Mark Williams and Damien Hardwick haven’t spoken since Williams was sacked by the Tigers

PORT Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams has opened up on his messy exit from Richmond, saying senior coach Damien Hardwick has not spoken to him since he was sacked.

Damien Hardwick and Mark Williams. Picture: Colleen Petch

PORT Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams has opened up on his messy exit from Richmond, saying senior coach Damien Hardwick has not spoken to him since he was sacked.

Williams spent four years at Richmond as development coach but was moved on at the end of 2016, a year before the Tigers took out last season’s stunning premiership.

The master motivator said he was attending a friend’s funeral interstate when he was told the “surprise” news over the phone that he did not have a job at the club in 2017.

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Williams said he received little explanation for the decision and admitted there had been no contact from Hardwick since, even though the pair had known each other for more than 20 years.

“The difficult thing is I have great relationships with the (Richmond) players but I haven’t talked to Dimma apart from texting him good luck for the Grand Final and well done. Other than that I haven’t talked to him at all,” Williams said on the Don’t Argue podcast.

Damien Hardwick and Mark Williams. Picture: Colleen Petch

“Dimma was a young player at Essendon when I first started, so I have known him since then and coached him with Lloydy and Lucas and those guys.

“Obviously (we) took him over to Port Adelaide, so it is difficult, but he has got on with his life and that’s what he does.

“But at the same time he would find it very difficult to come and talk to me as well.”

Williams, who played 201 VFL games and captained Collingwood, said he was not expecting to receive the news about his job on the phone.

“All I remember is going to a funeral in South Australia for a mate of mine who died right over on the west coast,” he said.

“I got a call on the phone saying you need to come in and I said ‘I told you blokes I was going to this funeral’.

“So they told me on the phone I didn’t have a job and it was just a complete surprise to me.”

As development coach, Williams played a key role helping coach and nurture the Tigers first-to-fourth year players and superstar midfielder Dustin Martin.

But he was moved on after a review of the football department triggered sweeping change through the assistant coaching ranks.

Dustin Martin and Mark Williams worked closely together at the Tigers. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“There are a lot of sliding doors because Dimma’s career could have been finished and they kept some of the assistant coaches,” he said.

“But they decided, because we were out of contract, they would get rid of us and it was easy to show they had tried to change and when you look back in history it will be all perfect.

“It would have been nice for Richmond to say ‘listen, these guys have done a great job, but we are going to change’.

“But they didn’t say any of that and that was the difficult thing at the time.

“Not only did we lose the job at Richmond but we didn’t get the opportunity to say hey you guys were doing a pretty good job here.”

Williams remains involved with coaching at local level and part of the AFL international talent program, but felt his “papers were stamped” at the highest level.