Almanac Footy: Dimma, Thanks For The Memories

 

 

 

 

 

So it is now over two weeks since Damien Hardwick bid farewell to Punt Road, and this has given Richmond supporters a lot of time to reflect on the nearly thirteen years of Dimma in charge of the Tigers. When Hardwick was appointed Richmond head coach after the 2009 season, Richmond was at one of its lowest ebbs in its rich history.  Terry Wallace had failed to bring the Tigers up in the four and a half years he was at the helm, and Jade Rawlings stepped in as caretaker as the Tigers limped over the line to finish near the bottom of the AFL ladder.  To further compound the difficulties Hardwick had to face in 2010, Matthew Richardson – our outright superstar and legend – had to retire due to a hamstring tendon injury and Ben Cousins was in his final year of playing AFL.  However there were some positives for Hardwick to work with.  He had good experinced players such as Chris Newman, Brett Deledio, Shane Tuck and Jake King who bought into the Dimma philosphy immediately and led the young Tigers into the new era.  He had a good set of young players such as Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt, Shane Edwards and Alex Rance who stood out and showed Dimma had a lot to work with.  Importantly two new recruits from the draft came to Punt Rd who would have a big say in the future of the club.  One player was David Astbury, a country lad who ended up being one of the key talls in the backline, and Dustin Martin, a manbeast from Castlemaine.  From the start Dimma was realistic with the supporters: telling us to enjoy the ride, but that it was going to take time.  It wasn’t until Round 10 that Richmond got its first win against Port Power, but even before that we could see what was to come.

 

Richmond were playing more daring football, Hardwick put faith in the young players and they responded well.  I became convinced that change was afoot when we smashed the Eagles at the ‘G in Round 12.  Riewoldt kicked ten goals in his breakout game and you could feel the Richmond roar come back.  We then saw improvement each year ’til 2013 when we made the finals for the first time since 2001 – only to then be knocked out by Carlton in the elimination final.  This trend continued in 2014 and 2015 where Richmond just couldn’t get over the line in finals.

 

We then come to 2016 which was a disastrous year for the Tigers, a finish out of the eight, players out of form, Hardwick seemed to be losing the team and another threat of a spill of the board.  The off season looked like it was going to be the traditional blood -letting at Punt Road.  However something different happened this time.  President Peggy O’Neill, CEO Brendan Gale and the board stood by Hardwick, but realised changes needed to be made to support the coach and the team.  Neil Balme aka The Coach Whisperer was brought in to take the admin duties away from Hardwick, Dimma was sent off to a leadership course at Harvard and the football department was rejigged to better support the coach and players.  2017 was the year Hardwick and the team embraced imperfection.  Dimma put himself out there to say “Hey, I didn’t coach well last season”  and showed his vulnerabilities to the playing group, who in turn showed theirs. Cotchin changed his role as a player, Martin was becoming the star we all thought he could be, Rance again showed everyone he was one of the best defenders of his generation and Riewoldt was becoming more unselfish and embracing the team element into his game.  Hardwick took away the second tall in the forward line and had a mosquito fleet of small forwards that would hunt in packs and keep the ball moving forward at all costs.  In a time when other teams in the AFL were trying to instill a slow defensive style of game, Richmond were bucking the trend and playing a chaos style of game that other teams couldn’t get a grip of.  It all seemed to fall in place at Subiaco late in the 2017 season when Jacob Townsend kicked a bag and Richmond smashed Freo by over 100 points.  Suddenly Dimma and the team took the Richmond supporters on a months long journey through to the finals and onto our first premiership since 1980.

 

2018 would have to be one of my favourite years watching Richmond play, as I would go to the game confident Richmond would win and generally win comfortably.  The Tigers continued to play the run and gun style and would be one of the highest points scorers in the season.  Yes the preliminary final was a bad loss, but I don’t feel haunted by it.  If anything the finals loss allowed Hardwick to tweak the line up by bringing in Tom Lynch, as he saw the mosquito fleet at Richmond had run its course.  Even as we started slowly Hardwick was quick to say Premiership’s are not won in June.  He had us primed and ready in September for another run to the grand final.  He even had the nerve to put in Marlion Pickett for his first ever game in the 2019 Grand Final and led us to a huge win against GWS.  2020 would have to go down as Hardwick’s greatest triumph as a coach.  While the 2019 Grand Final is my personal favourite, to win in 2020 with COVID, moving the team up north to Queensland, having the media and AFL against Richmond and still win the big one has to be the highlight of Dimma’s reign as Richmond coach.  While it was a huge triumph, hindsight says it probably took a lot out of Hardwick.  As well as all the issues surrounding COVID, Hardwick had the issue of divorce from his wife and the various strains that went with it.  We look back in the last two years and Richmond don’t seem to close out games like they used to.  Dimma has looked tired and worn out and frankly he has made the right call.  To walk away puts him in a category of coaches who chose when to get out rather then get sacked.

 

All I can say to Dimma is “Thank You” for giving me some of the best times I have ever had as a Richmond fan. Dimma, you are equal to Tommy Hafey as our greatest ever coach and the era of the 2017-19-20 flags is in the conversation with some of the greatest ever sides in the AFL.

 

So long Dimma and enjoy a beer or two on us.  Also, if we ever meet, I will happily buy you beer as well!!

 

 

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