Hardwick says pressure, not crowd, key to edge
RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick had declared pressure – not a monster home crowd – will be what gives his side the edge today as the Tigers eye their first grand final since 1982.
One win away from the premiership decider, Richmond will tackle Greater Western Sydney in an MCG preliminary final today which is expected to be attended by up to 98,000 fans.
The Tigers have won 10 of 12 matches at the MCG this year including their qualifying final against Geelong a fortnight ago, in which they achieved their highest pressure rating of the year.
Hardwick said that pressure would be the key to winning another final today against a silky Giants side that is more than capable of causing an upset.
“We’re pretty fortunate at the Richmond footy club that we get to play in front of big crowds most weeks,” Hardwick said yesterday.
“This is probably a little bit different, obviously. There’s going to be a pretty parochial Tiger crowd behind us. But once they cross that white line the reality is they don’t get kicks, marks or handballs, the crowd. Our players have got to fulfil the duty to get the job done.
“We know our defensive template’s very strong. If we play with great intent and work rate then that will keep us in good stead.”
While the Tigers are the fairytale story this finals series as they attempt to end a 37year premiership drought, Hardwick said he had not been dwelling on history.
“The game doesn’t know what’s happened in the past, it just continues to look at what you’re going to bring this week and that’s all we’ve had our focus on this week, what we can possibly bring to the game,” he said.
“It (a premiership) is a boyhood dream for all of us and the summit’s just there (the MCG). But the reality is if you take your eyes off your feet at various stages you can fall pretty quickly.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks to go, hopefully, but the reality is we’ve got four quarters to play against a very good football side (today).”
Hardwick admitted “every player’s got a degree of nerves” heading into the match but said that was no different to the pre-Round 1 butterflies.
Richmond has one grand final this weekend, the club’s VFL side is set to meet Port Melbourne at Etihad Stadium tomorrow.