‘SAD’ SPLIT NO HURDLE
Riewoldt:WewillsupportDimma
RICHMOND vice-captain Jack Riewoldt says coach Damien Hardwick’s marriage breakdown won’t affect the Tigers’ hopes of a flag three-peat.
Hardwick’s separation from wife Danielle, who he repeatedly and affectionately referred to as “Mrs Hardwick” during many media conferences, has made significant headlines during the summer.
The triple premiership coach, who has three children from his marriage, is now in a relationship with staffer Alexandra Crow, who is part of the Tigers’ commercial sales team.
That news came on top of young Tiger Sydney Stack being jailed in Perth for breaching Western Australia’s COVID-19 quarantine laws.
Facing the media at Richmond’s post-Christmas return on Monday, Riewoldt revealed Hardwick addressed the players on the situation before they emerged for training.
“I don’t think it’s going to have any impact, really. Damien is a good enough character to separate his personal life and his professional life,” Riewoldt said on Monday.
“He’s shown over the last four years he’s been arguably the best coach in the land, and he’ll continue to support us and we’ll continue to support him over the next period of time.
“It’s hard to say early on, (but) he seemed really strong, so we’re excited to get out and train.”
Riewoldt said the coach’s marriage split took him by surprise.
“You never predict something like this, but these things happen in people’s lives and we just move on,” Riewoldt said.
“It’s obviously sad ‘Dimma’ and Danielle’s marriage has come to an end, because Dimma’s obviously been a big part of our football club.
“But the whole Hardwick family’s been a massive support network for us and they’ll continue to be a support network, as we will for them.”
‘WE’RE NOT GIVING UP ON STACK’
THE court case of young Tiger Stack and Richmond’s hopes it can get him back in Melbourne soon are the club’s highest priority, Riewoldt said. Stack was granted bail last Friday, after spending Christmas in jail for allegedly breaking WA’s COVID-19 laws. The 20-year-old will appear in court in Perth again on January 20, and will stay in the WA capital until then. Riewoldt said Stack’s predicament was “disappointing”, but the Tigers were prepared for a bumpy ride when they signed him in early 2019. “We expected we were going to have some small issues with him,” Riewoldt said. “When you take on a young man like Sydney, who hasn’t been afforded a lot of the luxuries that a lot of Australian children grow up with, you know it’s going to be a project, so we’re not going to give up on Sydney Stack. “He’s a young man who has got a lot of issues. He’s got a lot of potential, but most i m p o r t a n t l y now, we put the football side of things to one side and we actually want to continue grow him as a young man.
“He’s got some fantastic traits and, unfortunately, he found himself in a situation which was against the law and certainly the wrong thing to do — but we’re not going to give up on Sydney Stack.
“We’re going to continue to turn him into a Richmond man, and continue to instil values in him that we believe in, and hopefully turn him into the person we believe he can become.”
Stack and teammate Callum Coleman-Jones also have four more games to serve from the 10match ban they received for breaching the
AFL’s quarantine rules last season.
On that occasion, the duo was involved in a fight outside a Surfers Paradise strip club, having also broken the rules by catching an Uber to an unapproved venue.
Riewoldt said it was not his call to decide when Stack’s last chance had arrived.
NO LACK OF MOTIVATION
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THE three-times Coleman medallist is raring to go for season 2021, after a year when his form and motivation were questioned.
Riewoldt, 32, kicked only nine goals from his first nine matches, before finishing with 33 and playing in a flag.
“I’m feeling great. It’s a bit of a later start to pre-season,” he said. “The fact you know what the Holy Grail tastes like, it becomes addictive, really, and you want to get back there — and we know what it takes.”