Richmond’s next senior coach

[TigerImposter]

As people know on Here I'm not a KDH fan, but I still respect him for what he's achieved at the club and that he has the right to at least see his tenure through. His biggest issue has always been his loyalty to the elder statesman and that he will always select them over youth unless there's massive injuries. I can still recall him rushing in Newman into finals as he felt Newman needed to play in a winning final. In the end it back fired and it wasn't until more intelligent and creative assistants came in and he worked admirably and professionally where the results were achieved. ATM he's not the weakness in the link except for at selection and he's just to loyal to blokes like Castagna, Aarts , Soldo and Sheds. He doesn't understand that some players are cooked, not good enough or just incapable of carrying out the game plan anymore. He places past results and performances over current ones. He lacks foresight and vision when he has a group of assistants not as clued as him. He has had his brain support ripped out of him in this area and then add an aged and battle scarred group of his leaders who are missing. He failed to act upon this last year as you could see our senior jets were not able to play 22 games a year anymore and that some like Sheds, Lambert and Castagna were done. There's lots of reasons why a premiership side in the history of the game has never saddled up again in a home and away game ever let alone a final, but the major one is that it's called progress and refinement of the 22 so that the best available get a game. KDH loyalty is of merit in terms of a testament to his integrity, but detrimental to achieving results long term. He needs smarter support with fresh ideas and not what he currently has as they appear to be sheep with nothing new been added to his armoury.
My honest opinion is changing the coach is not the solution and possibly more detrimental to our future success, but supporting the coach with better men around him is the right method. In the end nobody remembers the assistants, but the coach is and that's why coaches get all the media attention when they win flags or get sacked.

 

[Phar Ace]

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.

As usual agree with much of what you have written - we shoot from the same hemisphere - how you over estimate Hardwick and underestimate (perhaps) the role Cotchin has played in all our success surprises me. Cotch has been an amazing wing man (Captain), and had a huge hand in the events of the 2016/2017 transition to success.

The mark of the man (Hardwick) is he puts a lot of store in who he has as his assistants - over journey they have learned to trust, sometimes a little too much, but the low error rate of trust produces outstanding results. We witnessed an error on Saturday night, the error rate went up. Do we recall the similar errors of 2017 - not so much - just the unbridled exhilaration of reaching the Premiership.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

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

Nank rested 4-5 weeks ago gives Ryan a chance when in form .
Sheds rested 4-5 weeks into the season opens the door for Cumberland / stack when in form . Identifying Castagna and AArts aren’t midfielders opens the door for rcd , Dow , Martyn , Sonsie . Likewise Cotchin / Prestia being rested . Identifying there is no way lambert will make it through 4-5 weeks if finals and calling quits opens the door for one of the above in the games he’s played . Jack gets a spell ever 5-7 again opens the door for a Cumberland / Ryan or even Balta .
Keep playing Miller rather than Tarrant .
An eye also toward the future is what seen Richo moved to a wing .

We could have given opportunity to upcoming players whilst also having older players less banged up when playing .

 

[Boston tiger]

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 .

And if we had kicked an extra goal instead of a point in the last 2 games we are odds on to win another premiership.

 

[Livonski]

And if we had kicked an extra goal instead of a point in the last 2 games we are odds on to win another premiership.

It's laughable isn't it?

 

[Muddiemoose]

And if we had kicked an extra goal instead of a point in the last 2 games we are odds on to win another premiership.

What’s the old saying, things are never as good or as bad as they appear

Can we improve?
Absolutely.
But the sky definitely isn’t falling like a lot of the doomsayers are suggesting

 

[Meteoric Rise]

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.

How many clubs try to rebuild a team under the same coach? You gave the Sheedy example as one. How many other clubs have stuck with a coach for years after he won his last flag? Worsfold coached another 7 years after winning his flag. Scott has gone on 11 years after winning his flag, his team is still winning a lot of home and away games. Longmire has gone on 10 years after his flag, they look to be building another team that could contend. Not many coaches have actually kept coaching past about 5 years post-premiership.

How many clubs in the AFL era have unloaded a successful coach and then gone on to win a flag within say 10 years under the next coach they appoint? Swans in their succession plan from Roos to Longmire, but Roos wanted out. Eagles Worsfold to Simpson, Worsfold may have had enough as well. Cats Thompson to Scott but obviously there were unusual circumstances around Thompson’s departure.

What exactly is the rationale for unloading a coach that has his team playing well right now, despite the age profile of the list being messed up, necessarily so due to the premiership focus?

Wait until Hardwick has had enough, run out of ideas or has lost the players or it is clear he is on the wrong path. Hardwick could have filled his list with the Matt Spanghers of the world to keep some sort of mature depth around an ageing list. But he has not done this, Richmond has fully committed to its best players in terms of contracts, and continued to take its draft picks, such that we have only 5 players on our list who have played for another club, Parker, Lynch, Prestia, Nanakervis, Tarrant. I would hazard a guess this would be the lowest in the AFL.

We already have the following likely players for our 2026 team on our list:

Vlastuin, Short, Nankervis/Soldo/Ryan/Colina, D Rioli, Baker, Graham, Bolton, Miller, Balta, Mansell, Ross, Nyuon, Dow, Ralphsmith, Rioli Jnr, Sonsie, Banks, Gibcus, Brown, Clarke. A few of those 20 might not make it but some of the players on our list I have left out may. We don’t have any troublesome contracts. Players can see by watching Dan Rioli, Baker, Short, and others they will be given a chance to perform in more prominent roles as they approach their mid 20’s so they can win a big contract if they are good enough.

Why not give an outrageously successful coach who built a team from tumbleweeds the chance to rebuild the team and see where he can go with it?

To me the criticism of selecting player x and y is nuts, our list simply does not have AFL ready depth to step into the spots. The choice is kids before they are ready, or flawed mature players like Aarts etc. From where I sit the selection committee is managing a difficult situation perfectly well. But for one score here or there, we’d be sitting on about 11-5 w/l right now and with our list and the availability we have had that would be a very strong performance.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

And if we had kicked an extra goal instead of a point in the last 2 games we are odds on to win another premiership.

IMO if we took the steps I suggested not only would we be not giving up massive leads but we would also be in a position to genuinely win the premiership with 2-5 injuries , instead the depth is rooted .

 

[Bojangles17]

Nank rested 4-5 weeks ago gives Ryan a chance when in form .
Sheds rested 4-5 weeks into the season opens the door for Cumberland / stack when in form . Identifying Castagna and AArts aren’t midfielders opens the door for rcd , Dow , Martyn , Sonsie . Likewise Cotchin / Prestia being rested . Identifying there is no way lambert will make it through 4-5 weeks if finals and calling quits opens the door for one of the above in the games he’s played . Jack gets a spell ever 5-7 again opens the door for a Cumberland / Ryan or even Balta .
Keep playing Miller rather than Tarrant .
An eye also toward the future is what seen Richo moved to a wing .

We could have given opportunity to upcoming players whilst also having older players less banged up when playing .

I do agree with much of that we haven’t searched for opportunities and it’s not uncommon with seasoned outfits for that to be the case,,, for Mine but what would I know ,, if there was a place for aarts and george why wouldn’t we intro sonz , realise it’s not 100% same role however he could win some ball F50 I could say same for RCD why not throw him into F50
I sincerely hope this game has rung some home truths on the limitations of a few players , time will tell

 

[db26]

Dimma needs to lift his game and coaches around him the fade outs , discipline and brain fades have constantly let us down all year yet not addressed. Going back to the well and promoting players that a vfl standard is not the answer to or playing players out of form.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

When things go south, it wont take long before he's on the chopping block, I don't think.

Maybe a change is soon becoming a requirement.

 

[Daka]

Dimma needs to lift his game and coaches around him the fade outs , discipline and brain fades have constantly let us down all year yet not addressed. Going back to the well and promoting players that a vfl standard is not the answer to or playing players out of form.

How come after all the undisciplined acts this year... it keeps happening? it is like the players don't respond to him anymore it would have been addressed multiple times.

 

[Simche]

How many clubs try to rebuild a team under the same coach? You gave the Sheedy example as one. How many other clubs have stuck with a coach for years after he won his last flag? Worsfold coached another 7 years after winning his flag. Scott has gone on 11 years after winning his flag, his team is still winning a lot of home and away games. Longmire has gone on 10 years after his flag, they look to be building another team that could contend. Not many coaches have actually kept coaching past about 5 years post-premiership.

How many clubs in the AFL era have unloaded a successful coach and then gone on to win a flag within say 10 years under the next coach they appoint? Swans in their succession plan from Roos to Longmire, but Roos wanted out. Eagles Worsfold to Simpson, Worsfold may have had enough as well. Cats Thompson to Scott but obviously there were unusual circumstances around Thompson’s departure.

What exactly is the rationale for unloading a coach that has his team playing well right now, despite the age profile of the list being messed up, necessarily so due to the premiership focus?

Wait until Hardwick has had enough, run out of ideas or has lost the players or it is clear he is on the wrong path. Hardwick could have filled his list with the Matt Spanghers of the world to keep some sort of mature depth around an ageing list. But he has not done this, Richmond has fully committed to its best players in terms of contracts, and continued to take its draft picks, such that we have only 5 players on our list who have played for another club, Parker, Lynch, Prestia, Nanakervis, Tarrant. I would hazard a guess this would be the lowest in the AFL.

We already have the following likely players for our 2026 team on our list:

Vlastuin, Short, Nankervis/Soldo/Ryan/Colina, D Rioli, Baker, Graham, Bolton, Miller, Balta, Mansell, Ross, Nyuon, Dow, Ralphsmith, Rioli Jnr, Sonsie, Banks, Gibcus, Brown, Clarke. A few of those 20 might not make it but some of the players on our list I have left out may. We don’t have any troublesome contracts. Players can see by watching Dan Rioli, Baker, Short, and others they will be given a chance to perform in more prominent roles as they approach their mid 20’s so they can win a big contract if they are good enough.

Why not give an outrageously successful coach who built a team from tumbleweeds the chance to rebuild the team and see where he can go with it?

To me the criticism of selecting player x and y is nuts, our list simply does not have AFL ready depth to step into the spots. The choice is kids before they are ready, or flawed mature players like Aarts etc. From where I sit the selection committee is managing a difficult situation perfectly well. But for one score here or there, we’d be sitting on about 11-5 w/l right now and with our list and the availability we have had that would be a very strong performance.

Absolutely spot on.

Yes Hardwick makes mistakes tactically and has probably reached the same stage as Clarkson where he's too loyal to some blokes that are over the hill. They all play favourites and make mistakes to some degree.

Dimma has however proven he's got what it takes to deliver the ultimate success and can see out a proper rebuild. I think the issue is that he needs experienced and strong assistants around him. We were going our best when Leppa and Caracella were providing ideas that challenged him. I'm not sure Kingsley and co offer the same insight and sounding boards, let alone tactical acumen.

People look at the bounce McRae has given the Pies with a bit of jealousy but also do not recognise that they underperformed last year and are still miles away from actually contending and are going to have issues with cap and age demographic going forward. Goodwin had most of the hard work already done by Roos and a prolonged period yielding high draft picks. Mitchell has looked a good first year coach but Hawthorn are no closer to competing and despite taking the Bombers to the finals Truck has done precisely what this year with the rest of our ex-brains trust?

I can't see a single assistant out there I would prefer to Dimma. Certainly none that tick the box of having been through team success, done a decent job as an assistant and been highly rated etc. People are talking about Hansen, Kingsley and Yze as the next in line. No thanks to any of those. I'd think about Caracella or even Leppitsch if Dimma wanted to walk away, but beware the untried coach.

I actually think the issues currently are more a result of us not getting it right in draft and list decisions (taking CEllis/Lennon, trading Butler and keeping Castanga). If we'd got a Jack Steele/Touk Miller type through those drafts we'd very much still be right up there and are paying the price for list management decisions more so than coaching errors. The system still stands up if you have players that can actually play footy to a good level.

 

[Bojangles17]

Absolutely spot on.

Yes Hardwick makes mistakes tactically and has probably reached the same stage as Clarkson where he's too loyal to some blokes that are over the hill. They all play favourites and make mistakes to some degree.

Dimma has however proven he's got what it takes to deliver the ultimate success and can see out a proper rebuild. I think the issue is that he needs experienced and strong assistants around him. We were going our best when Leppa and Caracella were providing ideas that challenged him. I'm not sure Kingsley and co offer the same insight and sounding boards, let alone tactical acumen.

People look at the bounce McRae has given the Pies with a bit of jealousy but also do not recognise that they underperformed last year and are still miles away from actually contending and are going to have issues with cap and age demographic going forward. Goodwin had most of the hard work already done by Roos and a prolonged period yielding high draft picks. Mitchell has looked a good first year coach but Hawthorn are no closer to competing and despite taking the Bombers to the finals Truck has done precisely what this year with the rest of our ex-brains trust?

I can't see a single assistant out there I would prefer to Dimma. Certainly none that tick the box of having been through team success, done a decent job as an assistant and been highly rated etc. People are talking about Hansen, Kingsley and Yze as the next in line. No thanks to any of those. I'd think about Caracella or even Leppitsch if Dimma wanted to walk away, but beware the untried coach.

I actually think the issues currently are more a result of us not getting it right in draft and list decisions (taking CEllis/Lennon, trading Butler and keeping Castanga). If we'd got a Jack Steele/Touk Miller type through those drafts we'd very much still be right up there and are paying the price for list management decisions more so than coaching errors. The system still stands up if you have players that can actually play footy to a good level.

I think it has more to do with the change of the guard before our eyes that most pretend isn’t happening , who’s this years top 5 in bf compared to 2017 , that pretty well explains where we re at , considering that , our game style is proving to stand up against the best sides which underlines where the coach is at , failing by three points has more to do with emerging holes and shuffling deck chairs than Q over the coach

 

[RFCGloryJC]

Dimma is one of the greatest coaches of all time.
We are at the same position as round 16 in 2019, three wins from ladder leader.
Other words, we are in contention.
We have gone to the well to replenish and have recruited one of the strongest drafts in recent history.
Under Dimma's reign, Richmond has achieved the alchemy to convert initially mediocre players, like Baker or Lambert, into genuine champions.
No other team can emulate it.

 

[theyellowsash]

And if we had kicked an extra goal instead of a point in the last 2 games we are odds on to win another premiership.

youre a fool if you really think that

 

[TigerImposter]

Dimma is one of the greatest coaches of all time.
We are at the same position as round 16 in 2019, three wins from ladder leader.
Other words, we are in contention.
We have gone to the well to replenish and have recruited one of the strongest drafts in recent history.
Under Dimma's reign, Richmond has achieved the alchemy to convert initially mediocre players, like Baker or Lambert, into genuine champions.
No other team can emulate it.

Calm down my friend.

 

[wegetpumped]

youre a fool if you really think that

Actually, he's not it's reality. With all those early unlosable games we are sitting pretty up top. How on earth do coaches coach us out of games it's unreal. I know players have done most of the damage but not playing them the way good teams do when they are in trouble eg flood back man up so on we play our A-game till it's too late. For me player management is the main reason we are where we are.

 

[SDMTiger4]

Unfortunately this time around we lack the cattle and depth. In our premiership years we had players who could come in and fill the gaps caused by injury or suspension, and wouldn't miss a beat. Now there is a big gap between our next best. I think we will look back on this year as the one that got away.

 

[tigerdan]

This thread will drop like a stone once we win this week.

 

[Boston tiger]

This thread will drop like a stone once we win this week.

Malcom Blight use to say no matter where your football club is if you lose you 2 in a row the coach is under pressure likewise if you win 2 in row the pressure is off.

 

[Boston tiger]

youre a fool if you really think that

Well no one would be having hissy fits was really my point but I didn’t want to say it.

 

[Boston tiger]

Unfortunately this time around we lack the cattle and depth. In our premiership years we had players who could come in and fill the gaps caused by injury or suspension, and wouldn't miss a beat. Now there is a big gap between our next best. I think we will look back on this year as the one that got away.

Did we have injuries ? I think it’s been like it always has . If you have a good run with injuries then you are a chance.

 

[SDMTiger4]

Did we have injuries ? I think it’s been like it always has . If you have a good run with injuries then you are a chance.

Agreed, we did have a great run with injuries for a couple of years, but any time that we did, the replacements just slotted in nicely, playing the Richmond brand. Everyone knew the gameplan and what was required of them....And could execute it!!!

 

[TigerImposter]

Agreed, we did have a great run with injuries for a couple of years, but any time that we did, the replacements just slotted in nicely, playing the Richmond brand. Everyone knew the gameplan and what was required of them....And could execute it!!!

I remember that great win against Port over there with our top 4 missing in 2019 I think. Said it earlier in the year we batted down to 28 back then in depth and now we'd be lucky to bat to 14-16. Our depth is not really lacking, but it's more development and experience in our kids at this point in time. Even back to 17-20 we had a few list cloggers, but in general ,our top vfl 6 were good enough.