Danger of complacency lurks for Tigers

THERE are lessons to be learnt from the Western Bulldogs, but Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is confident the Tigers won’t suffer the same premiership hangover.

The Bulldogs slumped to 10th this past season after breaking a 62-year premiership drought with a famous Grand Final win in 2016 over Sydney.

But Hardwick doesn’t believe the same fate awaits the 2017 premiers.

“There are always going to be those comparisons . . . and there’s no doubt we will learn some things from the Bulldogs and their demise,” Hardwick said yesterday.

“But there are some things that will hold us in good stead.

“Our leadership group is probably a little bit more mature than the Bulldogs had at that stage.

“We’ve got Trent (Cotchin), Jack (Riewoldt) and Alex (Rance) who are seasoned campaigners ... they’ll crack the whip pretty strong.”

Hardwick also pointed to the strength of the Tigers’ VFL side who made it to the grand final, but suffered a nailbiting loss to Port Melbourne.

“(I could say) ‘You know what boys? If you want to take it easy, I’ve got replacements ready to go’,” the coach said.

“Competition for spots is in- credibly important in a successful year.”

While Hardwick is confident he has the talent within his group to challenge again, he concedes the biggest threat to the Tigers’ premiership defence is complacency.

“We’re really excited about (next) year but the fact of the matter is we’ve got to stay hungry and hunt the opposition as we did this year,” he said.

“Nothing changes from our point of view. As soon as you think you’re in the doorway of success, the door quickly slams in your face.

“So we’ve got to make sure we don’t think we’re better than anyone else, we’ve got to work just as hard as everyone else and we’ve got to learn from everyone else.

“There are sides who did some things better than us so we’ll go to school on those sides.

“That’s where you get better.”