Damien Hardwick, Alastair Clarkson moves evidence of a deeper AFL issue

Damien Hardwick’s decision to quit has exposed a widening “crisis” in the AFL with the game’s biggest names left feeling like “scum”.

Alastair Clarkson and Damien Hardwick.

The AFL’s coaching industry is facing a “crisis” following Damien Hardwick’s shock decision to quit Richmond.

The three-time premiership winning coach’s call to leave the Tigers stunned the AFL community on Monday.

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Coupled with Alastair Clarkson’s move to take an indefinite break from coaching at North Melbourne, the Hardwick news had industry pundits questioning if there is a bigger issue among the sport’s coaching fraternity.

Speaking on Channel 9’s Footy Classified, Caroline Wilson said coaches have been treated appallingly since spending caps were forced upon clubs during the Covid crisis.

“This is a crisis for the industry,” Wilson said. “The AFL has botched the soft cap.

Damien Hardwick (centre) is Richmond’s longest serving coach. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“Coaches feel like the scum of the industry, one coach said that recently to Gillon McLachlan.

“Coaches have been told, ‘you’re paid too much, we are going to cut your wages, we’re going to cut your programs by $3 million a year’, after capping them in the first place.

“And now, when the game has never been richer, according to Gillon McLachlan, they’re giving them $2 million less than they were getting pre-Covid, while the AFL’s (executives are) bringing home fat salaries.”

The soft cap, also known as the football department tax, was implemented to equalise club spending outside of the hard salary cap.

It was scaled right back as a cost-cutting measure during the Covid crisis, but has since been increased by $500,000 this season and a further $250,000 in 2024 to a total of $7.2 million. That is still over $2 million less than the pre-Covid soft cap.

Hardwick is expected to address the media on Tuesday to explain his decision and his plans moving forward.

Wilson doesn’t think Hardwick will be lost to coaching for long, tipping him to return to another mentoring role in the near future.

But Footy Classified host and media identity Craig Hutchison drew a parallel between Clarkson’s decision in the wake of the Hawthorn racism scandal and the Hardwick news.

Alastair Clarkson during a happier moment with his North Melbourne players earlier this month. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Clarkson is one of the game’s most successful coaches, leading the Hawks to four flags between 2005 and 2021.

But he ultimately had an acrimonious departure from the club and had been involved in a war of words with his replacement, Sam Mitchell, prior to stepping away from the Kangaroos.

“You do wonder whether Clarkson staying too long at Hawthorn, and then seeing what he went through last week, is in any small way a factor in this (Hardwick decision),” Hutchison said.

It was only late last week that Hardwick was asked about Clarkson, his mentor at Hawthorn before he became a head coach at the Tigers.

It’s not unreasonable to speculate that Hardwick was considering his own coaching future when he made these comments to the media.

“It’s always sad when you see someone that you love walk away from the game,” Hardwick said last Friday.

"Coaches feel like the scum of the industry."

The AFL's botching of the soft cap has led to a crisis in clubland, with a lack of support for coaches.#9FootyClassified | @Channel9pic.twitter.com/V3UD3snxDS

— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) May 22, 2023

“I don‘t think he’ll be lost to the game, the game will be worse off if he’s out of it.

“What I do hope is that, you know, this is the only thing I’ll say on it, everyone just gives him the privacy and the time that he needs.”

Hardwick, 50, added that the coaching caper is difficult enough without having serious external issues to confront.

“The game is hard enough as it is, especially with this cloud hanging over him at the moment,” he said.

“And he unfortunately has been the face of it. I challenge any person to handle the workload and then the nature of that report and what is hanging over his head for eight months.

“It’s a challenging time, so let’s just step back, give him the time that he needs, and I and probably every other footy person in the industry want him back ASAP.”

Wilson went on to reference an article she wrote about Hardwick two years ago and believes the longest serving coach in Richmond history is making the right move.

“I wrote a column two years ago saying don’t do the same thing Alastair Clarkson did at Hawthorn and stay too long,” she said.

“So I think this is the right thing.”