Richmond coach Damien Hardwick encourages his players to ‘embrace’ preliminary final excitement

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick will allow his players to embrace all that comes with being in a preliminary final, and admitted he could have been sacked this time last year.

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick will allow his players to embrace all that comes with being in a preliminary final.

The Tigers shook the finals monkey from their back on Friday night, recording their first finals win in 16 years over Geelong by 51 points at the MCG.

Hardwick said that when players are at the club, it will be 100 per cent work mode, but he wants his players to enjoy what they have achieved so far having played every game as if it were an elimination final as they fought for a top-four spot.

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“We’ve taken a little bit of change of tack, we want to embrace it,” he said.

“(When we’re at the club), then we get to work.

“It was incredible (hearing our fans) at the end. 95,000 of them (were there) and probably 60-odd thousand were ours.

Damien Hardwick coached his first finals win on Friday night. Picture: Getty Images

“They’re so loud and passionate, so we want our players to enjoy that.

“It’s not often you get to make it to a preliminary final and play in front of massive crowds like we do, so enjoy it, once you get to work then switch on and let’s get the job done.”

He said he is “really confident” that his players can strike a balance between taking his advice and not overplaying their emotions over the next fortnight.

“Our players have grown in maturity,” he said.

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“We’re really confident we can do both. It’s a good time to be happy.”

Hardwick, who was under fire last season after the team finished 13th on the ladder and endured an attempted board coup, conceded that at the start of this season with changes across the board at Punt Road, he did not think that a preliminary final — let alone a home one — was part of Richmond’s 2017 calculations.

“I was confident at the end of last year knowing that we were bringing in some players that we would bounce back into finals,” he said.

“Did I think we’d been in a preliminary final? At a guess, probably no.

Damien Hardwick was a popular man post-game, but conceded it could have all been over this time last year. Picture: Getty Images

“It’s a credit to our players, a credit to our coaches, Brendon (Gale), Peggy (O’Neal), the board — all those people who have just had incredible faith in me.

“They could have quite easily tipped me out. But that’s the best thing about our club — we believe in our people.”

Hardwick credited the likes of skipper Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin and Alex Rance in leading the team, with the captain in particular catching the eye of his coach.

“He prides himself on that part of his game (being so hard at it),” Hardwick said.

“He was important on (Patrick) Dangerfield — like a battering ram all day.

“That’s why he is the captain. He was outstanding today — smashed in, contested ball … everything you want your captain to do, he led from the front.”