Tigers ride bumps to be on top

Hardwick proud of club’s culture

RICHMOND coach Damien Hard wick says the Tigers have emerged “stronger” from their controversies this season.

Hardwick, pictured. and captain Trent Cotchin said they never lost faith in the club’s culture despite incidents that plagued their push for a third flag in four seasons.

The Tigers have defied a series of distractions to make the grand final, with the coach on Friday saying he was proud of how the club accepted responsibility and responded.

In one of those incidents, Callum Coleman-Jones and Sydney Stack were sent home after being embroiled in an early morning altercation in Surfers Paradise, in a breach of the AFL’ s COVID rules.

The Tigers also dealt with allegations of player groping in the team song in August.

“The one thing we pride ourselves on is our culture and how we cope as an organisation ,” Hard wick said.

“But the reality is, up here, there was always going to be bumps along the way.

“I think the one thing you can always say is your organisation is always defined by those bumps.

“It’s easy when the road is smooth and you can sit there above the water, but I think you find a lot about yourself and a lot about your people when times are tough.

“We went to work. We were disappointed. We accepted responsibility and we learnt from it along the way.

“I think that’s what good organisations do. Sometimes we’re disappointed, but I think it makes us stronger as the end result.”

On field, the Tigers were also making headlines beyond those of their wins.

Key forward Tom Lynch kept courting debate as he walked the match review tightrope with a series of line ball incidents—the most recent in the semi-final when he dipped a knee into Doug al Howard.

Cotchin said his faith in the group never wavered despite the off-field headaches.

“To be completely honest and transparent, I don’t think we ever doubted our culture, it was always outside of our four walls,” he said.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve created and what we continue to create, and try to grow week in, week out, year onyear.

“We have an amazing group of people.

“We’re just looking forward to an opportunity tomorrow night against a quality outfit and we’ re excited about it .”