AN UNCEREMONIOUS "dressing down" from Mrs Hardwick was the motivation behind Damien Hardwick picking up the phone to apologise to John Longmire this week, with the Richmond coach labelling his own post-game comments from last Sunday as "out of line".
Hardwick complained of overly defensive tactics from Longmire in Richmond's dour 4.10 (34) to 3.8 (26) victory at the SCG, suggesting Sydney had stacked "75,000 people" in its backline to ensure the reigning premiers couldn't score in the wet conditions.
>>WATCH Damien Hardwick's post-match comments in the player above
Longmire refuted those comments earlier this week, saying his Tigers counterpart's claims were "completely unnecessary and unwarranted" before branding them as "just not correct".
Hardwick called Longmire to apologise for his post-match outburst, with the Richmond coach saying he got caught up in the moment after a frustrating game.
"It was a shocker on my behalf," Hardwick said.
"It was out of line. I was probably frustrated and let the situation get the better of me.
"I called up 'Horse' and apologised. It was out of line on my behalf, so we had a good conversation and we moved on pretty quickly. I'll just worry about what I can control and continue to do that.
"(Mrs Hardwick) wasn't overly happy with the press conference. She gave me a dressing down after it. That was a good result."
Richmond is now set to call in the reinforcements following Wednesday's news that all Victorian sides would be based interstate for the remainder of the home and away season due, with Dion Prestia and Toby Nankervis set to fly to Queensland on Friday.
The two premiership stars are both dealing with syndesmosis injuries, but will complete their rehabilitation processes in the Queensland hub to ensure they have served their COVID-19 quarantine period once they sufficiently recover.
However, Shane Edwards and Bachar Houli – who have remained in Victoria for family reasons – as well as several other younger squad members, will remain away from the side as per the club's initial plan.
"We've decided to leave those other seven players back home," Hardwick said.
"Obviously, the personal situations of Shane Edwards and Bachar Houli … they're not available to come up at this stage. We'd prefer to get some training into those guys, with the possibility of coming up at a later date.
"We'll also get some terrific coaching and training into those younger players that we've left behind. We're going to stick with that strategy, but that will change as the circumstances do change.
"But, at the moment, we've got 35 players up here and we'll continue to do that while having that hub back in Melbourne where we'll invest in the seven players we've left behind."
Richmond will still be without captain Trent Cotchin (hamstring) and key defender David Astbury (knee) for this week's clash with North Melbourne, with the Tigers set to take a cautious approach to their returns due to the condensed fixture that is awaiting teams.
