Damien Hardwick says Richmond is just not good enough at the moment after disappointing loss to Port Adelaide
UPDATE: RICHMOND players concede skill errors, not a lack of effort, are behind its poor start to the season, while Trent Cotchin will miss two weeks with injury.
Richmond
Don't miss out on the headlines from Richmond. Followed categories will be added to My News.
RICHMOND players concede simple mistakes and skill errors, not a lack of effort are the reasons why it has plunged to 1-5 to start the season.
Saturday night’s fifth straight loss was so deplorable coach Damien Hardwick compared the Tigers to a local side.
The news got even worse for the Tigers on Sunday morning when it was confirmed skipper Trent Cotchin will miss two weeks after fracturing his cheekbone in the loss.
Cotchin bravely played on but will have surgery on Monday and miss crucial matches against Hawthorn and Sydney.
Former Geelong captain Cameron Ling on Sunday described the task of beating Hawks as “basically mission impossible”.
Richmond, who had top-four aspirations this year, have lost five matches in a row to slump to 1-5.
Brett Deledio, who played his first game of the season against the Power, said there’s no point sulking, players need to work harder.
“There is no point b****ing and moaning, we’ve just got to get around each other and get ourselves out of it,” Deledio told Channel 7.
“We’ve got the players here, we just have to get our confidence back and our skills up and not make so many basic errors.”
Midfielder Shaun Grigg, who was one of the Tigers’ best in the loss said after the match the Tigers played “pretty dumb”, a sentiment coach Hardwick agreed with.
Forward Ty Vickery was on Sunday said Richmond’s on-field woes aren’t due to a lack of effort, conceding players made “dumb decisions” with and without the ball.
“It certainly hasn’t been a lack of effort, it’s been stupid turnovers, mistakes that’s hurting us,” Vickery told The Sunday Footy Show.
Cotchin suffered broken cheekbone last night. Surgery tomorrow. Set to miss two matches v Hawks and Swans.
— Jay Clark (@ClarkyHeraldSun) May 1, 2016
“That being said that’s possibly easier to fix than effort — it’s not an attitude thing from the group, it’s a skill execution.
“I think there were plenty of instances where players made really dumb decisions both offensively and defensively.”
Vickery said the Tigers have slightly altered its game plan compared to last season, which saw it finish fifth on the ladder but bow out in a third straight elimination final loss.
Asked whether the group needed to go back to the drawing board, Vickery said: “That’s for the coaches to decide, that’s their whole role if they think it need tinkering.
“Certinaly no game plan should stay the same from one year to another and we’ve tried to implement some small changes.”
Hardwick said his side “embarrassed ourselves” in a 35-point loss to an injury-ravaged Port Adelaide and remains frustrated over Richmond’s glut of basic skill errors.
The under-siege coach, again staring down the barrel with matches against Hawthorn and Sydney to come, kept his players behind closed doors for nearly 20 minutes post-match.
“We’re missing kicks, we’re missing handballs, we’re missing tackles. Just the fundamentals of the game that are simple and a local football side should be doing, we’re not doing,” Hardwick said.
Players only just let out of meeting in @Richmond_FC rooms. Leadership group locked away for nearly 20mins. Silence. #AFLTigersPower
— Sam Edmund (@SammyHeraldSun) April 30, 2016
“The effort is there. We’re just not good enough at the moment, We’re not executing the things we know and should do. We’ve got to bounce back and play with some dignity next week because at the moment we’re well short of where we need to be.
“As a club we’re disappointed with what we’re presenting to our fans and we’ve got to got to get back on track.”
Salting a worsening wound was a serious injury to tough midfielder Kane Lambert, who the club fears has a punctured lung after a first quarter collision.
The Tigers were strong in contested ball and clearances, but were shambolic in possession. Defensively, they couldn’t — or wouldn’t — stop the Power moving the ball through them and had 28 fewer tackles.
Richmond could manage only eight goals, none in the last quarter with its season on the line.
Asked if it was dumb football, Hardwick said: “Dumb is an interesting comment. It probably was.”
😢
— Al Paton (@al_superfooty) April 30, 2016
“We couldn’t get any phase of our game up and going at all. (We were) beaten outside through spread, had no run off half-back, bombed the ball inside 50m. We had a plan in place and at no stage did we put that plan in place.”
In desperation, Hardwick went to coach from the bench in the third quarter “to make sure they were all on the same page”, but only got a closer look at his side squandering opportunities.
He wouldn’t buy into talk of season-defining games or lost seasons, but admitted he took heart from his side digging itself out of similar holes in the past two seasons.
“It’s funny, generally the first win is the hardest,” he said.
“Whenever you’re in this position it always seems like it’s so far away, that next win. It’s certainly doable though. I’ve got great faith in the players we have, the coaches and all those people involved that we can get back on track.”
- With Kate Salemme
Originally published as Damien Hardwick says Richmond is just not good enough at the moment after disappointing loss to Port Adelaide
Record mid-season draft haul could save Essendon’s year
The Bombers’ key position stars are dropping like flies, but with the mid-season draft around the corner some much needed reinforcements will arrive. See who could don the red and black.
Tigers fans didn’t know it — but this day created a dynasty
It was Richmond’s high-point in a 37-year run of misery. And although Tigers’ fans weren’t aware — it put them on a path to premiership glory over two decades later.