Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has apologised for his post-game comments about the Sydney Swans' defensive tactics, revealing he copped a "dressing down" from his wife during the week.
Hardwick scrutinised the quality of last week's 34-26 win over the Swans at the Gabba, claiming John Longmire's side put “75,000 people” in defence.
Longmire labelled Hardwick's comments “completely unnecessary and unwarranted” on Fox Footy’s On the Couch and put the onus of the dour contest back on the Tigers coach.
Hardwick phoned Longmire during the week to apologise, admitting the frustration of the game got the better of him.
"It was a shocker on my behalf," Hardwick told reporters.
"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."
Hardwick revealed that the club has left several players back in Victoria, including Shane Edwards and Bachar Houli for family reasons.
Injured duo Dion Prestia (syndesmosis) and Toby Nankervis (syndesmosis) will fly up to Queensland on Friday to join the team.
“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.”
