Here are David King's comments:With Richmond’s premiership aspirations in 2021 all but over, North Melbourne premiership player David King has questioned whether coach Damien Hardwick should look for a new challenge at a rival club rather than eventually exit in the turbulent manner of some of his peers.
The Tigers went down to Geelong by 38 points on Sunday, leaving the reigning premiers half-a-game outside the top eight and locked among a group of four other teams competing for eighth spot on the ladder.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, the state of the coaching landscape prompted King to put forward “a philosophical discussion without trying to sack anyone”.
“Damien Hardwick has been this club for a dozen years and been fantastic, absolutely bought success to a club that‘s been nowhere for 30 years and it’s been unbelievable what he’s been able to do,” he said.
“But I thought the same thing about Don Pyke when he was at Adelaide Crows taking them to a grand final, a couple of years later he’s gone. Nathan Buckley, they go to a grand final and a couple years later he’s gone. Alastair Clarkson right now after four premierships with one club.
“I wonder whether Damien Hardwick sits back and says, ‘Do I want to be in that situation, or do I make the decision that I’ve done enough with this group? I’ve been fantastic for the club, and they’ve been great for me’, but there’s a bit of tension around and we don’t need to go into it.
“Is it the time now for us to be mature as a fan base, to say ‘Okay, why can’t he go and coach somewhere else for another 10 years and reset, get the juices flowing again and have a fresh start, go again at a Carlton or Collingwood or wherever?’ Clubs would come from everywhere to get hold of Damien Hardwick.”
The career coach approach, King said, could allow Hardwick to coach well into the future and challenge himself at other clubs, rather than be tied down to the Tigers for years to come.
“What happens if in 20 years time we look back and say he coached five times and won eight flags and was fantastic?”, King said.
“I think that that’s a realistic and viable option for Damien if he wanted to do that, and I think we can handle that.”
While co-panellist Leigh Montagna agreed with the idea personally, he wasn’t convinced the industry as a whole would be able to stomach the change in tact from a senior coach.
“I don’t think as an industry we’re mature enough - we seem to align our coaches to clubs. I’m with you, you look at every other sport around the world and all the great coaches move around from club to club, they carry success with them,” he said.
“It’s got some merit, but I don’t think it will happen. I think that the coaches and the fans we still have that tribal loyalty about us and we want to keep the coach at the same club, but I think it is something that we should be OK with.”
Hardwick has three years to run on his current deal at the Tigers, having taken over as senior coach in 2010.
Regardless, King said a decision from Hardwick himself was greater than any monetary value or contract clause.
“It’s not about the money, it’s not even about the deal,” he said.
“If he walks in and says ‘We’ve been good for each other. I think it’s time’, there’s no other conversation.
“I just wonder whether in the current model which we say fall apart so quickly, with the names we just mentioned, whether it’s worth talking about.”
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