Damien Hardwick has labelled the current system of awarding AFL player premiership medals prehistoric and renewed the call for it to be changed.
The two-time Richmond premiership coach said the reaction of the players immediately after the final siren of Saturday’s thrashing of GWS showed how much the Tigers valued their teammates outside the grand final 22.
Currently, only the grand final players are awarded premiership medals.
But it is an issue again after Tigers player Jack Graham bravely played out the preliminary final win over Geelong with a dislocated shoulder that then ruled him out of the grand final team.
Kamdyn McIntosh and Jack Ross also missed out on grand final selection after debutant Marlion Pickett forced his way into the side.
“I think it has to change. We continually sit there and talk about team-first football,” Hardwick said.
“You only have to see the way our guys embraced the development squad when they came onto the field (after the final siren). It was all as one.
“Every single person in that club, from the receptionist to our boot studder and all those people, are working towards the same goal.
“We need to reward the whole team … it’s prehistoric, really.”
The Tigers’ premiership celebrations will continue on Tuesday night at their best and fairest dinner.
On Monday, Dustin Martin won another award when he took out the voting for the Gary Ayres Medal as the best player of the finals series.
It is the second time in three years the Richmond star has claimed the medal.
On Saturday, he became the first player to win two Norm Smith Medals as best player in the grand final, plus play in two premiership teams and take out the Brownlow Medal.