Pressure building on Hardwick as Richmond stutter

Same story as before. See no reason to pay out two and a half seasons worth of coach's salary without a better replacement. Its the players who must cop most of the sh!t. And then match committee needs a good hard look at itself. Rejects Chaplin, Grigg Houli must go, now. Edwards too, not up to it. Get in Helbig, Grimes Batchelor if fit Dea and Arnot. Keep playing Lennon (good start). Yes Dimma gets outcoached week in week out, but the players still love him and changing mid season doesnt really seem to achieve anything except (temporarily) satisfy supporters anger. Longer term (not before season's end) yes possibly after a full review but again make sure we've got the right replacement.

Well, what does everybody think now after the loss to the Dees? Surely the question is not if but when. Especially if they were to lose the next game or two.

He's no good under pressure and can't coach on match day, don't let anyone take away the fact that he helped develop a two time Coleman medalist, his midfield is solid when together and he has tried to recruit well(Maric, and I think houli were mature pick ups not sure) but he lacks tactic there is no doubt about it. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.

Hardwick might walk off Richmond if they finish 11th on the ladder. Richmond has played 3 finals in 31 years and that was a terrible record for Richmond. And Someone might replace him like either, Kane Johnson, Joel Bowden or Jade Rawlings.

Hinkley's years in the head coaching wilderness is a classic case of perceptual mud sticking. As he missed out on multiple coaching positions, the less suitable he seemed and so missed out on more coaching positions and so became less desirable as a coach. It's probably a great demonstration that AFL clubs are full of risk-averse people who feel more comfortable in a herd (and as such are susceptible to being fleeced by someone who can convince them that they're missing out on what others in the hird are doing).

Port didn't even pick Hinkley! Anybody who interviewed him and didn't pick him should probably take a pay cut because they obviously don't know coaching gold when they see it.

No doubt that thought has crossed some minds at Tigerland as it has many of us supporters over the last few years ! But i guess you have to go on the information you have to hand at the time. They did supposedly run a fairly exhaustive process so really its one of those 'with the benefit of hindsight' situations...

I just wonder if they are thinking they should have picked Ken Hinkley?

Richmond fans know that Dimma gets outcoached every week. Players have played for Hardwick because they like him and respect him. However that factor is now starting to dry up because 1. those young players he took over 4 years ago cant develop any further now without some real tactical nous, 2. the recycled players have hit their ceiling in terms of skill endurance and development potential. So he has no apparent solution. Choco is already an assistant coach of Richmond !!!

Anyone who was saluting him wasn't paying attention. Just because a coach gets a perennial bunch of under-achievers into a final and loses it due to bad tactics & fortune doesn’t make him a messiah. My mind hasn't changed, I've never considered him in the top bracket. If you're bringing in Choco or Thomson as an assistant you're basically telling Hardwick he's not good enough to run the show himself. At which point he might as well resign, since it's clear he doesn't have the confidence of the club to manage and run the team.

Only a few months ago, the footy world was saluting what Dimma had done, getting such a limited playing group into their first finals series for over a decade. We've changed our minds about him just on the strength of 6 games of footy? If Dimma can get this current team to another finals series in 2014 and at the same time blood some young players, that would be a fine achievement, especially seeing that Richmond has no ageing stars so they've still got time to build. If the Tigers don't make the finals in 2014, one option would be to bring in Choco or Thomson as a coaching assistant for Dimma for 2015, especially to advise on match days.

It's hard to disagree with any of that at this stage Paul.

Injuries are no excuse at the moment. I don't like that Hardwick has been continually using them as an excuse. Deledio and Rance both played in Rd 1 against Gold Coast, and Richmond were still terribly slow, unskilled, and unable to handle the pressure.

Hardwick is a very limited tactical coach, at least when compared against the true guns of the magnets and whiteboard, such as Clarkson, Lyon, Thompson. It's becoming more and more apparent as the season rolls on that he doesn't really know what he's doing. And this man mentored Justin Leppitsch. Enough to make you weep.

You could do a lot worse than Mark Williams, it would be a good move, if thats what Richmond are thinking of doing.

Choco won Port a flag when port was a rabble. Vote 1 for Choco.

Don't worry about Gale going anywhere, expect McLachlan to get the nod before the weekend. As for Thompson, consider he is a bit hamstrung at Essendon inheriting Hirds staff and not being able to change much with Hird coming back. If he got the job at Tigerland he'd be free to appoint whatever staff he wanted.

Nup, cant blame injuries - thats soft. If we had a solid game plan then players coming in to cover absentees know what their role is and do it. Look at all the top clubs and how they cope. And we were supposed to be at least top 8 this year if not top 4! No, we look like a club without a plan and without leadership especially on the field. If Benny gets the AFL job, it will significantly weaken the club off field leaderrship as well. Some of the recycled players (Grigg Petterd Houli) and some older ones like Shane Edwards, Jake King have hit their useby dates and suddenly we arent taking risks with younger guys any more. Dont we have the underlying talent? If we were to replace Dimma, and please not before season's end at earliest, we need an absolute gun replacement. Otherwise he has to stay. Im not sure Bomber Thompson is the answer looking at his last few weeks under pressure. And arguably he wont have the support he had at Geelong with the likes of Hinkley and co (not to mention the players). Regardless of whether he was even available I dont think he'd even want to coach this rabble. Theyd probably turn to Choco in the short term but Im not sure hes a longer term option either. All up think they need to be patient and hold off making any drastic off field changes and try more younger guys with the objective of a list clean out at seasons end in addition to a total review of the game plan.

Injuries certainly don't help but the Tigers have one of the shortest injury lists in the comp.