Damien Hardwick quits Richmond: All the reaction after three-time premiership coach’s shock call
Damien Hardwick is not quite Richmond’s best ever coach in the eyes of this Tiger great, but he wants to see him honoured in the Tigers $65 million development.
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Tigers great Tony Jewell says a statue of Richmond’s two most successful coaches Tom Hafey and Damien Hardwick wouldn’t look out of place alongside Jack Dyer’s famous sculpture in the club’s proposed $65 million Punt Road redevelopment.
As Hardwick farewelled Richmond on Tuesday, Jewell and legendary Tiger Royce Hart were among a raft of club greats to pay tribute to the three-time premiership coach.
Jewell, who coached the Tigers to the 1980 flag, said Hardwick’s contribution to the club had been enormous and said he deserved to be rated along Hafey, who won a record four flags as Richmond coach.
“He is right up there with Tommy,” Jewell told the Herald Sun.
“Tommy could be a bit divisive at times with the board … It was dog eat dog back then, but with Dimma, at least from 2017 onwards, Richmond has been more at peace with the world.”
“A statue (of Hafey and Hardwick) wouldn’t be out of place (at Punt Road alongside Dyer’s statue). When you think of Richmond, you think of Jack Dyer and his ‘Captain Blood’ image.
“But what Tommy and Dimma did for the club should never be underestimated. They have been the two most outstanding coaches at Richmond in my time in football.”
Hart said it was understandable that from a personal perspective that he had Hafey marginally ahead of Harwick.
But he acknowledged Hardwick, who coached a record 307 games for Richmond, had to deal with the modern equalisation policies of the AFL in lifting the Tigers to a drought-breaking flag in 2017 as well as further flags in 2019 and 2020.
“Four premierships always beats three, but you have to hand it to Damien,” Hart said. “He’s done a magnificent job.
“It is a lot harder to coach clubs these days than it was in Tommy’s days, but what he has done for the Richmond Football Club has been so good.
“I reckon he will coach elsewhere, but there will always be a bit of Richmond in him.”
Jewell said Dyer, who died in 2003, and Hafey, who died in 2014, would have loved what Hardwick had helped turn the Tigers into in recent years.
“I remember when we won the premiership in 1967 and we were in a little pub in Richmond with Jack Dyer and his brother in law,” Jewell said.
“Old Jack had had a few (beers) and he had a tear in his eye. He put both hands on my shoulder and said: ‘You were like the ‘Tigers of Old’.
“He was saying that we had brought back a bit of pride by winning in 1967, and Dimma helped to do the same thing for us after 37 years in 2017.
“We became the ‘Tigers of Old’ again.”
Grimes: No Tiger turmoil despite Hardwick’s shock exit
— Jon Ralph
Richmond co-captain Dylan Grimes has declared interim coach Andrew McQualter a “senior coach-in-waiting” as he made clear Richmond’s dominant era was far from over despite Damien Hardwick’s shock exit.
Grimes and fellow co-captain Toby Nankervis admitted they were blindsided by Hardwick’s decision because he had been coaching with so much passion right up until the moment he stepped down.
The pair lauded his contribution to the club and relationships with players which would remain long after their football careers.
But with the highly popular McQualter set to step into the hot seat the Tigers believe they are still in this year’s finals race with a premiership window still open for the future.
Grimes said on Tuesday it was not the end of an era.
“I think it’s rare a coach leaves a club mid-year and the club is not in turmoil. But it doesn’t feel like we are in that position. I feel like the season is still up for grabs for us. If we win this weekend we are two points out of the eight and we lost last weekend by a point and another couple of close games throughout the year,” he said.
“’Dimma’ summed it up incredibly well. A club isn’t just a senior coach, it’s a whole board of coaches and staff who have made up a really strong coaching team.
“Even though ‘Dimma’ is going we still have so much up for grabs this year. Our list is in a good spot and I am certainly excited even though he’s not going to be there.”
McQualter was short-listed for the Carlton coaching vacancy filled by Michael Voss after building an impressive coaching resume after 89 games at St Kilda including the 2009 and 2010 Grand Finals.
Known as ‘Mini’, he has been at Richmond for a decade under Hardwick and has impressed the players with his quick wit, strong relationship building and sharp football brain.
The decision to appoint him over former senior coaches David Teague and Ben Rutten _ both at the club – means he cannot be discounted in the club’s coaching search.
“I think he’s been a senior coach in waiting for a number of years now. He has one of those technical brains that really kind of continues to surprise you by the detail that he sees in the game,” Grimes said.
“But then also the balance of what makes really good coaches, the relationships and being able to get the most out of those around him. And I think being a senior coach is about managing people and communicating the complex in a simple way. And Minny does that almost better than anyone.
“He has been chomping at the bit for an opportunity. It’s great to see him get it.”
‘He changed the game’: McRae’s glowing tribute to Dimma
— Lauren Wood
Damien Hardwick coached with “courage” in the face of one of football’s most taxing jobs, current Collingwood coach and former Richmond assistant Craig McRae said on Monday night.
Just 48 hours after Richmond’s one-point loss to Essendon in the Dreamtime at the ‘G game, Hardwick sensationally revealed his decision to quit with 18 months remaining on his contract.
Richmond staff were on Monday night called to an all-club meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning.
McRae said coaching was “a tough job” and that he had been shocked by Hardwick’s call to step down after 14 years as senior coach.
“I’m not going to lie to you. It’s relentless,” McRae said on Fox Footy.
“You get tired. You’ve got to find energy sources. You’re constantly trying to find the right balance to find the right energy to get to your playing group.
“You find the energy for your players and then you get home and you’re exhausted and your wife and family want you to find energy, too.
“This is a tough job. But I’m grateful for it. I know it’s a moment of time in my life … but you’ve got to find the balance. And he’s done it a long time.”
McRae, who served as Hardwick’s assistant coach from 2017 to 2020, said the timing of the announcement had come to his surprise.
“Having worked with Dimma, he’s an incredible coach and he’s his own person,” he said.
“I’m sure that Richmond footy club will salute him well.”
Richmond launched a full-scale review at the end of 2016 and ultimately backed in Hardwick, who delivered a premiership just 12 months later.
“(When I joined the club) one of the great things Dimma was doing was developing a list to make finals . his ability just to back himself in and make strong decisions and play young players at the back end of 2016, it took a lot of courage,” McRae recalled.
“He copped a lot of flak for it.
“At that time, the ability for the board and other parts of the business to back him in … 2017 was a remarkable year. He changed the game in a lot of ways.
“These memories (of our premiership wins) last forever. I’m so fortunate for my time at Richmond and grateful for having worked with Dimma. He’s an incredible coach.”
A decrease in hunger of as little as “one per cent” may have sparked Hardwick’s decision to walk away from Punt Road, according to former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.
It was reported on Monday night that burnout was a factor in the game’s longest-serving current coach’s call.
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Ex-Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, who left the Magpies in 2021, said Hardwick may have felt “not quite as hungry”.
“It’s a little bit about reading the curve and reading the trend, I suppose,” he said on Fox Footy.
“Every coach, especially if you’ve been as successful as Damien Hardwick … needs to ask himself that question. Am I going to coach the dip?
“This game is so hard to stay up for as long as maybe it might have been 20, 30 years ago. It is cyclical.
“This might be a sign that he doesn’t feel like he has the energy to be able to put in, that he’s not quite as hungry. It might only be one or two per cent off.
“Only he would know exactly what it is. He’s the only one who knows how he feels internally.”
Buckley said “in the end, you are human”.
“You only have so much bandwidth. You nearly deny your own welfare at times to do this job.
“Only he would know what he’s presenting and whether he’s got the energy.
“It shouldn’t surprise us at all if this comes to fruition.”
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