Hardwick says ‘competitive beasts’ don’t want a rest

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick does not expect his frontline stars to be willing to sit out games during the condensed fixture.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick at training on the Gold Coast. Picture: Michael Klein

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick does not expect his frontline stars to be willing to sit out games during the condensed fixture, but said it’s “probable” premiership duo Bachar Houli and Shane Edwards could rejoin the squad.

Bracing for a “really challenging period” after the release of the AFL’s crammed Round 9 to 12 fixture, Hardwick said his side boasted “competitive beasts” who wanted to play as often as possible.

“If they’ve got a decision to play or train, which one do you reckon they’re taking – ‘I’ll play’,” the premiership coach said.

“These guys are competitive beasts. They want to play every game they can. They would play every second day if they could – they just love it.”

The revised fixture from July 29 which will see 33 matches played over 20 consecutive days has sparked debate over whether clubs will have to rest their stars during this period.

The Tigers, already nursing a long injury list, face top-eight contenders Western Bulldogs, Brisbane Lions, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast during this period.

Hardwick was among the coaches to call for an extended interchange bench to help ease the load on players, but the AFL has resisted this move.

“Look, personally I wouldn’t have minded it, but the reality is it’s not going to happen, so we move on pretty quickly and we start to manage our players as best as we can,” Hardwick said on SEN on Wednesday.

Richmond train at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast. Picture: Michael Klein

“In saying that, I don’t want to put a ceiling on it. If the players are available and they feel great, then we’ll probably play them.

“Once again, we are in a shorter, condensed game at the moment, our players are pulling up a hell of a lot fresher so we will make that call game by game.

“We won’t go in with a preconceived plan, as such, but we will have some plans in place if that makes sense.”

Hardwick remained hopeful Houli and Edwards, who stayed in Melbourne for family reasons rather than joining the interstate hub, could return at some stage.

“They’ve, obviously, stayed back (in Melbourne), both for personal reasons and both are still in those same situations,” Hardwick said.

“We’ve left our younger playing group training in our Melbourne hub, but primarily also to help those guys train in numbers, so they’re still training.

“So there is a possibility they could come over at some stage. But once again, family comes first at our footy club and we’ll support those guys as much and as best as we can.

“If it comes to a stage where they can come over and play, they’ll have to serve a couple of weeks’ quarantine, but they are pretty good players so we would welcome them back with open arms.

“It’s probable. I’ll give you that.”

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Hardwick admitted managing the return of captain Trent Cotchin from a hamstring injury would be a “challenge” in the crammed fixture.

“He is training well and won’t play this week, but the condensed fixture will make it interesting for him when he does play or how many games he does play,” he said.

“Obviously with a hamstring injury and the history he has, it’s going to be a little bit of a challenge for us to manage that one.

“He’s one of those guys that we will have a place for him, but not necessarily the whole squad.”

Herald Sun