Having coached Richmond’s 300-game milestone man Shane Edwards for 13 years, Damien Hardwick has a great appreciation of the triple Tiger premiership star’s skill set and the enormous value he’s provided the team with throughout such a long period of time. Here is Dimma’s special tribute to Shedda . . . 

“It’s an incredible achievement . . . The measure of a great player is how good he makes those around him, and Shane’s first class in that facet of the game. We often show our players the things that he does that are unseen. I only see them, basically, when I watch the tape.

“I’ll never forget when I first got this job, Geoff Morris, a good mate of mine in South Australia said, ‘You’ve got a beauty there in Shane Edwards. Just play him every week’. And, I don’t think, ever since I’ve been here, he’s played a reserves game. He’s such an important player, but his off-field development’s been first class as well.

“It’s been an honour and a privilege to coach him, really, and I look forward to that continuing for the remainder of the year.

“He’s been a huge driver of that (our recent success). At the end of the day, as a coach you’re the by-product of your players, and he’s been first class in the way he’s gone about his on-field. But, also, the significance of what he’s brought off-field, I think, can’t be under-stated.

“Three-time premiership player, All Australian, 300 games, captained our club for a couple of games as well.

“It brings a smile to my face to see what he’s done with his football career, and I couldn’t be any prouder of him, as our club couldn’t be, either.

“I think the very best players put other players in space, but they also just make a positional change that allows another player to get a valuable possession. And that’s what Shane does.

“Guys like Shane Edwards, and Kane Lambert’s another, they just make those around them better by their positioning and understanding of the game.

“He’s never been a huge stats guy, Shane, but what he does is he allows players to play their very best footy.

“Whenever I’ve looked for a spark to get our side back up and going, the first guy I’ve gone to – Shane Edwards. Put him in the middle, put him up forward, put him down back.

“We often joke that we still haven’t figured out his best position . . . it’s 300 games in. But that’s how valuable a player he is.”