Hardwick quits

[tony__montana]

cumbos reaction to the news

 

[RJK Tiger]

In saying all this, i do hope he has a good break from it all, it has been a very intense ride for even us, but for him it has been immense. He came into the Richmond coaching gig as a bight-eyed novice coach with a young family & leaves a 3 time premiership coach with a new GF. It's a very hard gig being an AFL coach, especially a very good one. He started his speech stating that the league had gotten very even & very challenging, but that essentially has gotten a bit much for him. He came in a fairly zen guy, built a successful gameplan fueled on chaos, then saw a different form of chaos infect his personal & work life. Just as chaos is our gameplan overwhelmed our opponents, it tends to do the same thing on your mental health, as once it gets rolling - it becomes a beast of its own. If any guy needs a break, its Damien Hardwick. I suspect he will coach again next year, but if he is smart i think he should take longer off and explore himself a bit more, a bit like Clarko did. Clarko came back a good coach, his past is what has messed his plans up.

I think the issues in Dimma appeared the more the AFL pushed against us with rule changes, then soft cap changes , then on-field umpiring farce and eventually ARC-gate. It honestly felt like he upset someone in a big way over the hub and after that he had the entire AFL system working against him/us. IT took a toll, we saw him get grumpy, sarcastic etc. The restrictions on the soft cap will stop now - but they have been a farce and work against what the AFL should be 100% about. The coaches & support team are genuinely the health & soul of a footy club. They teach the kids & help them become great young men & exceptional athletes. They also act as a support network to the coaches, a role which is often high octane & one no one in your family or friends can really understand unless they have lived it. Its a very small group of people. Restricting the Soft Cap has literally restricted clubs ability to pour resources into building and sustaining good people. I have no doubt the soft cap hurt Dimma alot - that group of coaches were his mates, his friends and his comrades. They were always his biggest strength & vice versa. He was key to those guys becoming the great coaches they were. Thats what the soft cap did - it stopped high quality people being able to work together to build strong football clubs and human beings. Beyond idiotic.

The Richmond dynasty story is now complete & its the doozy they always promised us. Like the so often story of a great rock n roll band - there was in-fitting, police, lewd behaviour, players getting sick, getting arrested, **** and medals, chopsticks, kebabs & strippers, wives, potential affairs, religious cults & more money than you can poke a stick at. People got made for life, but it also came at a lot of personal cost to themselves and the people around them. But somewhere through all that, perfection happened. 3 times. As this is the end,I hope all the people who actually had to live through that story can take a mental break from it & appreciate the part they played in a story that will live on for decades, not just to us supporters, but footy folklore. It might be the greatest AFL story of our lifetimes, irrelevant of who you barrack for. It was one for the ages. They should hold 10 year anniversary of the 2017 AFL GF at the MCG - sell tickets starting at $10 a head, but have VIP packages where you are seated on the ground with dinner included etc.. Replay the entire finals series on the screens, then get the team back on the ground for a few hours of story telling & get those cups out. The club could make a couple of million in a single night. That is honestly how big of event these GF's are to the supporters, but footy itself. Those people who learned to hate us again will start to ease off and we will start to see this team get the utter respect they deserved. They sit amongst the Lions team once the smoke settles

People that think i dont care, you are very wrong. I was there for 2017 - flew down for the prelim & stayed through to the GF. In 2020 this club allowed me to take my son to his first GF and see us win in Brisbane. That is the stuff that makes your life. I appreciate everything Dimma & this group has done for us. My attitude has always just been that doesn't give you a gold pass to do whatever you want, for as long as you like. Change is required so we can create that moment for other people to enjoy & hopefully, not have to wait 40 year

 

[DickieKnee]

It's a bit of a new feeling for us Tigers supporters. The coach has been a stable fixture since 2010 apart from 2016 when there were #sackdimma rumblings. 13 years of relative stability. Will be almost impossible to match by the he new incoming coach.

 

[mcuzzy]

Don't like Hardwick's attitude here tbh

#sackdimma

 

[Sir_Loin]

View attachment 1694639

Still the best

 

[Rubber Hips]

Kudos to Dimma & Kudos to our great club for the way this unfolded

he hasn’t left us high and dry

we are still very competitive

love the way the club had the decency and respect to let Dimma call the shots

he wasn’t sacked

its wasn’t about Dimma the person

its about the club…and what’s best for our club


I know most of us here are stoked to have had a true great coach us to 3 premierships

…and like most here, it’s a sad day because the Dimmasty era is effectively over


heres to Dimma

heres to our great club

hers to our future

go tigers!

 

[Piesnchess]

Pardon my intrusion , but as a Piesman, I salute Dimma, only the truly great Coaches snare a three peat of Premierships, and he has been a fantastic Coach for the Tigers. His CV is awesome, no doubt he will do a Ross Lyon, have time off in the media, as they do, but he will be in high demand as a future coach, he will have clubs like the Eagles, Suns, Port, maybe the Swans, beating a path to his door. If Fly McCrae was still with you guys, hed be the heir apparent, and theres no doubt Fly learnt under Dimma, our gameplan is a carbon copy of the Richmond one, that snared three flags, chaos attacking footy, mass swarm attacks, constant play on, Fly learnt well under Hardwick, and hes a friggin genius, with what hes done with my team. Goodluck Dimma, well done.

 

[Grechy]

There has to be some sort of send off surely. We're talking about a 3 x premiership coach.

 

[Freddy Swift]

man last night I was a bit smashed and had a false bravado

now I'm actually gutted over this

I’m really glad to read this Groupie. I was a tad disappointed with some of your posts last night, but if you were not quite yourself (inebriated), I’ll forgive you.

 

[SunshineBoy]

Pardon my intrusion , but as a Piesman, I salute Dimma, only the truly great Coaches snare a three peat of Premierships, and he has been a fantastic Coach for the Tigers. His CV is awesome, no doubt he will do a Ross Lyon, have time off in the media, as they do, but he will be in high demand as a future coach, he will have clubs like the Eagles, Suns, Port, maybe the Swans, beating a path to his door. If Fly McCrae was still with you guys, hed be the heir apparent, and theres no doubt Fly learnt under Dimma, our gameplan is a carbon copy of the Richmond one, that snared three flags, chaos attacking footy, mass swarm attacks, constant play on, Fly learnt well under Hardwick, and hes a friggin genius, with what hes done with my team. Goodluck Dimma, well done.

Yeah but the AFL,hasn’t ****ed you guys with the umpires like they did us for the last 7 years

 

[Piesnchess]

Yeah but the AFL,hasn’t ****ed you guys with the umpires like they did us for the last 7 years

Umpires, turn it up, tell that to Jack Ginnivan, and Bobby Hill, had their heads nearly pulled off last week, no free kick, Murphy gets hammered across face, v swans, blood everywhere, no free, nothing, umpires do us No favours mate, can tell you that.

 

[Sir_Loin]

Pardon my intrusion , but as a Piesman, I salute Dimma, only the truly great Coaches snare a three peat of Premierships, and he has been a fantastic Coach for the Tigers. His CV is awesome, no doubt he will do a Ross Lyon, have time off in the media, as they do, but he will be in high demand as a future coach, he will have clubs like the Eagles, Suns, Port, maybe the Swans, beating a path to his door. If Fly McCrae was still with you guys, hed be the heir apparent, and theres no doubt Fly learnt under Dimma, our gameplan is a carbon copy of the Richmond one, that snared three flags, chaos attacking footy, mass swarm attacks, constant play on, Fly learnt well under Hardwick, and hes a friggin genius, with what hes done with my team. Goodluck Dimma, well done.

Fly would have been my choice to take over if he was still an assistant at the tiges

 

[biaseddustyfan]

Doesn’t matter who we get next if we don’t get good assistants

Get Damien Hardwick as an assistant

 

[juss]

Heartbreaking to think the Bombers debacle is the last game he coaches with us. Makes the loss even worse. Deserved better.

 

[SavDog23]

wonder how chris scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

is feeling knowing he was still outcoached by a checked-out Dimma on the bongs

must be hurting

 

[SavDog23]

 

[biaseddustyfan]

relatable grimes

 

[Mr Magic]

Happy to get out by the looks of it lol

View attachment 1694553

seems comfortable he made the right decision

 

[Sir_Loin]

Who knows what this year holds but I always thought that once Rance, Chimp, Jack, Shedda, Lambo retired it would be a good time to move on. Timing not perfect but all those players will be gone end of year. Can see the reasoning

 

[Meteoric Rise]

wonder how chris scott is feeling knowing he was still outcoached by a checked-out Dimma on the bongs

must be hurting

Dimma even beat Chris Scott in the race to pick up his final pay from the front office.

 

[db26]

Great full to him and gave us relevance again , but no one is bigger then the club.Fresh start new ideas now and we need a clean out of assistant coaches and fitness department to and recruitment needs to be beefed up and a different strategy.With Gale and Balme we're in good hands no better people previously in situations like this we had incompetent people running our club.Can't stress how Balme will be important now in this transition.

 

[Mr Magic]

Who knows what this year holds but I always thought that once Rance, Chimp, Jack, Shedda, Lambo retired it would be a good time to move on. Timing not perfect but all those players will be gone end of year. Can see the reasoning

Must mean we could not get Rance back so the last Dance is over

 

[Nostradumbass]

Finally watched the press conference, **** me that was a hard watch. Thanks for giving me the best football years of my life after suffering for nearly 40 Dimma. All the best.

 

[All Aust]

Yup, I dare say it was already flying around the media circles and Morris was the only one who went against the club wishes not to go public yet (good on him I guess he has potentially been the guy who has broken one of the biggest afl stories this year)

I think Morris is a pencil neck flog but it’s also his job so I’m not super fussed about him running with it either

I think he a minor in the game. A wreck of a human. Artists impression:

 

[biaseddustyfan]