Richmond Tigers coach Damien Patrick Hardwick slammed the Sydney Swan’s tactics after the “horrible game of football” that took place at the Gabba on 12 July.
Sydney scored only three goals in the match, while Richmond kicked four goals, one major after the first quarter, in the 4. 10. (34) to 3. 8. (26) win.
A total of 60 points were assembled in the round six clashes, which was the second-lowest scoring game in the AFL era. The lowest score was recorded in 1999 after Port Adelaide’s 4. 8. (32) win against the Tigers in Round 11.
The best of our defenders yesterday, brought to you by @OtterBox. pic.twitter.com/zvZ4rHsgaO
— Richmond FC 🐯 (@Richmond_FC) July 13, 2020
Following the terrible win, Richmond coach Hardwick bluntly labeled Sunday’s “incredibly frustrating” encounter a “horrific game of football.” He said:
“It was a horrendous game of football. There’s no doubt about that. It was hard to watch, it was hard to play, it was incredibly frustrating.”
He continued:
“Unfortunately it’s sometimes how games pan out. You have a lot of players in one D50, they can’t get out and we can’t score. I think we had 50 odd inside 50s for what was it, four or five goals. Which is farcical in nature really.”
Hardwick also aimed at the Swan’s defensive mindset and told that the execution of the spare man behind the ball successfully kept the game close. He said:
“The fact of the matter is the spare’s down there. The ball was played in our half. I think it was 29 forward half turnovers to nine. It was down there for the vast majority of the game.”
“I didn’t think we were much chance of scoring, but they were no chance of scoring. I think they got two goals from 50-metre penalties but outside that they kicked one goal for the game.”
Dimma blames Sydney for the 'horrendous game of football' pic.twitter.com/sxMcAsJ6EC
— 7AFL (@7AFL) July 12, 2020
Dual Richmond premiership coach Hardwick added:
“There’s not much I can do. We’re attacking, we’ve got 75,000 people in our forward 50. It’s pretty hard. It’s become a tactic in the AFL. Foldback mentality is really keeping sides in games.”
However, Sydney coach John Longmire fired back at Hardwick’s comments, which he called “completely unnecessary and unwarranted.” He dismissed Hardwick’s suggestion, saying:
“We didn’t play an extra defender, Richmond bring a player up around the ball and have been doing it for a long time. We just held our six defenders in place.
“If Damien didn’t want to do that, he could have brought his forward back in and just played 6-6-6 and the issue would have been done.
Longmire continued:
“If Damien didn’t want to do that, he could have brought his forward back in and just played 6-6-6 and the issue would have been done.
Longmire also revealed that Hardwick called him and apologized for his “horrendous” comments after causing the damage.
The Tigers is now in the sixth spot on the AFL ladder and will face North Melbourne on 18 July, next Saturday, for their round seven fixture.
Hardwick has been serving as the senior coach of the Tigers since 2010. He started his playing career with the Essendon Football Club in 1994 and later played for Port Adelaide.
As a defender, Hardwick played 153 games with Essendon and 54 games with the Power. With each club, he won premierships in 2000 and 2004.
The Richmond coach is married to his wife, Danielle, with whom he shares three children: Isabelle, Imogen, and Benjamin Hardwick.
