We’ve been tarnished by strip club shame: Hardwick

Richmond coach Damien Harwick concedes last week’s outing to a Gold Coast strip club by two of his players has tarnished the club’s reputation

Damien Hardwick overseas Dustin Martin and Tom Lynch at Richmond training

Richmond coach Damien Harwick concedes last week’s protocol-breaking outing to a Gold Coast strip club by two of his players has tarnished the club’s reputation, but says the incident is not reflective of his team and he does not expect it to affect the Tigers’ on-field performances.

Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones were suspended for 10 games and booted from the Queensland hub after taking an Uber to Hollywood Showgirls strip club then getting into a fight outside a kebab shop in Surfers Paradise about 3.30am last Friday morning.

Two-time premiership coach Hardwick said he was incredibly disappointed the club had lost respect and the club’s image meant a lot to him.

But he stressed that “98 per cent of our players know and respect” the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols.

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“We speak about the Richmond family and what our jumper represents and who we are as men and an organisation, and it reflects poorly on us, we understand that,” Hardwick told reporters on Wednesday.

“Respect is very hard to earn but it’s easy to lose and we’ve probably lost a bit at the moment.

“The important thing for us is we’ve got to continue to rebuild our reputation. It’s been tarnished, there’s no doubt about that.

“It’s been an intense 48 to 72 hours but we’ll grow from it, we’ll learn from it, the players are disappointed and accept the responsibility.

“We’ve dealt with it as a footy club and we’ll continue to be judged on it until we continue to move forward with an unblemished record.”

Hardwick said the AFL allowed Richmond to hold birthday drinks for Jack Ross and Ben Miller, but Stack and Coleman-Jones “took it upon themselves after the (drinks) finish to have an hour’s sleep then go out”.

Hardwick learnt about of their indiscretions the next morning.

He said he had emphasised to the players the ramifications of another breach, which would result in the loss of draft picks and/or premiership points, but called the club’s messaging “consistent”, even before last week’s incident.

“We can only tell them so many times as an organisation, as a coaching fraternity, as an administration of what the protocols are,” he said.

“Two players stepped outside the boundaries and it’s cost us and them dearly, so we’ll continue to educate and grow.”

West Australian Stack has played nine games this season, most recently in Round 13 against Essendon. Coleman-Jones, a South Australian, has featured once for the club.

Hardwick last spoke to the duo on Monday and said although the club was disappointed with them, it was concerned for their welfare.

He would not speculate on their futures, saying they would be “determined in due course”.

Both players are contracted to the end of 2021.

“We’ll continue to monitor them and help them through their journey,” Hardwick said.

“The two players are like family to us … but they’ve also got to understand the repercussions of their actions.”

Richmond’s first test of whether the incident will derail the team’s push for a third flag in four years is against second-placed Geelong at Metricon Stadium on Friday night.

Hardwick said the proof would be in the pudding.

“All we can control is our on-field performance … and we’ll put all our time and effort into that,” he said.

Hardwick was unsure if a Tigers staff member would lose their job due to the $100,000 hit to the club’s 2021 soft cap.

“It will obviously affect us in some way,” he said.

Richmond will get a significant boost for the Geelong clash as Dylan Grimes and Kane Lambert return from injury.

Grimes strained his hamstring against West Coast on August 27 then missed the win over Fremantle last week, when Lambert was also sidelined for a one match with a hip issue.

The premiership players have had the extra break because of Richmond’s Round 16 bye and Hardwick confirmed on Wednesday they would return to face the second-placed Cats.

“Dylan will be available … and it was just a management call with Kane,” Hardwick said.

“He’s had a hip complaint over a number of weeks and we just thought we’d take the opportunity with a shortened break to give him a rest but then he had the nine days after so he gets a really extended break to get that hip right for the remainder of the year.”

Richmond enters Friday’s game in fourth spot with a 10-4-1 record, while Geelong is second at 11-4.

The sides are looking to seal their positions in the top four ahead of the final round.