‘You get hatred’: AFL fans explode as journalist receives abuse

The Richmond Tigers coaching bombshell has taken a dark turn with the football world losing it over the actions of a journalist.

Damien Hardwick and Tom Morris.

AFL fans have gone into meltdown following the bombshell news Damien Hardwick has quit Richmond — but not for the reasons you would normally expect.

Football journalist Tom Morris was on Monday night sent abusive messages and was attacked on social media following his reporting of the Tigers bombshell.

Hardwick will on Tuesday face his players and announce his decision in a media conference scheduled for 10.30am, pulling the pin on his hugely successful era at the football club.

Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson told Footy Classified on Monday night Hardwick’s decision was primarily motivated by “burn out” and is making the snap decision despite having 18 months to run on his contract.

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Richmond have endured a rough start to the 2023 season having won only three out of their opening 10 games.

The way the story played out on Monday night has sparked anger from some football fans because the news was reported before Hardwick was scheduled to speak to his players.

According to Channel 7’s Tom Browne, Hardwick’s family and the club’s board of directors were only informed on Monday.

Morris first reported the news on SEN radio, sending a shockwave across the sport.

However, the situation took a dark turn on Monday night with Morris being targeted by social media trolls.

The term “Tom Morris” was on Tuesday morning among the top five trending terms on Twitter in Australia.

Despite the avalanche of abusive messages, Morris has received widespread support from commentators across the footy landscape after the Twitter backlash exploded.

Morris on Tuesday morning acknowledged there had been a backlash and defended his reporting.

He said he called Hardwick multiple times but did not receive a response.

“What’s become apparent, when you break a story or write a story, you’re not going to be able to please everyone,” Morris told SEN Breakfast on Tuesday.

“My only loyalty yesterday was to get the story accurate and to make sure the club knew I was going to go with the story and that I tried to ask for a comment from Damien Hardwick and the club. I did all that.”

Damien Hardwick and Tom Morris.

He said the football club pushed back “hard”.

“To suggest that I was going to wait until 9.15 this morning when you know that other journos would have been rummaging around for this story is just absurd,” he said.

“I was always going to go with the story as soon as I knew it was accurate and as long as I could give all parties an opportunity to comment at a reasonable time to get back to me.”

Despite the abusive tweets swirling around Twitter, many within the footy industry were quick to jump to Morris’ defence.

Essendon legend and Channel 7 sports presenter Tim Watson spoke up on Morris’ behalf on Tuesday morning and said he would not recommend anybody to go on Twitter because: “You’ll end up being inundated with hatred”.

Even Hawks legend Luke Hodge, speaking on SEN Sportsday, said: “It’s an amazing effort from Tom Morris to break this story, it’s very rare that a reporter hears this before the players”.

Former Melbourne Demons player Jack Fitzpatrick wrote on Twitter: “It’s boggling my mind that Tom Morris is copping it for breaking this story. Put your personal opinion of him aside and, assuming he’s right, it’s an exceptional piece of journalism and a story that every other journo in the business would love to have broken”.

Footy TV host Andy Maher also said the backlash was “madness”.

3AW sports host Shane McInnes also posted: “If you honestly think Tom Morris was wrong for breaking the Damian Hardwick story, you have no idea how media and journalism works. Tom got a scoop, he checked it, he ran it. That’s journalism. Waiting for permission to run it is PR.”

Andrew McQualter is set to take over as interim coach. Photo: Michael Klein

Veteran football journalist Rohan Connolly also described Morris’ reporting as “Journalism 101”.

He responded to one fan’s criticism of Morris by writing: “That’s ridiculous. It’s huge news, and that’s not his responsibility”.

Sports journalist Vince Rugari wrote on Twitter he was “genuinely staggered” by the number of people who misunderstand what the role of a journalist is.

Channel 7’s Ricky Mangidis wrote: “Are we going to talk about the job Damien Hardwick did at Richmond, playing a large part in turning that club around from however many years of being a mess? Or are we going to place way, way too much of a focus on how the story got out instead? Come on. Priorities. Please.”

Hardwick meanwhile, is expected to confirm he has already coached his last game and will immediately hand the job to highly rated Richmond assistant coach Andrew McQualter who has been appointed interim coach, according to Channel 7.

Hardwick coached Richmond to three premierships in 2017, 2019 and 2020 — breaking a 37-year premiership drought and creating a dynasty at Tigerland.

The 50-year-old was in his 14th season in charge at the Tigers and was the longest serving current AFL coach.

Damien Hardwick’s departure from Richmond shocked the AFL world. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Hardwick becomes the second coach over the past week to step down after Alastair Clarkson departed his role at North Melbourne.

Hardwick’s future is unclear but the news of his departure is set to spark some coaching chaos.

Veteran footy journalist Caroline Wilson said on Footy Classified: “It’s thrown a hand grenade into the coaching merry-go-round.”

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is out of contract at the end of this season and despite the Power’s scintillating 8-2 start to the season, the club says it will wait until later in the year to make a call on his future.

Hinkley has been in charge at Port Adelaide since 2013, taking the Power to three preliminary finals.

Hardwick won two premierships as a player at Essendon in 2000 and Port Adelaide in 2004.