upbeat comments pre-game that didn't eventuate may be delayed by a week. That we only hit rock bottom against the Suns and now Dimma needs to spur on the group on an upward trend.

David King said even if Richmond makes 7th/8th it will only mean an Elimination Final exit. So is it really much a benefit for the future anyway.

Ben Dixon is still sticking to his three-peat prediction from 2019 based on our run home fixture. He did add that we threw away two dead rubbers against St Kilda and Gold Coast.

[Diocletian]

Surely once it's clear we're not winning the flag we rest the old blokes and the blokes with niggles.. Cotchin needs an extended break if he's going around again, why continue to play Dusty with his supposedly sore ankle if there's nothing to be gained? Why run Nankervis into the ground or bring in Lambert & Prestia and risk them doing their hammys again? No real need to play Jack after he gets to 300/700 either if we're out of the running...

[georgies31]

I must say we're our own worse enemy at the moment skill wise,  lapses etc.I don't think it's all about teams working us out.Lucky we played 2 games of Richmond brand of footy this year lucky that the pressure and intensity  etc alot of this season is on us.

[one-eyed]

Had to laugh at Caro surmising tonight.

'I don't know if this is the reason but strong clubs are united and Dimma's marriage breakdown must have had an effect on relationships within the club'.

When she was pushed for more Caro added 'well like I said I don't know anything but I do know staff at the club were sad about what happened and Danielle [Hardwick] was part of the fabric of the club'.

----------

Cornes just blamed our current form on our struggling midfield being old, injured and absent:

Nankervis (4 games missed) - Still a young man but plays like a 32 year old given the load he has had to carry.
Prestia (9 games missed) - hardly plays anymore.
Lambert (7 games missed) - also not there.
Cotchin (4)
Bolton (3)
Edwards (2)
Dusty (1)

[one-eyed]

Here's the vision of Caro and her comments:

"I know there are people at Richmond who have not enjoyed some of the things that have happened off-field as a result of Damien's personal issues."

Caroline Wilson on potential unrest behind the scenes at TIgerland.

Watch here: https://twitter.com/FootyonNine/status/1412033335740731393

[WilliamPowell]

I was working and had it on in the background

When they said they were going to talk about leadership at Richmond I thought I better watch this.

5-6 minutes I won't get back

First reaction was you hypocrite Caro. Starts with.. "I don't know the answer but...."

Then proceeds says to state things as facts including she stands by her opinion piece that she wrote in January which she then admits was her opinion. Then a has a sook about Dimma refusing to go on 3AW

Blah, blah.

Final thing I took out of it was perhaps she's been reading OER 

[Simonator]

Caro is truely insufferable

[Eat_em_Alive]

I was working and had it on in the background

When they said they were going to talk about leadership at Richmond I thought I better watch this.

5-6 minutes I won't get back

First reaction was you hypocrite Caro. Starts with.. "I don't know the answer but...."

Then proceeds says to state things as facts including she stands by her opinion piece that she wrote in January which she then admits was her opinion. Then a has a sook about Dimma refusing to go on 3AW

Blah, blah.

Final thing I took out of it was perhaps she's been reading OER 

 

[lamington]

For me after the nightclub incident Bolton hasn’t been the same

[one-eyed]

The media is now running with Caro's comments.

--------------------------------------------

Damien Hardwick’s ‘personal issues’ derailing Tigers: Caroline Wilson

news.com.au
6 July 2021

AFL journalist Caroline Wilson has suggested Richmond’s rough season can be traced back to reported unrest at the club following coach Damien Hardwick’s marriage breakdown.

The Tigers have won three of the past four flags but 2021 has been far from smooth sailing with the club sitting ninth after 16 rounds, having dropped out of the top eight following a shock loss to the Gold Coast Suns.

Footy fans have been struggling to explain the defending premiers’ struggles but Wilson believes the fall has been bubbling away all season.

It was revealed in December Hardwick had separated from his longtime wife Danielle, with whom he shares three children.

By early January, the three-time premiership-winning coach’s new relationship with a member of Richmond’s commercial sales team, Alexandra Crow, was made public.

At the time, Wilson penned an article for The Age, writing “the power imbalance between Crow and Hardwick is stark” and reported the club only became aware of the relationship when the coach was questioned by CEO Brendon Gale.

Wilson said at the time it was going to be difficult for the coach to retain authority over his players if any of them slip up, given the nature of his own personal circumstances.

Speaking on Footy Classified on Monday night, Wilson said the relationship may be “the elephant in the room” when looking at Richmond’s dire form.

“I wrote in January that he had tarnished his leadership at Richmond because of issues that had happened off-field,” she said. “We know that Damien and many at Richmond didn’t like this article but I stand by it.

“I certainly felt at the time that he had hurt the club and he had let the club down by the way he’d handled his off-field issues and the break-up of his marriage.

“I wrote at the time, would there be an issue on-field if disciplinary things took place and would his message be lost?

“I don’t know whether the off-field is affecting the on-field at the Richmond Football Club – only the players and the coach can know that. But what I do know is that great football clubs are strong and united and they hold together at every point.

“And I know that there are people at Richmond who have not enjoyed some of the things that have happened off-field as a result of Damien’s personal issues. I know it’s a tricky subject, but that’s the fact.”

Wilson said she didn’t know if the club was no longer as strong and united but that “staff members at the club have struggled with what’s taken place — we know that”.

“This is a team that has been unbelievable for four years and was threatening for finals for most of the years before that,” she continued.

“So I’m not surprised that players might have lost a bit of hunger and they’re getting older and injuries have cruelled them and maybe it’s just too hard to stay at the top for a fifth year in a row.

“As they rebuild now and leadership becomes a big issue at Richmond on and off the field, I just wonder if there’s any impact.”

Wilson also said the fallout from her story earlier in the year had seen Hardwick black-list radio station 3AW.

“I only become aware in recent weeks that he actually won’t come on 3AW at all, he’s banned the whole station, which seems extraordinary to me,” she said. “I’m only on one pre-game segment every weekend.

“I’m a football journalist – I’ve had my blues with Richmond in the past. I’ve had worse blues probably. It’s really interesting that he’s banned all of 3AW, I think that’s pretty strange.”

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/damien-hardwicks-personal-issues-derailing-tigers-caroline-wilson/news-story/c6e1eb22b9aeae2f58bc0d3043688995
https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/richmond-damien-hardwick-marriage-caroline-wilson-says-issues-could-be-affecting-tigers/ed05bfbd-f75a-44e0-a660-bd6ac102fe5f

[georgies31]

For me after the nightclub incident Bolton hasn’t been the same

I agree is he injured ? He was made to.pay a 20k fine to which was BS.

[one-eyed]

Jack didn't take a step back responding to Caro's comments on 360 last night  .


"It's not my job to talk about someone else's private life in the public eye and I don't think it's Caroline Wilson's either"

Jack shuts down rumours Dimma's personal life has impacted Richmond's performance this year.

Watch here: https://twitter.com/FOXFOOTY/status/1412356702662397957

[one-eyed]

‘Absolutely zero’: Tigers star shuts down Hardwick claims, issues warning to AFL rivals

David Zita
Fox Sports
July 7th, 2021

Richmond star Jack Riewoldt has categorically refuted suggestions from veteran journalist Caroline Wilson that Damien Hardwick’s personal issues in the lead-up to the 2021 season have had an impact on the side’s performance.

Wilson wrote about earlier this year - and brought up again this week - Hardwick’s marriage breakup with wife Danielle and a new relationship with a Tigers staffer, reporting that it had tarnished his legacy as a coach and irked some at the club.

Asked to address Wilson’s comments during Tuesday night’s AFL 360, a steely-eyed Riewoldt was categorical about any impact Hardwick’s personal life has had on the club’s middling season thus far.

“Zero (impact). Zero. Absolutely zero,” he said.

“It’s not my job to talk about someone else’s private life in the public eye. I don’t think it’s Caroline Wilson’s either.

“I’ve told you now - it’s got absolutely zero to do with our performance at all.”

On Richmond’s current form, which sees the reigning premiers in ninth position with seven rounds remaining, Riewoldt said critics were always going to come for the side at any sign of an on-field lapse.

“I think people have been waiting for their opportunity to sink their boots into us because we’ve been so successful for a long time,” he said.

“But good luck if you’re playing against us in the last seven weeks, wherever we sit on the ladder. We believe we’re a bloody good football side. We’ve played really poorly the last two weeks ... but good luck if you’re playing us in the last seven weeks.”

Riewoldt acknowledged the side had been sporadic in the past three weeks and had a lot of work to do to recover, but pointed to the team’s remarkable run of three flags in the past five years as a body of work that has their belief unwavering.

“We’re lacking a little bit of confidence and a bit of soul but you don’t lose what you’ve got overnight.,” he said.

“You don’t lose it in a month. We’ve played some pretty good football when we were away for a three-week stint and played some football that’s a real Richmond brand of football that we know we can get back to.

Yes we’ve got a few injuries, yes we’ve got some young players playing but it brings opportunity and we look forward to the opportunity against arch-rivals Collingwood on Sunday.

“I believe we’re still a bloody good football side. I believe that we can beat anyone.”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2021-jack-riewoldt-afl-360-interview-damien-hardwick-relationship-with-staff-member-caroline-wilson-comments-richmond-losing-record-end-of-premiership-era/news-story/0dda2b677e8ec1ab1396c93ba6cbabbf