{"id":737967,"date":"2026-06-15T11:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737967\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T11:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:30:20","slug":"letting-the-side-down-dimmas-confession-on-stars-unfair-trade-chatter-controversial-ump-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737967\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Letting the side down\u2019: Dimma\u2019s confession on star\u2019s \u2018unfair\u2019 trade chatter, controversial ump claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has conceded \u201cunfair\u201d trade speculation surrounding Bailey Humphrey<\/a> has impacted his form, revealing the young gun \u201cfeels like he\u2019s letting the side down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year after he sought a move back to Victoria, Humphrey has again been linked to trade talk but struggled on the field. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 21-year old has dropped from the No. 64 rated player in 2025 to No. 263 currently \u2014 the third-biggest drop off of any player in 2026. <\/p>\n

Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Monday night, Hardwick admitted the outside noise has gotten to Humphrey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m being honest, yes. Yes,\u201d the three-time premiership coach said when asked if Humphrey\u2019s form is affected by being at the centre of trade talk. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure on this young lad \u2014 and I love this kid, I just spoke to him before \u2014 he\u2019s such an emotional kid and emotional person. And he genuinely feels like he\u2019s letting the side down.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when this kid walks out on the field, I feel better about life, our fans feel better about life. I feel it\u2019s an unfair thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had some issues last year that he was looking to go home to sort out some personal business.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now at this stage of his tenure at the moment, he\u2019s happy and just wants to play good football. But we\u2019re consistently linking his name and social media and these things.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about the players\u2019 health and wellbeing. We sit there and give it lip service, to be completely honest. We sort of put these players\u2019 names in lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd some of it is bought on by self, I understand that, but I think we can do a hell of a lot better than what we\u2019re doing and the way we\u2019re doing it at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawthorn and Melbourne are circling Humphrey, who\u2019s contracted at the Suns until 2028. <\/p>\n

After bursts through the midfield in recent years, the former No. 6 pick has predominately played forward this season, with the addition of Christian Petracca only bolstering the depth of Gold Coast\u2019s on-ball unit.<\/p>\n

Hardwick took responsibility for Humphrey\u2019s dwinling play and says he\u2019ll continue to support the youngster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just keep talking to him. We have a really great relationship, we talk about a lot of things,\u201d the Suns coach added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy greatest thing with Bailey is just park your thought process, let\u2019s just get your footy up and talking. He completely agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a wonderful kid trying to do his very best to help Gold Coast win and it\u2019s just not working for him at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter is it\u2019s my job to help him through that. Hand on heart, he\u2019ll be getting there and I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll turn the corner pretty soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he\u2019s a wonderful player and even better young man.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hardwick acknowledged his criticism of the umpires \u201coverstepped the mark\u201d after he was given a warning of sorts via a phone call from AFL football boss Greg Swann.<\/p>\n

The AFL put Hardwick on notice, but didn\u2019t issue a financial penalty, after his criticism of the umpires in last Friday night\u2019s loss to Geelong.<\/p>\n

Swann personally rang Hardwick on Monday to express disappointment with the Suns coach\u2019s comments, which suggested the umpires were swayed by the \u201cthe Roman Coliseum\u201d-like GMHBA Stadium crowd.<\/p>\n

Hardwick accepted his remarks went too far.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The chat with Swann) was good, \u2018Swanny\u2019 is a cracker. You\u2019ve got to love him, that\u2019s why he\u2019s a great football person,\u201d Hardwick said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, he\u2019s doing his job, and obviously the umpires were disappointed. And I\u2019ve got to be better with that, I understand it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he also understood I\u2019m there to protect my players and try and get the game played or looked at in a certain way.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I understood the conversation we had… he made it very, very clear that I overstepped the mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI commend him on the way he goes about it, having the conversation. No need for emails or letters, just a man-on-man conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I really appreciate it and the point was very well made by the great man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardwick accepted \u201cI\u2019ve never tolerated losing well\u201d in something he had to \u201cget better at\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do wear my heart on my sleeve, I\u2019m a horrible loser, I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother has said that, I spoke to her again tonight. She always says I\u2019ve never tolerated losing well<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got to get better at, it\u2019s not something I\u2019m overly great at. We\u2019ve always got tot look for rooms for improvements, and this is one of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, Hardwick said the Suns would follow up with the umpires around \u201cclarity within the rules\u201d and decisions \u201cwe didn\u2019t feel we were getting back the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hardwick sympathised for umpires\u2019 given the AFL \u201cis the hardest in the world to umpire\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a humorous thing I was trying to make and it did go too far. I understand from the umpires\u2019 point of view. They\u2019re a great group of guys,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this a lot, our game is the hardest game in the world to umpire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they do a pretty good job, like every week sort of thing. It\u2019s like me, every now and then, I have a down day. And every now and then, they\u2019re going to make a wrong decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut god, good luck, it\u2019s the hardest game in the world to umpire.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has conceded \u201cunfair\u201d trade speculation surrounding Bailey Humphrey has impacted his form, revealing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-737967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}