Richmond’s next senior coach

[cairo tiger]

I'm very much about what's best for our club. I've supported the club long enough to see administrations, coaches and players come and go. What remains is the supporters and the legacy of Punt Road. We are the life blood of this place and without our passion, without our love and frustration, our euphoria and despair, our hard earned coin, this club would cease to exist. We are the foundation everything else is built upon.
But we are out own worst enemies too.

That same passion that drives us to watch every game, celebrate every win and even write on Big Footy, is the same passion that can threaten the stability of the club. We need to question the club and call it out on things that we disagree with (like playing Castagna and Aarts ffs!) but we also have to appreciate that it was through stability that we have had our recent ultimate success.

Blaming the coach for our failure is something we did during our darkest days. We were laughed at by the media and opposition supporters though our 'Eat our own' reputation and missed out on strong coaches because of it. All the media had to do is spark the decent then sit back and watch the Richmond Supporters do the rest. Eventually the board would fold and sack the coach and we would have to start rebuilding all over again.

Dimma needs to be held accountable for when we have bad loses but no more than our other coaches, players and administration. Dimma is not in control of injuries. If Lynch, Nank and Soldo were not injured during that game, we would have won it. If Martin, Vlaustin, Cotchin, Lambert and Ross had played, we would have won convincingly. That's not the coach.

If Castagna, Aarts, Short, Grimes or even Tarrant had not had brain fades, we would have easily won the game. That's not the coach.

If the umpires had awarded dodgy frees that resulted in goals for them, we would have won the game. That's also not the coaches fault.

We are all passionate supporters of our club or we wouldn't be on this forum. What I do hope though is that that passion is used to support our club, support our players and support our coaches. It's only through being unified during these challenging times that we will have a chance at any further success. Don't 'eat our own' and watch the media and opposition supporters laugh at us in glee.

Dimma is still the best coach in the league with the best record. Coaches like that don't grow on trees so lets stay strong and back him to use this recent adversity to solidify our great club to fight again for the flag, despite what is thrown at us. I believe we can still win this year but we won't do it by calling for the coaches head every time times get tough.

I take what you say and agree with you on most points. Yes been a great coach but truly think we need a different head in there. He has been found out on numerous occasions tactically. Maybe he hasn’t the right people there any more but it is becoming too common. The fact that our team gives up commanding positions is an indictment on them as players but also directly the coaches. I am getting tired of the spin we didn’t execute well. We’ll fix it. Train it. Plan for it.

 

[A Tiger 4 lyf]

From another tiger forum that's been a huge concern.

Lol they really added a 13 & 9 point lead to make it look worse


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[SunshineBoy]

I take what you say and agree with you on most points. Yes been a great coach but truly think we need a different head in there. He has been found out on numerous occasions tactically. Maybe he hasn’t the right people there any more but it is becoming too common. The fact that our team gives up commanding positions is an indictment on them as players but also directly the coaches. I am getting tired of the spin we didn’t execute well. We’ll fix it. Train it. Plan for it.

Was it the Carlton game when they got a run on and everyone wanted balata back and he did it too late?

 

[Daka]

That was a strange comment in the presser. I get he supports the guys who have been the core of the success but he may have some tough decisions to make

Players sometimes need a new voice, our great core players may not be here next year Cotch, Riewoldt, Edwards.
Still we don't know what's really happening with Martin.

Prestia will most likely be departing the club in the next 2-3 years.

 

[cairo tiger]

Players sometimes need a new voice, our great core players may not be here next year Cotch, Riewoldt, Edwards.
Still we don't know what's really happening with Martin.

Prestia will most likely be departing the club in the next 2-3 years.

only reason is for retirement, where else is meatball going

 

[tigerdan]

Hardwick is fine, certainly better than last year where dumping the missus in the off season jut made him look like hypocrite.

I'm more concerned about the assistant coaches, and to a lesser extent the recruitment. We're staring down the barrel of threadbare key forwards and onballers. Being successful will do that to you but we cant afford to **** this year up.

 

[Football Tragic]

I take what you say and agree with you on most points. Yes been a great coach but truly think we need a different head in there. He has been found out on numerous occasions tactically. Maybe he hasn’t the right people there any more but it is becoming too common. The fact that our team gives up commanding positions is an indictment on them as players but also directly the coaches. I am getting tired of the spin we didn’t execute well. We’ll fix it. Train it. Plan for it.

I think we're all sick of getting good leads and then pizzing them up the wall. Not good for the heart either!

I think this is more due to the age profile of the team and the intensity of the gameplan than it is the coaches moves. This game plan takes a large amount of stamina and concentration which out list has made an art of for almost half a decade. Unfortunately, our stars are aging and our depth players are still young. This is why we wear down teams in the second and third quarters but start to wane in the last. When we have the experience mix right, this doesn't happen. When we have too many of our older players out, we leave the door open late.

I do think you're right about the coaches though. These younger players obviously still need to be educated on executing the gameplan and what to do during these clutch moments. Endurance shouldn't be an issue for them but perhaps they are exerting far too much energy early in their determination to keep their spot in the team? I don't know what to do with the brain fades of Castagna, Aarts, Grimes, Short and even Tarrant (probably hash on him but he should have wound down the clock late imho). These players should have known better and sometimes there is nothing you can do to educate these senior types more than what they learn from the experience themselves.

I also get tired of the 'we didn't execute well' etc but what else could he say? He's owning the problem and also protecting his players. It's what you need from the coach. Now, I'm not certain that this is the same message communicated behind closed doors but if the past is anything to go on, we used those series of close loses in past seasons to go on and win a flag. Lets hope this pain steels us to do the same this year.

 

[Livonski]

Just on Hardwick's coaching style. Anyone who goes he's a 3 time premiership coach blah blah blah, youre a peanut we're all aware of that and is besides the point. Anyone who watches docos on Bill Bellichek it's no surprise success follows this guy. He drills it into his players scenarios, randomly interrogates players on "situational football", for those that don't know its like scenarios we're 8 points down 4th quarter, 6 minutes to go 12 yard line 1st and 10....... players that don't respond to his liking are basically screwed, benched, goneski. We're having groundhog day with losing games in the last quarter and what is our gameplan at icing the game and guarding our lead and killing oppositions momentum??????? Apart from hoping I can't honestly say. Twice this year we had games where Balta wasn't playing well up forward vice versa Gibcus down back.
Us Muppets are saying simple swap them around (he must've seen Sheedy do it successfully dozens of times), finally he does it, but way too late. His selections are crucifying us I mean Aarts, Castagna, Soldo and Edwards in the same team are far too many liabilities to be carried.

Getting back to the Gold Coast game. We let them kick 4 goals in the final 10 mins, 3 coming in the final 5 minutes. They're a bloody ordinary side who kicked 11 goals in the previous 120 mins how the hell do we let tyhem kick 3 in 5 mins thats unforgivable against top teams.. but against dud teams is mind boggling.

3X premiership is the proof the bloke is a great coach. You’re the freakin peanut.
It proves the hypothesis.
You can have all your rage driven clueless theories…but that’s all they are, theories.
Hardwick has the proof and you’re just the keyboard squealer.

 

[Lord of the Wings]

Hardwick is fine, certainly better than last year where dumping the missus in the off season jut made him look like hypocrite.

I'm more concerned about the assistant coaches, and to a lesser extent the recruitment. We're staring down the barrel of threadbare key forwards and onballers. Being successful will do that to you but we cant afford to * this year up.

Hardwick ain't fine at all. His assistants are duds and Matty Clarke is the worst recruiter in the AFL. I reckon SOS has him covered.

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Hardwick ain't fine at all. His assistants are duds and Matty Clarke is the worst recruiter in the AFL. I reckon SOS has him covered.

Based on what ???

You might want to go back and have a look at all the draft picks SOS has flushed down the toilet at GWS & Carlton and compare that to Clarke
sos has had 117 top 20 picks for Jack Sh!t and Clarke has had 10 for success

Show me the Shai Bolton that Sos has selected

 

[Bojangles17]

Players sometimes need a new voice, our great core players may not be here next year Cotch, Riewoldt, Edwards.
Still we don't know what's really happening with Martin.

Prestia will most likely be departing the club in the next 2-3 years.

Measure of the coach is the brand of footy we re playing and how compeietive we are . With a depleted side and older players in twilight we re 9-7 and the highest scoring side in the league we re in every game and went stride for stride with the top side 2w ago going down by 3p ,I think by any measure dimmas going alright , our list certainly needs rejuvenating though . When the coach is past expiry , they play like crows and gws post GF ,,,are we like that

 

[richard parker]

people criticising hardwick like they are smarter than he is lol

pretty sure he is aware of where our issues lie

eg. he knows we have lost a lot of good coaches and good depth players and has stated recently it is because we have been successful for an extended period, which means increased salaries which means loss of coaches and players due salary cap and soft cap. covid has exaggerated this too due to further soft cap reductions. he suggested paying coaches outside the soft cap for this exact reason. what can hardwick do about the system he operates within? we are victims of our own success. it would be absolute madness to part ways if he wants to go again for another rebuild or refresh or whatever.

let's not jump at shadows and be all chicken little

 

[tigerdan]

Hardwick ain't fine at all. His assistants are duds and Matty Clarke is the worst recruiter in the AFL. I reckon SOS has him covered.

Cmon dude theres being rational and there's being silly.

 

[PFunk]

I think the most rational course of action atm is to dump a truck load of chicken manure out the front of the Swinburne Centre.

 

[Moonatic77]

Here's

Hardwick is fine, certainly better than last year where dumping the missus in the off season jut made him look like hypocrite.

I'm more concerned about the assistant coaches, and to a lesser extent the recruitment. We're staring down the barrel of threadbare key forwards and onballers. Being successful will do that to you but we cant afford to * this year up.

Hardwick definitely best rich coach right now

 

[Moonatic77]

Dimma didn't become a great coach end of 2016. Other shit happend

 

[Charlie Pannam]

Did you guy see he's presser he was blaming the kids? what is he smoking? it was experienced players Castagna, Aarts, Short 50m penalty, Grimes all made mistakes in the last quarter.

Dimma has seriously lost it.
Sad thing is we had a great coach who is coaching Collingwood right now Craig McRae would have been perfect for the next-gen.

Really- he blamed the kids!! That’s poor.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Hardwick from the minute he came to our club has been a fantastic coach. He built a game plan to make us competitive from scratch and even more importantly inspired the players to play to it. When he reached the end of that phase he recognised changes were required to go to another level and he adapted, building a whole new team on and off field and new game plan which again crucially he inspired the players to buy into. And his performance as a coach on the biggest stage speaks for itself.

It is hilarious to hear people talking about the best coach etc and he barely ever gets mentioned while people he has dead set coached rings around are spoken of as if they are coaching gods.

He has our team playing a great brand of footy. He has never sought to borrow from the future to build a ready made team, as many other inferior coaches have done previously.

I bet for a living. I make decisions that turn out to be wrong all the time. Nobody can eliminate wrong decisions unless they are taking insufficient risk to get anywhere. I try not to make bad decisions(but sadly still do.) Hardwick I am sure makes plenty of wrong decisions. I don’t think he makes too many bad decisions. His record in such a competitive sphere tells you that.

If Hardwick wants to coach us even to his point of failure, that is fine with me. The one thing I wouldn’t like to see him do is the one thing I am confident he will not do, and that is start wanting to sell the future to furnish himself with a competitive team to coach. Worry about transitioning him out when it is clear he has had enough. He is nowhere near that point now.

 

[Daka]

Hardwick from the minute he came to our club has been a fantastic coach. He built a game plan to make us competitive from scratch and even more importantly inspired the players to play to it. When he reached the end of that phase he recognised changes were required to go to another level and he adapted, building a whole new team on and off field and new game plan which again crucially he inspired the players to buy into. And his performance as a coach on the biggest stage speaks for itself.

It is hilarious to hear people talking about the best coach etc and he barely ever gets mentioned while people he has dead set coached rings around are spoken of as if they are coaching gods.

He has our team playing a great brand of footy. He has never sought to borrow from the future to build a ready made team, as many other inferior coaches have done previously.

I bet for a living. I make decisions that turn out to be wrong all the time. Nobody can eliminate wrong decisions unless they are taking insufficient risk to get anywhere. I try not to make bad decisions(but sadly still do.) Hardwick I am sure makes plenty of wrong decisions. I don’t think he makes too many bad decisions. His record in such a competitive sphere tells you that.

If Hardwick wants to coach us even to his point of failure, that is fine with me. The one thing I wouldn’t like to see him do is the one thing I am confident he will not do, and that is start wanting to sell the future to furnish himself with a competitive team to coach. Worry about transitioning him out when it is clear he has had enough. He is nowhere near that point now.

How many coaches after winning flags through a period other than Sheedy go on with the same club & win more? none in the modern era.

 

[wegetpumped]

3X premiership is the proof the bloke is a great coach. You’re the freakin peanut.
It proves the hypothesis.
You can have all your rage driven clueless theories…but that’s all they are, theories.
Hardwick has the proof and you’re just the keyboard squealer.

Quite true just like Castagna the 3-time premiership player is a champ. Face it, dude, like George DH has no idea and was carried and like George, we are finding out.

 

[wegetpumped]

people criticising hardwick like they are smarter than he is lol

pretty sure he is aware of where our issues lie

eg. he knows we have lost a lot of good coaches and good depth players and has stated recently it is because we have been successful for an extended period, which means increased salaries which means loss of coaches and players due salary cap and soft cap. covid has exaggerated this too due to further soft cap reductions. he suggested paying coaches outside the soft cap for this exact reason. what can hardwick do about the system he operates within? we are victims of our own success. it would be absolute madness to part ways if he wants to go again for another rebuild or refresh or whatever.

let's not jump at shadows and be all chicken little

He sure is more intelligent than all of us put together how else do you explain him pulling the wool over us or living his Mrs for a younger model?
He sure has most of you hypnotized.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

I’m not sure what the reasoning is but every year since 16 he has persisted with poor performance from experienced players over good performance from youth in the VFL for longer in the season .
I do t recall the year but Bellis spent a large portion of the start of one season at VFL when we were getting smashed upon the wing , when eventually given an opportunity IRRC we went on to win the flag .
It is now seeing more and more of these players who have had 3-5 years of development choosing to leave for greater opportunity as ready made players , that should be in our side .
Bellis , Higgins , butler , chol , CCJ .
Lambert’s busted up , Sheds form hasn’t warranted selection for the most part of the year , Jack’s form last year should have seen chol / CCJ given more games ,Nank has struggled for the most part of the year , Castagna and Aarts aren’t up to it .Prestia is injury prone yet played at 100% every time a scan says he is right to go .
We are continually undersized at stoppages in periods where the oppo dominate yet don’t react .
Our discipline sucks yet remains a big issue .
Short , Prestia and Bolton are to easy to block especially when the oppo ruck starts dominating .
I’ve always felt Dimma has lacked the confidence to make hard changes and I don’t think changes in his own personal life has done anything for that . Maybe the consistency that he made reference to his wife regarding change was a indication ????
It’s not unrealistic that we loose 4-5 of current first picked players to retirement ( or maybe they should retire ) lose 1-2 poached by oppo clubs and have 2-3 look to go elsewhere for greater opportunity .
I reckon your in the shit when at the same time your losing blokes due to retirement you are losing blokes due to lack of opportunity .
Tbh if I was RCD , Miller , Martyn , Dow , Stack, Parker I’d be trying to get somewhere else .
Whilst I think it’s time for the curtain to be drawn on the careers of Sheds , Jack , Castagna , Aarts , merely on their own form .
Nank / Prestia need to be managed through the season
Rumours continue to linger about Rioli , Martin whilst IIRC WA’s Broad and Baker remain out of contract .

Our list IMO is the most vulnerable it’s been in for a long , long time which again IMO is due to poor selection and future planning .

 

[NaturalDisaster]

Dimma didn't become a great coach end of 2016. Other s**t happend

So a coach isn’t any good until they win a flag?

Dimma took us from the worst team since Fitzroy to finals contenders within a few years. That is a good coach in my mind

 

[Bojangles17]

I’m not sure what the reasoning is but every year since 16 he has persisted with poor performance from experienced players over good performance from youth in the VFL for longer in the season .
I do t recall the year but Bellis spent a large portion of the start of one season at VFL when we were getting smashed upon the wing , when eventually given an opportunity IRRC we went on to win the flag .
It is now seeing more and more of these players who have had 3-5 years of development choosing to leave for greater opportunity as ready made players , that should be in our side .
Bellis , Higgins , butler , chol , CCJ .
Lambert’s busted up , Sheds form hasn’t warranted selection for the most part of the year , Jack’s form last year should have seen chol / CCJ given more games ,Nank has struggled for the most part of the year , Castagna and Aarts aren’t up to it .Prestia is injury prone yet played at 100% every time a scan says he is right to go .
We are continually undersized at stoppages in periods where the oppo dominate yet don’t react .
Our discipline sucks yet remains a big issue .
Short , Prestia and Bolton are to easy to block especially when the oppo ruck starts dominating .
I’ve always felt Dimma has lacked the confidence to make hard changes and I don’t think changes in his own personal life has done anything for that . Maybe the consistency that he made reference to his wife regarding change was a indication ????
It’s not unrealistic that we loose 4-5 of current first picked players to retirement ( or maybe they should retire ) lose 1-2 poached by oppo clubs and have 2-3 look to go elsewhere for greater opportunity .
I reckon your in the s**t when at the same time your losing blokes due to retirement you are losing blokes due to lack of opportunity .
Tbh if I was RCD , Miller , Martyn , Dow , Stack, Parker I’d be trying to get somewhere else .
Whilst I think it’s time for the curtain to be drawn on the careers of Sheds , Jack , Castagna , Aarts , merely on their own form .
Nank / Prestia need to be managed through the season
Rumours continue to linger about Rioli , Martin whilst IIRC WA’s Broad and Baker remain out of contract .

Our list IMO is the most vulnerable it’s been in for a long , long time which again IMO is due to poor selection and future planning .

We re still winning a lot of games which has narrowed openings in the side , injuries have mainly been the pre cursor for opportunity , there’s a couple of players you can argue the toss , I don’t Think Edwards is one , I’m expecting a min of three retirements year end possibly more , there’s your chance

 

[wegetpumped]

Was it the Carlton game when they got a run on and everyone wanted balata back and he did it too late?

Yeah put him back with ten minutes to go after the game was lost lol