How Richmond players proved winning isn’t everything in footy

WE’VE always been taught winning is everything in footy. But Richmond players’ reaction to Damien Hardwick contract news revealed something bigger that is at the heart of the Tigers’ rise.

Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt hug Tigers head coach Damien Hardwick.

I HAVE always thought — or been made to believe — the essence of football was winning.

Winning premierships and knowing, forever, you were someone who helped create something so powerful.

Slogging it out on a grey, rain-spitting Sunday afternoon at the MCG in the middle of July, squeaking home by a goal in a wretched contest, and trudging off exhausted and satisfied, then singing the song, the smiles and collective relief overpowering the pain of the corkie or the bung ankle.

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Winning on the road against all odds and 50,000 opposition fans.

But, really, the essence of football exists way before and way above any triumph at the weekend.

The essence of football is connection and belonging.

Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale this week announced to the players Damien Hardwick’s reappointment for three more years.

It was expected, but the reaction from the players at Punt Rd was something else.

On the way to the sports hall near the gym, where the players had gathered before training, Gale was asked by the Tigers’s digital media guy if he could film the announcement.

“I don’t think like that,” Gale said later, “but I said, ‘Yeah, whatever’.”

Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt make their affection for coach Damien Hardwick clear after last year’s Grand Final win.

The video — watch it above — shows the players swarming over Hardwick, patting his back, ruffling his hair and some even tackling him in what looks like a schoolyard stacks-on.

It was tender and playfully rough and makes you curious about Hardwick and what qualities he has to command such affection.

“Whether you’re playing for Richmond or playing for Rochester, players want to be with their coach,” Gale said when asked about the unscripted eruption.

“They want to hear from their coach, they want feedback from their coach, they want that proximity with their coach.

“Over the past few years as footy has evolved, we’ve put more and more blockages in front of that, really. We’ve got assistant coaches, we’ve got meetings, we’ve got a full schedule, coaches are being pulled in so many different directions.

“You can have the best list and the best game plans and the strongest, the fastest and the fittest, but if you don’t have that fundamental connection with your coach, you’re not going to execute under pressure or when it’s hard.”

The reaction from the players was instantaneous and real and for every fan who doesn’t barrack for the Tigers, you can only hope the connection between your coach and his players is so powerful.

Does Buckley have it at Collingwood? Worsfold at Essendon? Lyon at Fremantle? Bolton at Carlton? Any of the coaches? Some of the coaches?

You wonder what they thought, if they have seen it, of the Richmond players’ reaction to what was a largely expected announcement.

Are they envious, curious, do they question their own relationships with the players, singularly and collectively?

A close connection between the players and their coach helped deliver Richmond’s 11th flag.

Of course, a premiership helps, but it was the connection before the premiership which delivered the flag to Richmond.

“Part of Dimma’s growth was recognising what he’s good at and what are his values and what makes him him,” Gale said.

“To say that of itself explains why we won the premiership is simplistic because we obviously had some great players, some good additions and a game plan that played to the strengths.

“I wouldn’t know because I sit in an office, but I think we’re entitled to ask have we over-complicated things.

“It’s become an elite, high-performance program, everything is quantified and measured and benchmarked and it’s scientific ... but surely the real priority is the relationship, the connection between players and between the players and the coach and the coaches.

“That’s what you saw on the video. I’ve been around footy cubs and I can see it, I can smell it when it’s not there.”

Football is connection and belonging. And Richmond is swimming in it. From players and the coach, as we see on the video, to the mighty Richmond army.

This week, the Tigers passed the all-time AFL membership mark. They clocked over 82,000 members and we’re still two-and-a-half weeks from Round 1.

Brendon Gale embraces Damien Hardwick after the Tigers’ premiership.

Indeed, football is connection at all levels.

It’s why the disconnect between small towns and leagues and the AFL right now is of major concern.

Country footy and netball is about community. There’s a sense of belonging, about gathering on a Saturday to watch the thirds, the ressies and the ones, and cooking the barbie, making sandwiches and taking turns behind the bar.

The AFL must be careful about messing with the fabric of country football because it also messes with the fabric and soul of small towns.

Football has connected indigenous Australia and non-indigenous more than anything else in this country. And it’s why the disconnect in Tasmania is felt by many across the AFL states. Why leave Tassie to wither? Why AFL?

The Hardwick video clip points to something much bigger.

Of course, it won’t last forever at Richmond.

Luke Beveridge can testify to that. At the end of 2016, it was stacks on Beveridge and 12 months later the Bulldogs didn’t even play finals.

“We know it’s a ruthlessly competitive business,” Gale said.

“I know the players are humble and very hungry, they’ve got the taste, and the connection is strong. But there’s no guarantees in football.”