Richmond Tigers coach Damien Hardwick took a swipe at the umpires after his side’s two-point loss to GWS on Saturday night, suggesting the reigning AFL premiers will take ‘ducking practice’ this week.
He said it with a smile on his face but the coach was clearly frustrated after GWS were awarded multiple free kicks for high contact during a tight contest.
“I can't really comment on the umpiring but it would be fair to say we're going to do a bit of ducking practice at training," Hardwick said with a laugh.
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Asked to elaborate, the frustrated coach softened his stance: "The game is incredibly hard to umpire, let's make no mistake about that. It was a pretty good contest, transition-wise it was up and back and it's tough.
“They get a lot right, sometimes they get some wrong, that's life.”
Pressed again on his initial comment the coach continued to back-track: "The game, as I said, I don't think was dominated by umpiring tonight.
“I thought we saw a pretty good game of footy and that we should be looking at the game and that's how it should be played.
“Two sides going at it for a long period of time and one side got out the winner."
The loss leaves the Tigers winless outside of Melbourne in four attempts this season but Hardwick dismissed the significance of the Tigers’ interstate struggles.
“I think you guys make more of that than what we do, to be fair,” he said.
“It’s always hard to win interstate, that’s life. We win a lot of games at the G, that’s our home ground, and we play some pretty good sides away so GWS are a good side.”
