Hardwick hits up Goorjian for ideasJon Pierik
May 28, 2011RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick tapped into the mind of one of Australia's leading coaches this week in a bid to help sharpen the Tigers' on-field defensive pressure and recruiting methods.
Veteran basketball mentor Brian Goorjian, on holidays in Melbourne from coaching in China, met with Hardwick and his staff on Monday.
The pair established a strong relationship when Hardwick, as an assistant with Hawthorn, spent a week with Goorjian's successful Sydney Kings.
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Before leaving for Darwin, where his Tigers face Port Adelaide tonight, Hardwick told The Saturday Age this week's chat with Goorjian had been beneficial.
''You can learn so many things from other sports. It is just a matter of how you apply them to AFL football,'' he said. ''Brian has taught me a lot about coaching. The thing that has always struck me most about him is that he is just an outstanding teacher and communicator.
''Ernie Merrick and Brian Goorjian are two elite coaches in our own backyard. It is great to observe them and talk about coaching with people of that calibre.''
Goorjian, who won six National Basketball League championships and is a former national team coach, said Hardwick always shaped as an excellent senior coach.
''When we were winning those championships with the Kings, Hardwick rolled into Sydney,'' Goorjian said.
''The Hawks then put him with us for a week. He went to all the practices, all the meetings, all the preparation, we just spent a week together. As a coach you could see he was really talented and he was going to be good.
''He was well organised and well spoken and really smart. It became a session of sharing ideas.''
Goorjian, who enjoyed a 70 per cent winning record in the NBL, is now coaching the Dongguan Leopards in the Chinese Basketball Association, a multimillion-dollar operation, which he guided into the semi-finals last season - his first as senior coach there. ''There are a lot of similarities about what's going on in footy and what's going in basketball,'' he said.
Goorjian-led teams have always been known for their strength and fitness. He said the Tigers had provided insights into other key areas.
''We [Leopards] really need help with the recovery, really need help with the teamship.''
Long-established basketball defensive strategies, particularly the zone, and how to counter the zone, have become all the rage in the AFL, an area Goorjian can provide a great insight into.
''When Damien was in Sydney, we had a reputation for defence and changing defence and we were talking about that way back then,'' Goorjian said.
''It was how you move from one position to the other, where you are pushing the ball, a lot of basketball stuff which is now becoming a lot of football stuff.
''They [football] have 18 guys so it's more complicated … it's, how do you practice that? What drills do you do? In basketball it's limiting your bounces, in footy it could be you are not allowed to bounce the ball, or you are not allowed to handball [through the zone].''
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