DAMIEN Hardwick has revealed he looked to a couple of iconic American sporting teams to instill faith in his Richmond outfit they could rebound from the disappointment of 2018.
Following Saturday's Grand Final drubbing of Greater Western Sydney, Hardwick said he had spoken to the Tigers during a pre-season camp on the Gold Coast about the possibility of creating a dynasty.
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"We did speak about that at the start of the year," Richmond's coach said.
The Tigers' 89-point winning margin was their highest in Grand Final history. Picture: AFL Photos
"We went through a journey, (looking at how) sides can still have dynasties, but they can still lose one along the way.
"We looked at examples, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Red Wings, those sorts of sides that had been really good but had a bad day."
Last year Richmond stumbled in the preliminary final against Collingwood after dominating for most of the home and away season.
Saturday's win now gives them two flags in three years.
The examples Hardwick cited were much longer periods of success, with the NBA's Spurs winning five titles in 15 years and the NHL's Red Wings winning four Stanley Cups over 12 seasons.
The Spurs never went back-to-back and the Red Wings did it just once.
Yellow and back: Tiger captain Trent Cotchin (l) and Damien Hardwick lift the Premiership Cup. Picture: AFL Photos
"We spoke about the fact that if we concentrated and continued to focus on what we can control and what we do and have faith in that, we'll be okay," Hardwick said.
'It's easy to sit here in hindsight and say it was, but I think we had absolute belief we could get back and play to the very best of our ability from our pre-season camp this year."
After overcoming the Giants following a first quarter arm-wrestle, Hardwick said the second premiership was more special than the 2017 drought-breaker.
It's a final siren pile-on as the jubilant Tigers celebrate two flags in three years. Picture: AFL Photos
He also had high hopes of challenging for more.
"I was sitting there 7-6 through the break, our skipper (Trent Cotchin) wasn't playing, Jack (Riewoldt) wasn't playing at that stage.
"I thought we really found some players that were going to take us forward.
"We're still the 10th youngest list in the AFL, so it's really exciting for us.
"I know we saluted this year, but I really look forward to the coming years also."
Aside from Dustin Martin winning his second Norm Smith Medal, the most exciting story of the day was the sensational debut of Marlion Pickett.
Hardwick said he had two sleepless nights in deciding who would replace the injured Jack Graham.
"He could provide us with the flexibility we needed," Hardwick said.
"It didn't come down until Thursday afternoon where we sat down and worked our way through what it looks like with their tags and what's going to give us the best chance to get the game played on our terms, and Marlion was the guy.
"The fact he hadn't played a single game of AFL footy to that point was a slight concern.
"We spoke to our recruiters, we spoke to a lot of people in the room and we had incredible faith that he'd be unflappable, and he was.
"He looked like he'd played 100 games."
