‘MASSIVE END OF AN ERA’ AT TIGERLAND AS COACHING CALL LOOMSBen Waterworth, Ben Cotton and Jono Baruch
Fox Sports
August 7th, 2023Richmond’s significant loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night not only essentially ended the Tigers’ finals hopes, but might’ve kickstarted the “end of an era”, according to veteran reporter Caroline Wilson.
The 55-point loss to the Bulldogs was Richmond’s second straight defeat after what had been a resurgent second half of the season under interim coach Andrew McQualter.
But with a tough run of games to end the season, Wilson believes conversations at Punt Road will intensify over the coming weeks, particularly around much-loved premiership players.
“I think in the next couple of weeks we’ll hear Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin are retiring. They’ll play their last game in Melbourne – if they’re able to – at the MCG against North Melbourne in Round 23,” Wilson said on 3AW Football.
“Gold Coast are definitely interested in Dustin Martin,” she said. “Personally, I’d be staggered if Dustin Martin doesn’t play his 300th game in the yellow and black, but they are interested.”
“I think it’ll be a massive end of an era ... there’s a lot of big questions facing Richmond now.”
It leaves the Tigers in an interesting spot as they ready themselves to make a call on who the next senior coach will be.
McQualter, having declared an interest in the role, is firmly in the running to win the top job at the Tigers, along with Port Adelaide assistant Josh Carr.
While Richmond will likely fall short of finals, McQualter’s impressive 10-week stretch that has seen him amass an impressive 6-4 record, would have him in the box seat to land the full-time role.
Speaking on Fox Footy, former Hawthorn forward Ben Dixon believes McQualter has put himself in pole position by “doing a job interview every time he talks”.
“Everyone on the committee at Richmond is looking with pretty close eyes on how he handles himself and he handles himself beautifully,” Dixon said on Fox Footy Live.
Triple premiership forward Cameron Mooney added: “He’s handled the last 10 weeks extremely well.
“He’s getting ticks … he got a tick for the way he handled tonight (the loss to the Bulldogs).
“He’ll have to be right up there (to win the job).”
Wilson believes McQualter has done enough to win the senior job “on merit”, with the club poised to make a decision on the position before the end of the season.
“In a way, it’ll be for the Richmond reckoning, McQualter will win the job on his merits now ... had he made finals it would’ve been tough to overlook him,” she said.
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