RICHMOND chief executive Brendon Gale has pledged his support for under-fire coach Damien Hardwick following the Tigers' disastrous 88-point loss to GWS on Saturday.
The Tigers kicked just three goals for the match against the Giants at Manuka Oval – their lowest score since 1961 – and were never in the hunt after conceding eight unanswered goals in the first quarter.
Gale said Hardwick would remain in the job despite the heavy loss, promising to honour the terms of the coach's contract.
"I don't look at the game in isolation, in short," Gale told radio station 3AW on Sunday.
"Damien has a contract, he'll be the coach next year.
"He's been a strong coach for our football club and … there's some considerable learnings out of this year and I think he'll be better for it.
"That's the most important thing, and we're right with the coach."
The Tigers were handed their third successive elimination final defeat in 2015 and are yet to win a final under Hardwick since he took over the helm in 2010.
The club's last finals win came in the 2001 semi-final over Carlton.
Gale responded to recent comments made by Collingwood great Tony Shaw, who called for a complete overhaul of the playing list.
"It's an overused word, it's very simplistic," Gale said when asked if the Tigers would need to start from scratch.
"There's no start, there's no end (and) there's no complete rebuild, start again. I'm confident with where our list is at."
Gale said he remained "committed" and "passionate" in his senior administrative role at the club.
The Tigers' chief added the defeat to GWS "didn't look great", citing the lack of morale within the group after a fourth straight finals appearance became out of reach.
"Our guys look as though they're playing without belief at the moment and I think they've looked like that for a while," Gale said.
"They've played finals (in) the last three years and that's where they see themselves, and when it reached a point when that was probably not going to happen, they lost a bit of belief."
Hardwick signed a two-year contract extension earlier this year, tying him to Punt Road until the end of the 2018 season.