News Coaching Thread: The Hardwick Era

[Supersuns]

There is many things you can shit on Dew for but he absolutely turned around the culture and the buy in at the club. We went from leaking players every single season to having one of the best groups and cultures in the league. Hardwick has clearly taken it and ran which is great, but Dewy did all the leg work to get this club to where it is now. Just wasn't the coach to take us to the next level.

 

[The Kings Ransom]

The whole thing with Jarryd Lyons was strange. I witnessed it once.

But yeah when it comes to maybe helping a 12 year old with his kicking technique or someone to have at a BBQ Dew holds his own well.

Seeing Hardwick and Hasler in the coach’s box is an unusual experience for me as a long time GC man. To have such stature gives me a sense of calm at times and reassurance.

I know people will say “what about Rocket”, but to me when he was appointed he was way past it, he’d never won a GF and he smelled to me of someone topping up their Super. He was talking us down and protecting his job literally from game 1.

He might never be a long term AFL coach, but this comment is overly disrespectful for a guy who stopped the rot at our club and laid the foundations which allow Hardwick a proper run at it.

 

[Iva Bigun]

I sum it up this way Dew was a great clubman, built a culture and an identity but the on field performance didn’t follow and this is partly due to his unwillingness to allow players to play to their strengths and his paranoia around supporting coaches. He had to go and should of gone a year or 2 earlier

Dimma oozes calm confidence and a one for all approach

We are going to smash some teams over the next 5 years

 

[Clark G]

It’s two wins. Not a big enough sample. Suns have done this before only to fail the further the season goes.

 

[Iva Bigun]

It’s two wins. Not a big enough sample. Suns have done this before only to fail the further the season goes.

True but the composure and accurate ball movement is not something we have seen before. Crows will be a good test and it’s one I expect us to pass

 

[SUNS]

True but the composure and accurate ball movement is not something we have seen before. Crows will be a good test and it’s one I expect us to pass

Bring back negative Iva. I'm scared of change

 

[GC2015]

You can see why Dimma is a high level operator when you watch videos like this:

 

[Brenton87]

You can see why Dimma is a high level operator when you watch videos like this:

I like the black and red shirt he's wearing. Might have a look and see if they are on the website

On SM-S901E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[SUNS]

I like the black and red shirt he's wearing. Might have a look and see if they are on the website

On SM-S901E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Made the same move - Could not find them! Shirt is great

 

[GC2015]

Been thinking about this lately and thought I'd share my thoughts. I think a big part of the transformation under Dimma is to rid the club of the old losing culture and inject a new winning culture going forward. So how do you do that? It's difficult with some of the older guys that became so used to losing (sorry Sam Day) but part of the solution is to bring in new players who have existing winning records and draftees that you can mould from scratch. Check out the AFL win-loss records of our best 23 from Saturday's game:

B: Powell (43-1-64 / 40.2%), Collins (51-1-78 / 39.6%), Uwland (14-13 / 51.8%)
HB: Noble (69-3-43 / 61.3%), Andrew (19-24 / 44.1%), Rioli (101-4-81 / 55.3%)
C: Weller (44-1-100 / 30.6%), Rowell (39-49 / 44.3%), Budarick (19-1-19 / 50.0%)
HF: Ainsworth (46-1-89 / 34.1%), Miller (58-2-134 / 30.4%), Flanders (26-1-41 / 38.9%)
F: King (35-1-62 / 36.2%), Humphrey (22-21 / 51.1%), Read (4-3 / 57.1%)
Fol: Witts (67-1-116 / 36.6%), Graham (10-10 / 50.0%), Anderson (42-1-64 / 39.7%)
Int: Walter (8-8 / 50.0%), Long (49-1-64 / 43.4%), Clohesy (12-11 / 52.1%), Jeffrey (16-15 / 51.6%)
Sub: Rogers (7-5 / 58.3%)

The players that don't have negative win-loss records are bolded above. As you can see, we're starting to have a good amount of our best 23 that are bolded above (11/23 players to be exact) and I think that makes a huge difference when it comes to changing a longheld losing culture within the four walls. There's a few guys within the 10 game striking distance like Rowell and Mac who will likely be bolded soon as well. Go back 12 months and we probably had zero players that would've been bolded in our best 23 and now it's essentially 50% with an even win-loss record Lombard to join soon, too. It's changing, quickly, and these bolded players aren't going to be weighed down by the losing culture of the past.

 

[Iva Bigun]

Bring back negative Iva. I'm scared of change

You and everyone that liked your post can get ****ed

There you go mate, just for you

 

[Supersuns]

Wish he would shut the **** up about a premier in a state he doesn't even live in and focus on why we got beaten by a bottom 4 side

 

[lommy]

Wish he would shut the **** up about a premier in a state he doesn't even live in and focus on why we got beaten by a bottom 4 side

Questions asked and questions answered. I sure he’s not sitting in his office writing emails to the Vic premier.

 

[Supersuns]

Questions asked and questions answered. I sure he’s not sitting in his office writing emails to the Vic premier.

Just needs to say no comment. He is a football coach and it's not even our ****ing player he is talking about.

 

[GCS in 11]

He’s also saying he wants the Vic Premier to be tougher on crime, whilst also saying Noah Balta

21

Noah Balta

Age

26

Ht

194cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.7

3star

HB

3.1

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

1.9

4star

MG

236.3

4star

D

12.0

3star

K

6.7

3star

HB

5.3

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

0.3

1star

MG

233.0

4star

D

7.0

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

2.0

2star

M

1.8

2star

T

1.8

4star

MG

217.4

4star

“got his fair whack” which was zero jail time for pleading guilty to assault charges.

The hypocrisy from Hardwick should be rightfully called out even though he is our coach.

 

[Mini GF]

Yeah I’m with my brother supersuns
I am extremely disappointed in Dimma’s Balta comments.

 

[Cold Ghost]

I've only started following the Suns since 2024 and looking at past premiership coaches there weren't many coaches that won flags at two teams in recent history. I think it was just Michael Malthouse and Leigh Matthews since the 1980s.

What would be a success for the Hardwick era? A finals appearance? A finals win? A flag?

 

[GC2015]

I've only started following the Suns since 2024 and looking at past premiership coaches there weren't many coaches that won flags at two teams in recent history. I think it was just Michael Malthouse and Leigh Matthews since the 1980s.

What would be a success for the Hardwick era? A finals appearance? A finals win? A flag?

Welcome to the board, mate. Always nice to see new fans jumping on and getting involved in the discourse.

I reckon you're spot on about Malthouse and Matthews being the only coaches to have won flags at multiple clubs in the national league era and if you were to go back further you'd include legendary coaches like Ron Barassi. Interestingly, Malthouse and Matthews both won with a big Victorian team AND a non-Victorian team, which is what Dimma is attempting to do.

I think most Suns supporters would be hopeful that Dimma can win us at least one flag before his time is done on the GC. A finals appearance/win feels like the bare minimum in terms of what's expected and I would probably go as far as to say if we only secure one finals win under Dimma, then we've drastically underperformed with the list we currently have.

Having said all that, we've never really been a consistently good footy side so we've go a LONG way to go before realising our potential. The pieces are certainly there. Just need to harness it.

 

[Cold Ghost]

Welcome to the board, mate. Always nice to see new fans jumping on and getting involved in the discourse.

I reckon you're spot on about Malthouse and Matthews being the only coaches to have won flags at multiple clubs in the national league era and if you were to go back further you'd include legendary coaches like Ron Barassi. Interestingly, Malthouse and Matthews both won with a big Victorian team AND a non-Victorian team, which is what Dimma is attempting to do.

I think most Suns supporters would be hopeful that Dimma can win us at least one flag before his time is done on the GC. A finals appearance/win feels like the bare minimum in terms of what's expected and I would probably go as far as to say if we only secure one finals win under Dimma, then we've drastically underperformed with the list we currently have.

Having said all that, we've never really been a consistently good footy side so we've go a LONG way to go before realising our potential. The pieces are certainly there. Just need to harness it.

That's interesting that the expectations are beyond making/winning our first finals game. Let's hope we can build on our strong start to this season.

 

[The Kings Ransom]

An interesting thread on the main board with a fair bit of Hardwick discussion

Rumour - AFL investigating senior coach - social media activites

Hearing some pretty wild stuff coming out of an AFL club right now. Apparently one of the senior coaches is being looked into by the league for some dodgy social media activity….engaging with controversial far-right figures and divisive political personalities online, with suspected links to...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Supersuns]

An interesting thread on the main board with a fair bit of Hardwick discussion

Rumour - AFL investigating senior coach - social media activites

Hearing some pretty wild stuff coming out of an AFL club right now. Apparently one of the senior coaches is being looked into by the league for some dodgy social media activity….engaging with controversial far-right figures and divisive political personalities online, with suspected links to...

www.bigfooty.com

Pretty well known that Hardwick is a far right cooker. As long it doesn't effect his coaching or the playing group who cares. The Balta shit was bullshit tho, so I'm hoping he was told to shut the **** up over shit like that in future

 

[Mini GF]

Pretty well known that Hardwick is a far right cooker. As long it doesn't effect his coaching or the playing group who cares. The Balta shit was bullshit tho, so I'm hoping he was told to shut the **** up over shit like that in future

I didn’t know he was a far right cooker. Damn.
And yes the Balta statement was an embarrassment to our club and the community it represents.

 

[lommy]

Pretty well known that Hardwick is a far right cooker. As long it doesn't effect his coaching or the playing group who cares. The Balta shit was bullshit tho, so I'm hoping he was told to shut the **** up over shit like that in future

I just went through every Hardwick tweet and reply, couldn’t see any “far-right cooking” can someone point it out to me?

 

[Jirik13]

I just went through every Hardwick tweet and reply, couldn’t see any “far-right cooking” can someone point it out to me?

If you look at BF thread cited above apparently it's based on some accounts he follows

 

[Brenton87]

The group just assumes it's Hardwick the report doesnt name him at all and the report is by Sam McClure, his strike rate is abysmal