Returning to Punt Road on Monday as senior players began pre-season training, Hardwick fronted his squad over the issue which dominated headlines last week.<\/p>\n
"I don't think it's going to have any impact (on the team), really. Damien is a good enough character to separate his personal life and his professional life," Richmond star Jack Riewoldt said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"He's shown over the last four years he's been arguably the best coach in the land and he'll continue to support us and we'll continue to support him over the next period of time.<\/p>\n
"It's hard to say early on \u2026 (but) he seemed really strong, so we're excited to get out and train."<\/p>\n
However, the Herald Sun reports the new relationship has "rocked staff within the club and could affect the playing group".<\/p>\n
Asked by Seven whether he believed he had the club's support, Hardwick said "look, I would think so."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last week, The Herald Sun received a statement from the club after rumours were running wild in the footy community about the long-time coach's relationship status.<\/p>\n
"The club is aware that coach Damien Hardwick is currently in a relationship with a member of the club's administration staff," the statement read.<\/p>\n
"The club has no concerns with this under club policy. Beyond this, it is a private matter and we ask that privacy be respected."<\/p>\n
Hardwick, 48, is one of the AFL's most successful coaches, leading the Tigers to three premierships in the last four years, including last year's triumph over the Cats. However, Hardwick shared that last season took its toll on him personally.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"I'm going to take a bit of a longer break this year over summer," Hardwick recently told 3AW.<\/p>\n
"It's been a pretty full-on three to four years and we've done a hell of a lot of work and had a lot of success along the way but sometimes you need to step back."<\/p>\n
It was announced last year that Damien and his wife Danielle had separated, although she spent a short stint in the Gold Coast COVID bubble, while Victoria was under pressure from the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Danielle was often referred to as "Mrs Hardwick" by the premiership winning coach, and stood by her husband's side through an incredibly successful career in football that included flags as a player with Essendon and Port Adelaide and three more as coach of Richmond.<\/p>\n
Hardwick's divorce follows the split of Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin and his wife, and Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has addressed his players about his new relationship with a Tigers club staffer. Hardwick split with his wife Danielle last year, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20821,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20819\/revisions\/20821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}