Damien Hardwick [Merged]

[Sir Tiger]

? Rarely will you find a more loyal & committed bunch than tiger fans. Chuck hissy fits? 30!plus years of failure and false dawns but still turn out in droves? Spare me.

It's the fanatical defence of such a poorly performed coach that should be derided.

well said. just remember, some supporters are more equal than others

 

[asian tetley]

All this talk of disgruntled players is most concerning.
I thought aunt Peggy & Benny said the players loved Damien & his coaching.
Peggy said the board & players even had dinner together, and everything was warm & fuzzy.


What's happened dear Benny & Aunt Peggy?

 

[Harry]

All this talk of disgruntled players is most concerning.
I thought aunt Peggy & Benny said the players loved Damien & his coaching.
Peggy said the board & players even had dinner together, and everything was warm & fuzzy.


What's happened dear Benny & Aunt Peggy?

Reckon cotch and some in the leadership group love him but alot of the other players don't.

 

[thejinx]

Geez McRae is impressive. I hope we hold onto him.

Comes across as a real genuine, intelligent guy. Seems to place a lot of importance on intangibles, rather than statistics. Which is refreshing to hear. :clap

Bit of a lip there re: Vickery lol

 

[asian tetley]

Geez McRae is impressive. I hope we hold onto him.

Comes across as a real genuine, intelligent guy. Seems to place a lot of importance on intangibles, rather than statistics. Which is refreshing to hear. :clap

Bit of a lip there re: Vickery lol

Ok, let's hold onto him.
Watched an interview with Beveridge the other night.
Wow, he's impressive too.
Just leaves Hardwick for dead.
And to think only last week comparisons were being made between Hardwick & Beveridge on PRE.
Laughable.

 

[saigon tiger]

Watch Damien talking about himself.

" I was not ready to coach when I was appointed by RFC....amazed how little I knew.
I'm not a people person...look to my wife for direction in that area.."
or words to that effect.

Question: How, why and who appointed him?
Rumours now that senior players want out. Other than Prestia nobody wants in. Sponsors missing. Crowds down. Fans disgruntled. Opposition laughing.
What more needs to be said.
Instal McRae...nothing to lose..looks and sounds impressive.
Re-instate the RFC as a football club. A team playing for each other with on-field wins the prime objective.

Sums it up beautifully. This fool who is our senior coach is destroying our football club. There will be no money from our household going to the club while this dud is coaching the club!

 

[AngryAnt]

Fairly obvious I'm not here to win friends

Yes. Explains perfectly why you'd publish a long list of people you admire and respect for their astuteness.

 

[lamb22]

Yes. Explains perfectly why you'd publish a long list of people you admire and respect for their astuteness.

He named names! You should be grateful you missed out. You'll still get a table at Hop Sing's. ;D

Cheers to you and the Baron!

 

[Tigers of Old]

Watch Damien talking about himself.

" I was not ready to coach when I was appointed by RFC....amazed how little I knew.
I'm not a people person...look to my wife for direction in that area.."
or words to that effect.

Question: How, why and who appointed him?
Rumours now that senior players want out. Other than Prestia nobody wants in. Sponsors missing. Crowds down. Fans disgruntled. Opposition laughing.
What more needs to be said.
Instal McRae...nothing to lose..looks and sounds impressive.
Re-instate the RFC as a football club. A team playing for each other with on-field wins the prime objective.

Just need to keep him for another 15 years and he'll get there. :-[

 

[tigerdave]

Really hoping Dimma gets the arse by round 6 next year and Mccrae takes over and has success.
[/quot

And we get yet another wasted season

Not if we see a fresh attacking game style that gets results!

 

[Baron Samedi]

Yes. Explains perfectly why you'd publish a long list of people you admire and respect for their astuteness.

Go and tell Rosy then. That's your usual Plan B isn't it?

After having a meltdown about others doing the same thing?

Exposing yourself as the biggest hypocrite in PRE history?

Funny stuff :hihi

 

[Lazarus]

Problem might lie in the fact that we've not been a very good footy club for well over thirty years n every time the fans get over exuberant n wet there knickers over a new coach or a couple of new players, the whole club collapses in angst n retribution when their fantasies n desires aren't instantly gratified.

First time in fifty years that I've actually seen the management stand firm against all the ranting n howling n nuffers trying to challenge. They're actually working their way through the issues n problems trying to fix and improve what doesn't quite work properly rather than simply sacking the coach n keeping all the same problems in place again.
There's never been any guarantee that a club will win premierships at any given time. There wasn't when there was only twelve teams n it's massively harder now that there's eighteen clubs.

If the club is well managed n makes enough money to have access to the quality facilities n quality staff n quality players, then you're a chance to compete for finals n flags, that's all.
We've managed to get somewhere near the mark in recent years n stumbled this year, proves we're still not *smile*ing good enough so keep what's working and try to improve what's not working properly, ya don't just keep chucking everything in the bin 'coz you're having another tanty, all you end up with is another bin full of scrap.

The decision to extend DH contract before this season is one of the bigger blunders (and was widely criticised here) in modern football. To say they are now doing the right things so it's all ok is condoning poor management/leadership. To support a coach whose tactics have been criticised by most football experts is further proof of poor management. He's had his opportunity and he's failed. That's fine. But the people in charge should recognise what is obvious to most and make a change. It will be and has been more damaging to retain him than the short term pain of releasing him and paying him out.

Talk of hissy fits and wet pants adds little to the conversation other than make you appear like an immature old fart.

 

[Baron Samedi]

The decision to extend DH contract before this season is one of the bigger blunders (and was widely criticised here) in modern football. To say they are now doing the right things so it's all ok is condoning poor management/leadership. To support a coach whose tactics have been criticised by most football experts is further proof of poor management. He's had his opportunity and he's failed. That's fine. But the people in charge should recognise what is obvious to most and make a change. It will be and has been more damaging to retain him than the short term pain of releasing him and paying him out.

Talk of hissy fits and wet pants adds little to the conversation other than make you appear like an immature old fart.

Lazarus rising to the task. Well said.

 

[IanG]

The decision to extend DH contract before this season is one of the bigger blunders (and was widely criticised here) in modern football. To say they are now doing the right things so it's all ok is condoning poor management/leadership. To support a coach whose tactics have been criticised by most football experts is further proof of poor management. He's had his opportunity and he's failed. That's fine. But the people in charge should recognise what is obvious to most and make a change. It will be and has been more damaging to retain him than the short term pain of releasing him and paying him out.

I agree its been shown to be a blunder. But equally that doesn't mean making good decisions now should be dismissed and doesn't mean previous poor decisions are condoned. It also doesn't mean the good the current Board has done over the last few years should be dismissed. Whether retaining Hardwick is more damaging than paying him out we are in no position to judge, but it is telling that the alternate Board would retain him as well. Richmond clearly doesn't have a Paul Little who can splash around millions for the club. On the Board the fact is we can only hold the Board to account via the voting process and it would be cutting off our nose to spite our face if we vote someone in merely because they are not the current Board. FoF have shown themselves to be unsuitable to running a football club.

 

[Leysy Days]

Not sure how you can use say the FoF group are unsuitable to run a club (leysy agrees) then use their decision making on retaining Hardwick as "telling" Ian.

 

[Tigertough1974]

I would assume apart from balme being a good operator and a position they wanted to fill that he will move on things that he sees but also the board. I am sure during the past years things have been said in private between, club, benny and dimma and now that balmey is onboard essentially all those discussions change with a new Footy GM..

Interestingly Fly was a woods previously so i am sure balmey would have an opinion on his ability either way!

 

[Sir Tiger]

The current board have overall done a good job. They have made a major blunder in extending Dimmers contract, and they probably could have done a bit better in structuring and resourcing the footy dept over recent years. However I don't think any of that is enough to justify calling for the heads to roll given the overall financial position and sound governance of the club. If there are others who want to come in and contribute, like Simon ?? (the lawyer) then they have every right to put themselves up for election and for us to vote for or against him. I don't have a problem with any of that.

The main problem is Dimmer and there's no easy way out. If the club genuinely believes he is still the best person to coach the team then they should stick with him and provide every support necessary next year. If not then they should let him go now, but there's $$'s involved and the fact that the players are all on leave etc and so would create a lot of uncertainty for them and potential new recruits. Would also men that club resources would be focused on recruiting a coach rather than rebuilding other aspects of the footy dept and recruiting players. There's no guarantee that if we employed a new coach today, that he would have the game plan in place and operational in time to have a marked effect next year anyway - so next year is potentially a wasted (aka rebuild) year.

If the season starts going pear-shaped early on then he'll go early and we'll have a caretaker in place, and that effectively means (again) a wasted year. Instead if it looks as though we'll miss finals by sometime in the second half of the season, then again he'll probably go later, and again it will have turned out to be (unknowingly) a wasted year.

Alternatively, everything comes together in pre-season, Dimmer changes tack with the game plan, Yazz gets fit, Prestia arrives, and we're back up and firing into the finals and all's good !!

So what to do ?? On balance, unless things go well, one way or another next year will likely be a 'wasted' year of some description, and so i think the best course of action is to keep him for now but to err towards letting him go in the first half of the season if there's even a hint of us not improving significantly from this year (regardless of win/loss). That way theyahve time to recruit a new coach, who may even come in mid year and start to turn things around for 2018.

My thoughts anyway.

 

[chislop]

I reckon DH's departure is already in the planning stages. The club is smart enough to play those cards very close to its collective chest. If this is happening, then kudos to the club for respecting DH.

 

[thejinx]

I also have a sneaking suspicion, based on nothing of course, that Hardwick's days may be numbered.

I just can't fathom the idea that the decision makers at the club would think that continuing with Hardwick would be a good idea. I can't think of any positives in keeping him.

 

[dcstar]

I reckon DH's departure is already in the planning stages. The club is smart enough to play those cards very close to its collective chest. If this is happening, then kudos to the club for respecting DH.

One wonders if the magical "Review" recommended replacing Hardwick either directly or indirectly?

On any of the benchmarks those of us can observe outside of the club his performance has just been average at best in some areas and consistently below average in others over a very long period of time.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a tough early 2017 fixture result in Hardwick been given the flick by Round 8.