Fuming Hardwick reveals ‘ridiculous’ moment that ‘sums up’ Richmond’s biggest issue

A fuming Damien Hardwick has taken aim at his Tigers’ lack of intent and woeful inaccuracy, claiming it’s “Richmond killing Richmond” after consecutive costly defeats.

Hardwick’s men are left clinging to a spot inside the top eight ahead of clashes with Fremantle, Brisbane and Port Adelaide after a horror loss to a North Melbourne side that sacked coach David Noble mid-week.

The result follows the Tigers giving up a 40-point second-half lead against Gold Coast last week.

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Tiger BRAIN FADE costs shot at victory! | 00:30

Richmond started Saturday’s match 3.15 and finished 11.22, including Jake Aarts inexplicably playing on inside 50 in the final minute when he could have kicked the match-winner from a 40m set shot.

But Hardwick was less concerned with Aarts’ brain fade and rather with everything that led to the Tigers not having already put the match away at that point.

“Until you’re in that situation, you don’t know,” Hardwick said of Aarts.

“Unfortunately, he probably made a decision that if he had his time again, he’d take back, but the reality is he made it, so we move on.

“There were numerous reasons (we lost). The last defensive-end goal was poor … you can’t let a guy (Cameron Zurhaar) come from the other side of the pack and just stroll through.

“It was ridiculous, and probably sums us up, really. It’s Richmond killing Richmond at the moment.”

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Hardwick made a point of highlighting the Tigers’ “abysmal” and “diabolical” pressure rating of 1.6 during the first half, which was well below the AFL average of 1.8.

But what frustrated the triple premiership coach most was they lost despite creating more than enough opportunities, including 21 more inside 50s and 11 more scoring shots.

“Our system in itself held up – 60-odd inside 50s, 30-odd scoring shots. We just didn’t execute,” he said.

“It’s not as if they were hard shots on goal. We kicked 1.9 from inside 30. We’re paid to kick goals; we didn’t. That’s the reality of it.

“Great win by North. I thought their hardness and ability to play quick was good but, all in all, if you look at that template, we should win.”

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Hardwick doesn’t expect to regain any of Tom Lynch, Dustin Martin or Ivan Soldo next week and first-year defender Josh Gibcus (shoulder) could join them on the sidelines after being subbed off.

He remains bullish about Richmond’s prospects if his team can battle its way into September.

“If we get there, we’re a chance but we’ve got some work to do,” Hardwick said.

“We’ve just got to figure out what makes us, us. We’re doing a lot of things right but we’re killing ourselves at the moment, so it’s a challenge.

“You sit there and look at things and reflect on what we could have done and this, that and the other but we just had to kick goals.”