By Sam McClure
Gold Coast are a step closer to confirming Damien Hardwick as their next coach, with club chief executive Mark Evans flying to Italy to talk to Hardwick on his European vacation.
A senior club source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, has confirmed to The Scoop that the club reached out to Hardwick via phone last week to ask whether the three-time premiership coach at Richmond was interested in continuing his senior coaching career at the Suns.
After that conversation, the club devised a clandestine plan to send a senior representative to Europe to meet Hardwick face to face.
Evans flew into Milan with plans to travel to the Cinque Terre, on the Italian Riviera, to catch up with the former Tiger coach, who is holidaying there with his partner.
Damien Hardwick and Mark Evans.Credit: Archives
A senior industry source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Hardwick was expected to be offered a five-year contract.
Gold Coast’s focus is on agreeing to terms with Hardwick before the end of the season. The Age has not been able to identify any other candidates in the process.
The club and Hardwick’s management were contacted by The Age and chose not to comment. It’s been a whirlwind year for Hardwick, who will celebrate his 51st birthday in a little over two weeks.
We will bring you news on the next step.
In late May, Hardwick shocked the football world by announcing that he would be leaving Richmond, effective immediately, despite having a season and a half left on his contract.
In a media conference at Punt Road, Hardwick cited burnout and said he had nothing left to give.
“I had a fair indication of the start of the year that I would like this to be my last year and then when the season did not turn out as I would have liked it, I started to question whether I was the right man for this job,” Hardwick said on May 22.
“I asked myself the question more and more, and if you keep asking yourself the question, you know the answer. If I could not give 100 per cent, there was no way I was going to coach.”
Bachar Houli (left) with coach Damien Hardwick after Richmond’s 2017 grand final win.Credit: Getty Images
Since then, Hardwick has been doing his best to switch off from football. He travelled to Colorado in the United States, where he tweeted photos of himself watching his beloved Tigers in sports bars, before returning to Melbourne to watch his triple premiership captain Trent Cotchin play in his 300th game.
Hardwick appeared on the television broadcast several times, enjoying a beer alongside his partner and sitting with the likes of Richmond CEO Brendon Gale and former Tiger captain Wayne Campbell, who is head of football at the Suns.
There was another trip planned on the calendar, this time to Europe. But in June, before getting on the plane, Hardwick left us with an enthralling interview with former footballer turned podcaster and content creator Dylan Buckley.
“I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t see myself doing it,” Hardwick said, when asked if he could see himself coaching again.
“I love it, I miss it. I’ve been out for two weeks and I wanted to miss it, if that makes sense?
“I need to decompress for a while, I need to go away, I need to reflect. And figure out things that make me good and things that I can sit there and put me in a dark place, as well.”
Right or wrong, from that point, the microscope on Stuart Dew’s tenure at the Suns intensified.
Gold Coast, who made it clear publicly at the start of the year that it wanted and needed to improve, was threatening to miss out on finals for yet another season.
A report by senior Age journalist Caroline Wilson on Footy Classified that Dew wouldn’t be coach next year was rejected by the club publicly, but it proved accurate barely a week later when Dew was sacked after a 33-point loss to Port Adelaide.
Dew has not spoken publicly since, but was sighted in an Australian cricket training kit in England, watching on from inside the inner sanctum.