Richmond bolstered by stars as coach Damien Hardwick makes dissent gag
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has provided an update on two Tigers stars, while weighing in on the umpire dissent issue.
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Richmond is all but certain to be bolstered by the return of Dustin Martin and Jacob Hopper for its important clash against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
Martin (hamstring) and Hopper (knee) missed the loss to Collingwood with minor injuries but coach Damien Hardwick says the stars are poised to play after just missing out on selection last week.
Both completed run-throughs and drills with the main group with relative ease on Thursday.
Co-captain Toby Nankervis – who faces a big task against in-form ruckman Tim English – has been managed this week after pulling up sore against the Magpies, but Hardwick insists he is expected to play.
Outside runner Jayden Short will miss at least another week with his calf concern, with Hardwick conceding “in hindsight” the Tigers rushed him back from his initial calf injury in the pre-season.
Key defender Robbie Tarrant is set to be given more time to build his fitness in the VFL after playing a half in his return from a hip injury last week.
“Probably a good call (to rule Short out for this week); calves, once you get towards the age of 30, start to get a bit more delicate. We do take the extra week so they can nag,” he said.
“In hindsight, you’d probably say yes (we did rush him), but once again we had a pretty good training block where we thought we’d get him right.
“It was probably aggravated by a corkie in the other leg, which meant his gait changed, so it compounded things. All in all it is easy to look back, but we’d probably go the same way.”
Hardwick also weighed in on the controversial Stephen Coniglio dissent free kick, describing the balance between respect for umpires and the emotion of the game as “challenging” while claiming the AFL ruling suggests emotion is equivalent to dissent.
“It is really challenging; we understand the respect for the umpire, no question. As an industry, we’ve got to set the standard and we completely understand that.
“What is challenging is that our game is an emotional game,” Hardwick said.
“We don’t want to take that out of it, but we’ve also got to make sure we remain respectful to the umpires.
“Sometimes we want our players to be emotional, but does that mean dissent? They’ve made it pretty clear at this current stage that it probably is.”
Asked if he told his players to keep their arms down, he quipped: “Once again, it is a challenging thing, we’ve got a lot of Italians in our group.”
Hardwick confirmed forward-ruck Samson Ryan – who was subbed at halftime last week – and round three substitute Noah Cumberland will both face the Bulldogs, but indicated Cumberland may start again in the green vest.
He believes Cumberland is “firmly entrenched” in Richmond’s best 22 but says the dynamic forward had to learn a new role in the VFL to further his development, like the Tigers had done in the past with Dan Rioli and Kamdyn McIntosh.
“Sometimes it’ll be one step back for two steps forward,” he said.
“We are happy with where he is at; we certainly know he is an AFL-quality player and he is, in my view, firmly entrenched in our 22.
“Sometimes it’s not the best 22 now, it is the best 22 later, but he’ll play this week.”
Originally published as Richmond bolstered by stars as coach Damien Hardwick makes dissent gag
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