Damien Hardwick is already open to a coaching return – but how will that affect the coaching landscape?
The three-time premiership coach made the sudden call to step away from Richmond at the end of May, but told the Dyl and Friends podcast that he already has the itch to return.
“I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t see myself doing it. I love it, I miss it. I’ve been out for two weeks and I wanted to miss it, if that makes sense?” Hardwick said.
“I need to decompress for a while, I need to go away, I need to reflect, and figure out things that make me good and things that I can sit there and put me in a dark place, as well.
“At some stage I will probably step back in, when that is, I’m not too sure.”
Essendon great Tim Watson believes Hardwick could pick almost any job he wanted in 2024.
“I don’t know (whether he’ll be coaching next year), but he does want to coach next year, so if he makes himself available, then it maybe makes it difficult for some other teams and whether or not they’re going to continue on with their coach because there’s all that discussion about where he might end up,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“He might not want to go to some teams though, like if you’re Damien Hardwick, you pretty much could choose any job you might want – so you’d want a list of players capable of being successful in the short term and it’s got to be a club you’ve got to believe is well run and well organised.
“He’s smart enough to know too that it’s not just him that is necessary for a successful coaching unit.
“He’s worked through that whole realm and knows who you need in the right places and making the right calls constantly and the personalities you need.
“It takes a long time for him to build something like that too and maybe all those people at Richmond are necessarily going to be available to him.”
Garry Lyon agrees, adding that Hardwick’s statement will add pressure to any current AFL coach whose job may be up for debate.
“No surprises there that he wants to get back into it,” Lyon said.
“If I was one of those coaches on shaky ground, I’d be very nervous with him sitting in the background like that.
“I know that’s not what he meant to do, but that’s just the reality of life.”
Ken Hinkley at Port Adelaide remains unsigned beyond this year, Michael Voss’ future at Carlton has been questioned externally, similarly Stuart Dew at the Gold Coast and of course there’s the developing crisis at the Eagles.
Naturally, there is also still a job vacancy at Richmond.