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Hardwick hits out at cluttered AFL pre-season schedule

(AAP / Julian Smith)
Roar Guru
5th March, 2017
3

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has taken aim at the AFL over the Tigers’ six-day break between pre-season games.

Hardwick was delighted with the encouraging form of his side after they recorded a 28-point win over Port Adelaide in Mount Gambier on Sunday.

But he was less than impressed with the prospect of a quick turnaround before facing Collingwood in Moe on Saturday.

“We’ve got a six-day break, for some unknown reason, in a practice match series, which staggers me,” Hardwick said.

“It’s incredibly baffling to be perfectly honest – it just staggers me. We’re playing practice matches and we’ve got six-day breaks.”

Adelaide, Fremantle and Carlton also face six-day breaks as they prepare for the last round of the pre-season competition.

Crows coach Don Pyke hopes the AFL will review its new third man up ruck rule after Sunday’s farcical free kick went against his side.

The new rule, introduced in December, decrees only one nominated ruckman from each team may contest a stoppage – outlawing the tactic of a third player attempting to come over the top.

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But Crows midfielder Dean Gore was penalised in the first quarter of his side’s six-point win over Geelong after a shallow boundary throw-in hit him in the back.

Gore was shadowing Cats skipper Joel Selwood at the time and was watching rucks Rhys Stanley and Reilly O’Brien wrestle at the stoppage when the ball hit him on the full.

“It’s one of the real weird ones of that rule – if the ball hits you as a midfielder, and you’re around the contest, it’s a free kick against,” Pyke said.

“If that led to a goal … I’d hate to see that happen in a big game.

“It seems like one of those things which is a bit of an anomaly, if you like.

“He wasn’t trying to contest the ball – it was just that the ball hit him.

“Maybe it’s something they’ll look at.”

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Carlton’s men’s side copped a 92-point belting at the hands of St Kilda in the second match of the double-header at Princes Park.

It was the Blues’ second mauling in as many weeks, but defiant coach Brendon Bolton called for perspective, with some short-term pain to be expected as Carlton continued their lengthy rebuild.

Fremantle recorded their first win of the pre-season, Ed Langdon kicking a goal after the siren to sink Collingwood by two points in Mandurah.

Brisbane and Sydney also notched their opening wins of the pre-season, over the Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney respectively.

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