Damien Hardwick: Gold Coast expected to offer former Richmond coach five-year deal

Damien Hardwick is in the middle of a European holiday – but the Suns aren’t waiting for him to return, with CEO Mark Evans jetting off to seal the deal. Here’s the latest.

Damien Hardwick and Dustin Martin. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

Gold Coast chief executive Mark Evans has flown to Italy to meet with Damien Hardwick as the Suns prepare to offer the triple premiership coach a five-year deal to take over the reins.

In a bold move that could land one of the game’s most successful coaches, Evans boarded a plane for Milan in recent days in an effort to speak face-to-face with Hardwick.

Hardwick is in the middle of a European holiday with his partner and is understood to be in Cinque Terre on the Italian riviera at the moment.

All parties were reluctant to discuss the situation when contacted, but a meeting between Hardwick and Evans could fast-track the Suns’ bid after the club reached out to the former Richmond coach and his management last week.

If talks go well, the deal for Hardwick to replace sacked Suns coach Stuart Dew could be finalised sooner rather than later, with a five-year tenure believed to be on offer.

Gold Coast has flown to Italy in a bid to lure Damien Hardwick. Picture James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Hardwick could expect to command at least $1 million a season as Suns coach, particularly with the rise in the football soft cap.

But he could also secure an extra $100,000 to $200,000 per year on an AFL ambassadorial deal if he was prepared to help sell the game in Queensland.

Evans and Hardwick worked together at Hawthorn and were key planks of the club’s 2008 premiership success.

Hardwick led the Tigers to three flags in four seasons - 2017, 2019 and 2020 - which makes him one of the most successful coaches of all-time.

He sensationally quit Richmond in May with a year and a half to run on his contract, citing burnout as the reason for his shock departure.

Gold Coast chief executive Mark Evans. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

He said at the time he couldn’t give 100 percent to the role, prompting his decision to leave immediately with the Tigers appointing assistant coach Andrew McQualter as caretaker coach.

But Hardwick, who turns 51 this month, pricked the interest of rival clubs soon after quitting when he said he would be “lying” if he suggested he couldn’t see himself coaching again.

He stressed that while he needed time to “decompress, he missed coaching and wanted to get back into it again.

Gold Coast sacked Stuart Dew last month, despite the coach having a deal with the club until the end of the 2024 season.

While the Suns insisted that had nothing to do with Hardwick’s departure and they maintained they hadn’t spoken to the former Richmond coach, the decision gave rise to belief that he would be the leading candidate to take over the club which has never played finals since joining the AFL in 2011.

Outgoing AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan was candid about Dew’s sacking, saying it was a hard decision but proof that the club was “growing up.”

The AFL has long argued that the Suns are not a basket case with its talented young playing list and the retention of many of its players likely to make the club an appetising prospect for the man to take over from Dew.

Hardwick has spent much of his time abroad since quitting the Tigers, albeit he returned to be at the MCG for his premiership skipper Trent Cotchin’s 300th match.