Damien Hardwick’s marriage breakdown tore Richmond’s dressing room apart claims AFL legend as he reveals how players reacted when Tigers coach left his wife for a club staffer

Trent Cotchin has opened up on the rift caused by Damien Hardwick’s marriage breakdown and the negative effect it had on their relationship.

Richmond were reportedly rocked when Hardwick split from his wife of 30 years, Danielle, and started a new relationship with former Tigers employee Alexandra Crow. 

Hardwick, who now coaches the Gold Coast Suns, broke up with Danielle during the 2020 season, in which every club had to relocate to a Covid-19 quarantine hub in Queensland. 

News of his new relationship emerged just days after his marriage breakdown became public knowledge.

Tigers great Cotchin, who guided the club to three successive premierships with Hardwick, has told of how the new romance drove a wedge between the coach and certain parts of the club.  

Hardwick split from wife Danielle (L) and started a new romance with Alexandra Crow (R)

In his new book, From The Heart, Cotchin says: ‘Was it a distraction for the group? In my view, at times it was.

‘Did it impact my relationship with Dimma? I would say yes, at that point, 100 per cent.

‘We had built this culture on a platform of family, connection and love – and Dimma and Danielle’s relationship had played a big part in all this – so it was only natural to be worried about the potential fallout’.

Danielle was well-liked by those in the Richmond football club and her and Hardwick were labelled ‘the second family’ of Cotchin and his wife in an Instagram post in Christmas 2020. 

Her absence from Hardwick’s emotional press conference this year, in which he announced his departure from the Melbourne-based club, was also glaring. Their three children were present, alongside Hardwick’s current partner, Crow and his mother, Pam. 

Cotchin says that the saga had an impact on the club’s dismal 2021 campaign, where they did not reach the finals despite winning the premiership the previous season. .

Cotchin won three premierships as Hardwick’s captain but admits that their relationship changed after the coach’s marriage fell apart

‘I still loved Dimma and still respected him as a coach … but I am not sure my relationship with him ever got back to the level it had been before,’ he said.

‘For whatever reason, there always seemed to be a bit of a barrier between us. Maybe it wasn’t just the captain and the coach; maybe it was emblematic of the group’s connection that season.

‘We didn’t lose the plot in 2021 but if I reflect properly, there just wasn’t the same insane connection between the playing group that had been our suit of armour from 2017 to 2020.’