Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick is pushing back against claims of unusual tensions between his players and coaching staff, though he acknowledged that “big boy” conversations have taken place recently, which he considers standard in a high-performance environment.
Media Reports Spark Questions
On Monday, 7SPORT expert Tom Morris suggested that Hardwick's connection with his players is “as strained as it’s been in his time at the club.” Morris said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters: “It’s causing issues all over the place, both on the field and behind the scenes as well, from a contractual perspective. It’s not just Damien Hardwick the issue here, it’s also the players and the wider scope of Gold Coast.”
Reporters quizzed Hardwick about these “strained” relationships on Wednesday.
Hardwick’s Response
“There’s no need to respond. The fact of the matter is we’re in an AFL environment,” Hardwick said. “There’s going to be tension within footy clubs, especially when you’re not performing. So I’d probably argue or challenge anyone that hasn’t got tension in their club that they’re not in a high-performance environment. We had big boy conversations, there’s no doubt about that, and we’re on the same page.”
He added: “The fact of the matter is, in team meetings, in reviews, you sort of sit there and provide clarity for the players and you walk out aligned. These stories tend to stem around, I reckon, when all of a sudden people think there’s a little bit of an issue. There’s no issue. So from our point of view, it’s a non-event. It’s something that is, I don’t know, in Melbourne or whatever it is, sources and all these sort of things, but for me, we just move on pretty quickly.”
On-Field Frustrations
Hardwick was also asked about players showing visible frustration on the field. “Are they going a bit further than normal with their frustrations towards each other?” he was asked. The premiership coach dismissed the notion. “I don’t think so. I think what they’ve got is an understanding of, once again, how we want to play,” he said. “Great leadership demands that players take action on field. I sort of looked at some of our decisions that we made in that last quarter (against Geelong) and our players were making motion that that’s not the required plan and they sat there and communicated that. That’s the art of leadership and sometimes accepting feedback and giving feedback is challenging at times especially in a high pressure environment such as an AFL game.”
He concluded: “So once again, they can all get better, I can get better, we can all move through it. What the players and what people have got to understand is the players are trying to get an immediate response or a certain situation rectified quickly. And sometimes it might look demonstrative but I guarantee you, if you look at every game of the AFL on the weekend, you’ll see those sort of signals from every side. Sometimes what happens when your side has a couple of losses, we put the microscope on that side.”
More to come ...
