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'Shocker': AFL coach cops 'dressing down' from wife after brutal Swans dig

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick (pictured) said his wife was not to happy with his comments about the Sydney Swans following the match. (Getty Images)
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick (pictured) said his wife was not to happy with his comments about the Sydney Swans following the match. (Getty Images)

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said his wife gave him a ‘dressing down' for his comments on the Swans last week, even after he apologised to Sydney Swans coach John Longmire.

After Richmond ground out a 4.10 (34) to 3.8 (26) AFL win over Sydney at the Gabba on Sunday, Hardwick complained about what he saw as overly defensive tactics in the match, saying: "There's not much I can do; we're attacking and we've got 75,000 people in our forward 50".

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Longmire rejected the criticism, pointing out his team had not played an extra defender and that Richmond bring another player up around the ball.

Hardwick has now revealed he had a ‘shocker’ at the post-match press conference, which even prompted his wife to give him a reality check.

“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 (Longmire) 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.”

Longmire accepts Hardwick’s apology

Longmire has a policy of not commenting critically on other clubs and urged other coaches to take the same approach.

The Swans coach said Hardwick called him after the game and the matter was put to rest.

"I'm not sure it's my role to walk up to Damien's coaches' box and knock on the door and say 'what would you like us to do?'," Longmire said.

 John Longmire smiling before a match.
John Longmire looks on before the round 5 AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans. (Photo by Chris Hyde/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

"I thought the coaches were really collegiate and I was hoping that would still be the case.

"But we've got to be careful as an industry (that) we don't drop into this habit of potting other people and finger pointing.

"It's a bit of a challenging time for all of us and we need to take a deep breath and help each other through this.

"Damien called me straight after the game and apologised for the comments, which I appreciated. But as I said to Damien they are out there."

With AAP