Damien Hardwick | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Damien Hardwick

Carter

Tiger Legend
Nov 14, 2012
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Not concerned with his private life.

Am concerned that Kingsley may get the Carlton gig and a senior exodus beginning with Caracalla will be complete.

With no one yet signed to come in.
 
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bob

Tiger Superstar
Mar 18, 2014
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Not concerned with his private life.

Am concerned that Kingsley may get the Carlton gig and a senior exodus beginning with Caracalla will be complete.

With no one yet signed to come in.
Agree with you Carter. No interest in Damien's Personal Life. Nor any judgement either that a 3 time premiership coach is being paid well - prob making up for lost time when his earlier contracts werent as high.

I'm not sure Kingsley will get the Carlton gig. Brian Cook wont choose him - he will bring a bigger fish.

But either way, I havent been convinced by our coaching panel all year, nor MC decisions. Yes we won 3 flags - I still think Caracella's ball movement, Rutten and Leppa in defence/forward, Fly in d/ment were big parts of that.

I'm not sure about Tim Livingstone's role, wasnt last year, Even less so this year. I totally understand the business decision for Balmey to hose down his role (his decision) in order to elevate Blair and Tim so we could offer them a bigger role/salary which meant less risk losing them. The decision happens all the time in business and happening more and more in footy - its how Leppa got over the line at Collingwood, Pyke to Sydney, etc.

But for me, something's NQR with the current panel. If Dimma needed help with smarter tactical nous and strategy after the 2016 review b/c that's not his strength, then he needs that same smarter help now. Above all else - for me, our mid and I50 entries were terrible all year - win or lose we had no system forward of centre. Even parts of 2020 were awful.

And if we are going to bring in some early draft picks, we need a gun head of development.

Someone posted in a thread, forgot which one, that in the 2nd half of the year, we finished as wooden spooners with our W/L Ratio. Wooden spooners. Shocked me to think of it like that.

Its not all injuries. It's not just the Club being fatigued as Benny said either. Geelong had the same late finish to 2020, have played finals more years in a row, had some major injuries also through the year and still managed to get to the finals at least. This is not to compare with geesook. They will drop off a cliff soon and we wont.

But our coaching panel/structure needs a massive injection.

I am hoping, like everything else that's been great about our club these last few years, it's being worked on quietly in the background and will be announced to our pleasant surprise.
 
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ceehook2

Tiger Matchwinner
Feb 11, 2021
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Hmm becareful what you wish for
‘A really great run of success ‘
and so it happens and out come the daggers
No where near them negative coverage for Fig jam
He , the club and the players will have to soldier on , because it will keep coming
Losing Kingsley would be a real blow , we cross our fingers , but also take comfort that at Punt rd we have a good environment to develop assistant coaches , be it Dimma , Balme , the players , the admin , the general staff , making it to the pointy end of the season means it’s a long intense year
And both coaches and players come out of it pretty good , yes we did look frazzled this year

the challenges will be bringing a number of new players , bringing them upto speed with the Richmond man program as well as the football development stuff
As well as trying to accelerate the development of RCD, Martyn , Hugo , Miller , Biggie , MJR
And to reinvigorate the older players

any success in 2022 will be no mean feat and another tick for Dimma
 
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graystar1

Tiger Legend
Apr 28, 2004
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As far as I am concerned his private life is off limits.
He is entitled to his and her privacy.
Don't remember any and all the hoo haa when another coach had a marriage breakdown.
 

tigerman

It's Tiger Time
Mar 17, 2003
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I didn't quite say that. ;)

What I've heard is he was reluctant to take a pay cut this season and took his salary forward at the same level for the next couple of years on his new deal. To put that in context, to maintain the same rate of pay relative to the soft cap cut, every coach would have to take about a 34% cut.

If that's true and I'm only confident enough to say if, then there's no doubt it would be a huge reason our coaching stocks took a hit.
If that's true, it's good of Dimma to do that, as it will ensure that Danielle and the family will get a fair, and proper payment in the divorce settlement.
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
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Those thinking the assistants made Dimma and he'll struggle without them need to rewatch the 'Sound the Alarm' vid from the Port prelim. Dimma's all over everything and schooling everyone, including Leppa.

Yeah, we need good assistants. We'll get them.
 
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123cups

Tiger Champion
May 1, 2016
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Dimma has been an outstanding coach over the past 10+ years, and he’s an even better coach today.

Would just like to take a step back and point out what a great position that is for the club. It’s like building a list around an AA KPF, AA KPB, and 2 Brownlow mids all under age 22. We just have to surround them with the right people, which is a lot easier than searching for the right person to lead from the top.

This is the upside every club is hoping for when they hire a young coach in his 30’s.
 
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bob

Tiger Superstar
Mar 18, 2014
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Those thinking the assistants made Dimma and he'll struggle without them need to rewatch the 'Sound the Alarm' vid from the Port prelim. Dimma's all over everything and schooling everyone, including Leppa.

Yeah, we need good assistants. We'll get them.
Watched it and agree. He's a good coach and the edited footage seemed to reflect that.

But I think a coaching team wins flags, not one coach.
I remember reading about Dimma here on PRE in 2016 before the review and the new assistants. No one thought he was much chop then. Of course, over 5 years and much studying and self improvement, he's become better at his craft.

A panel of good coaches is needed. IMO, he did struggle this year without them. I think in at least half the press conferences, he, himself, referred to the stilted game plan, I50 entries and connection. Anyway.. agree that the club is working through it.
 
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Carter

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Nov 14, 2012
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Those thinking the assistants made Dimma and he'll struggle without them need to rewatch the 'Sound the Alarm' vid from the Port prelim. Dimma's all over everything and schooling everyone, including Leppa.

Yeah, we need good assistants. We'll get them.

Hope you’re right Spooker.

Agree that Dimma has become a master coach.

However, he can’t be across every tactical tweak.

We need experienced voices in the war room and we currently don’t have many.
 
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DavidSSS

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Dec 11, 2017
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Watched it and agree. He's a good coach and the edited footage seemed to reflect that.

But I think a coaching team wins flags, not one coach.
I remember reading about Dimma here on PRE in 2016 before the review and the new assistants. No one thought he was much chop then. Of course, over 5 years and much studying and self improvement, he's become better at his craft.

A panel of good coaches is needed. IMO, he did struggle this year without them. I think in at least half the press conferences, he, himself, referred to the stilted game plan, I50 entries and connection. Anyway.. agree that the club is working through it.

I suspect the club isn't working through it at the moment, hopefully taking a well earned rest, time for reflection and come back with some reinvigoration and new perspectives. But your point is right, the club is well run these days and they will be taking a step back and having a look at the game plan/system and we'll see what happens in 2022.

Good assistants are vital. You need people who will question even the best coach, someone who will ask why we do things the way we do and make everyone think outside the box a bit. We can see that the high pressure teams are the ones left at the pointy end, but we can also see that our version of the high pressure game needs some tweaking because we're not at the pointy end this year. Some fresh voices may be good for Richmond at the moment, we need some good people around Dimma and people who are willing to challenge any and all ideas.

DS
 
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nikolasmia

Tiger Superstar
Sep 3, 2007
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Tim Livingston, Hardwick, Blair Hartley

If one of them leave that’s when you will know that the era is over

Everyone else is replaceable , or this how it seems .
 
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Harry

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Mar 2, 2003
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Tim Livingston, Hardwick, Blair Hartley

If one of them leave that’s when you will know that the era is over

Everyone else is replaceable , or this how it seems .
No. You need good assistants. These 3 were there in 2016 when we were heading down the toilet until we brought in good assistants. Hardwick is the best man motivator and gets his players to completely buy in which is a huge requirement but we need good assistants to get us playing a way to help achieve success. Also fitness and conditioning is another big piece to the puzzle.
 
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nikolasmia

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Sep 3, 2007
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No. You need good assistants. These 3 were there in 2016 when we were heading down the toilet until we brought in good assistants. Hardwick is the best man motivator and gets his players to completely buy in which is a huge requirement but we need good assistants to get us playing a way to help achieve success. Also fitness and conditioning is another big piece to the puzzle.

Of course we need good assistants

And there have been a few that have come and gone, yet we remain successful, have won flags with and without

Rutten, Caracalla, Kingsley, McQualter, Sam Lonergan

We just have to bring the next batch in.
 
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Harry

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Mar 2, 2003
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If that's true, it's good of Dimma to do that, as it will ensure that Danielle and the family will get a fair, and proper payment in the divorce settlement.
what if the others have similar financial obligations?