Royce Hart - Coaching Stints and Life After Football

Coaching Stints and Life After Football

Hart had great success individually tutoring another Tasmanian, Michael Roach, who became Hart's successor on the forward line. Like Hart, Roach became known for his accurate and penetrating drop punts. After coaching the Richmond reserves in 1979, Hart decided to take the coaching position at the struggling Footscray (now Western Bulldogs), to fulfill an ambition he stated in his autobiography a decade earlier. Richmond earned derision when they asked Footscray for a clearance fee for his services – Hart quickly recalled the price they had paid to get him to Melbourne in the first place. Hart's stint at the club was troubled. He set very high fitness standards and summarily sacked players who couldn't meet those standards, turning over many players in the process. The Bulldogs were a club that had accepted mediocrity for too long and needed to take a step back before they progressed.

Under Hart, the Bulldogs won just seven games in his first two years, but had one notable moment of glory when Kelvin Templeton won the Brownlow medal in 1980. Hart had taken on Templeton, a century-goalkicker who was seen as a little bit brittle, as a personal project, getting him on a weight program and moving him to his old position at centre half forward. It seemed that Hart worked well with those who were similarly talented and motivated as himself, but struggled to relate to those who were not. This is a common refrain in Australian football: simply put, the best players don't always make the best coaches.

The 1982 season began with Hart under immense pressure. There was talk that Footscray may be relocated and the club's finances were under scrutiny in the wake of South Melbourne's move to Sydney. On opening day, the Bulldogs copped a 109-point flogging from Essendon and a 143-point loss to Hawthorn followed in round three. After just one win in the first ten rounds, Hart left the Western Oval. Coincidentally, in the same week, Hart's old mentor Tom Hafey lost his job at Collingwood. The cash-strapped Footscray had disingenuously demoted Hart to thirds coach to avoid a payout clause in the contract had he been sacked. In the mid-1980s, Footscray improved markedly under coach Mick Malthouse, and some observers of the club were prepared to argue that Hart had done the hard spade work necessary to get the team competitive.

Hart returned to Punt Road and coached the reserves again, in 1984. During the Tigers' tumultuous years in the mid-1980s, there was some speculation that he would be appointed coach of the club, but this never happened. Hart was one of a number of ex-Richmond players to speak about the club's financial troubles in 1989–1990. During the Save Our Skins appeal, he urged members to sign up and stay with the club.

In the 1990s, Hart returned to his native Tasmania, living on a farm and involving himself in commentating for the ABC and junior football. Eldest son Damien played at his old club Clarence, while another son, Simon, spent a couple of years on Richmond's supplementary list at the turn of the century. For a number of years, Hart had little official contact with the Tigers, a situation that drew criticism to Richmond – the club was seen to be indifferent to some of its ex-players. The Tigers moved to rectify this a few years ago, which pleased many followers of the club as Hart was the best loved player among the fans during the club's greatest era.

In late November 2010, it was reported that Hart had been admitted into intensive care in Hobart after severe complications which resulted from a hernia. He was due to have gone to Melbourne earlier that month to present his number four guernsey to Dustin Martin. Tom Hafey conducted the presentation ceremony in Hart's place. He made a full recovery.