This time 10 years ago, the Club’s official magazine ‘The Fighting Tiger’ got up close and personal with new Richmond coach Damien Hardwick before his Yellow and Black coaching debut. The man entrusted with leading the Tigers out of the football wilderness and into the promised land provided a fascinating insight into what made him tick. Here, in full, is that interview . . .
“He’s an enigma, a conundrum, a complicated man, with a straight-forward game plan. A player who suffered from severe white-line fever, but who values his family above all else.
A tough-nut on the ground, who has earned a commerce degree.
A player who hated meetings because he wasn’t out there playing, but a coach who can cut up game or training vision and then email it to a player’s phone.
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A spectator who is so insanely jealous that he can’t watch a Grand Final past three-quarter-time because he can’t bear to see someone else get presented with the cup.
A man who plans to take Richmond to its 11th premiership.
Most football fans have memories of Damien Hardwick – twice a premiership player, first with Essendon, then with Port Adelaide – and one of the toughest players going around in his day.
In a total of 207 league games, he won Essendon’s Best and Fairest in 1998, was named All-Australian in 2000, and played in the Bombers’ premiership side that year. Then, after being pushed out of a salary cap-troubled Essendon at the end of 2001, he moved to Port, and won his second premiership in 2004.
Although much loved at the Bombers – they awarded him life membership after nine years’ service, despite their rules saying 10 is the trigger-point – that didn’t stop him starting a fight before the opening bounce when Port played Essendon in a final in 2002, which resulted in him being fined what was then a massive $8000 for his efforts.
The white-line fever is something he’s not too proud of today, but it came about through a fierce desire to win, to get the best out of himself and out of his teammates, to achieve the best they were capable of.
He retired as a player after Port won the 2004 flag and moved into an assistant’s role at Hawthorn to Alastair Clarkson.
Five years at Hawthorn produced a premiership there as well, and then he landed the Richmond coaching job at the end of the 2009 season.
Since arriving at Punt Road, he has deliberately kept a low profile, preferring to concentrate on the hands-on aspects of his job, rather than front the media. But he sat down with The Fighting Tiger to give Richmond members a glimpse of the real Damien Hardwick.
“I’m basically a dad, I’m a husband, I’m a son – I’m not much different to anyone else,” he said.
“It’s surprising, but I’m completely different to my on-field persona – I was terrible on-field, but off-field I’m rather quiet and subdued, even mild-mannered, I suppose you’d say.
“I like to be a guy that my kids look up to and learn how to be well-mannered and well-spoken.”
Married with a son and two daughters, he says balance is the key.
“As cliched as it is, they’re what makes your day, you’re so happy to come home. As harsh as the footy environment is, as soon as you go home, you just forget.
“Family is just such a big part of my life, and I always tell the players that family is first, football is a long second.”
That Hardwick was a tough player should come as no surprise . . . he started playing football with Upwey-Tecoma, before spending a couple of years with renowned hard-taskmaster, Denis Pagan, at North Melbourne in the under-19s.
Hardwick recalls that those days were a little different to today’s scientific approach, with regards to hydration, weighing players before and after training sessions, etc.
“I was fortunate enough to get invited down to North Melbourne when Denis was there, and they were a tough couple of pre-seasons under Denis.
“Those weren’t the days when drinks were run out – you used to get one cup of water, run a couple of one-mile time-trials, then another cup of water after that, and then train. So, basically, that’s how I started in the AFL ranks.”
Hardwick won’t say it, but the aura of toughness he exuded clouded the fact that he was a good player.
The 38-year-old says that being a competitor was what it took to get him to where he needed to go, which was to the top, to win a premiership, to win every time he played.
“Yeah, I was okay. I’d like to think I was . . . look, I think I was relentless at the ball – I used to thrive in the contest.
“It was the only thing that was going to get me to where I needed to go. I wasn’t an exceptional kick, but I just loved the competitive nature of AFL football, you against your opponent, and I used to hate getting beaten, I really did. I still look back, even at my junior career, and there were three or four better players in my side, but I wouldn’t say that there was anyone who would be more competitive.
“That was probably the one thing that got me to where I needed to go.”
Influences come in many forms along a journey, and Hardwick is loath to name too many people, for fear of leaving someone out, but he has received a well-rounded football education along the way.
“Oh, it’d be unfair to single people out, but from my father who coached me as a junior, I learned a lot from all my coaches. Denis Pagan, who I was lucky enough to play under, Kevin Sheedy, Mark Williams, Alastair (Clarkson) as a coach, you just learn so much from all of them.
“That’s probably the greatest thing I could have done, playing-wise – it’s great to be a one-club player, but to go and learn under other coaches is another string to your bow, if you’re looking to coach.
“Not that I want any of my players going to other clubs! But it really was an eye-opener, because the things we did at Essendon were completely different to Port Adelaide, and then to Hawthorn. So I learned a number of things from a number of clubs, which was great.”
Playing and working under premiership coaches has to be up there with the best grounding you could receive, and Hardwick said he learned different things from each teacher.
“Sheeds was a very good motivator. It’s amazing how over the course of 20 years he could still get players up on a weekly basis, and the message would never tire.
“Choco (Williams) – tactically I got a lot from him. They (Port Adelaide) did that very, very well.
“Clarko was innovative. He was the guy who drove me to look at other sports, to bring things in, to look outside the square.
“So I learned three very important lessons from three great coaches.”
But it is the love of spending time with people, and changing them for the better, that drove Hardwick to start on the coaching trail.
“It’s funny, because when ‘Clarko’ (Alastair Clarkson) got the Hawthorn job, he rang me up and asked if I wanted to coach. I have a Commerce degree, and I’d started to work in accountancy . . . I love my frameworks, my matrixes, those sorts of things.
“But I’ve always enjoyed coaching kids, like with my son’s footy side, my daughters’ basketball sides. I really, really enjoyed that, and then I went into the development role at Hawthorn and absolutely loved it.
“To see the work that you could put into a player and then see it come out on game-day, that’s what I fell in love with. I’ve always enjoyed being in the coaches’ box, watching the game-plan unfold, and seeing what you’ve taught come out on the ground, thinking on your feet.
“That’s what I really love, so then I decided to have a crack at it and see how it turns out.”
Hardwick’s attraction to a challenge has been discussed already, and he admits it was the challenge posed by the Tigers – who have made the finals just twice in the last quarter of a century – that had him applying for the job.
“Look, there’d be no greater club to coach than Richmond into a finals series, come when that may. I still remember playing against Richmond – I was injured on that day, but in 1995, when Matthew Knights tore Essendon apart in the first half.
“Because I was injured I was in the crowd, but the roar was staggering. I’ll never forget it – I still reckon it was one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever been a part of.
“To get this club back to that would be an outstanding result. It’s surprising how many Richmond faithful are out there – you meet them down the street, all around. It’s amazing how many people are out there who support the Tigers.
“It would just be great if we could turn all those people into members. You can imagine the day when there’s 60,000 Richmond faithful at the ‘G’, and we’re playing Essendon, and there’s only 20,000 Bombers fans . . . it becomes like a cauldron.
“That would be outstanding.”
