Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has escaped sanction for his passionate F-bomb, but don’t expect him to be dropping another one any time soon.
Hardwick was left fuming after his team blew the perfect opportunity to end their hoodoo on the road during a shock four-point loss to lowly North Melbourne.
The result left Gold Coast (8-8) in 12th spot and facing a major battle to make the finals for the first time.
Hardwick didn’t mince his words after the loss.
“I’m angry to be fair,” he said.
“As a footy club, we’ve got to grow the f— up, to be perfectly honest. Excuse the language, but we’ve been in this situation too many times.”
AFL footy boss Laura Kane confirmed on Monday that Hardwick wouldn’t be punished for swearing during the post-match press conference.
But she hinted the veteran coach had been given an unofficial talking-to.
“The Gold Coast were proactive, I spoke to them immediately after the press conference,” Kane told Footy Feed Extra.
“We clearly don’t encourage that kind of language or behaviour in our press conferences, but the game is passionate and I think what we saw is a passionate coach who is invested in his players.
“We’ve addressed it with the Gold Coast and there’ll be no further action for Damien or the club, so no fine.
“We spoke to Gold Coast about making sure they’re comfortable with what’s delivered in their post-game press conference.
”Their proactive follow-up suggests they’re aware. We’ve addressed it and (there’s) nothing further for the Gold Coast.”
The Suns will be back in action on Sunday when they host Port Adelaide.