AFL clubs 'are NOT happy' about team's shock move with top coach Damien Hardwick's girlfriend

A number of AFL clubs have reportedly raised concerns about Damien Hardwick's girlfriend getting a job with the Gold Coast Suns.

Respected footy reporter Damian Barrett revealed on Wednesday that a few teams have spoken to the AFL over the Suns' employment of Alexandra Crow - the partner of coach Hardwick.

Crow has taken up a new role as a consultant on the club's consumer and commercial strategy projects.

Barrett says clubs are concerned this is a way to effectively pay Hardwick more money without having it counted in the 'soft cap' which limits clubs' spending on coaches and football department staff.

The soft cap for each football club in the 2025 season is $7.7 million. Twenty per cent of a coach's salary can be paid outside the cap.

Suns boss Mark Evans said: 'I know the role and the size of the role and I am certain there will be no issues for the AFL or club on any front.'

Hardwick met Crow while she was working for Richmond's commercial sales team in 2020.

They officially became a couple after Hardwick created headlines by leaving Danielle, his wife of 25 years and the mother of his children, in December that year.

Crow and Hardwick were first spotted together in January 2021.

Once Hardwick and Danielle's split became official, she took aim at her ex, calling him and the AFL 'selfish'.

'It is an old school environment, there is not really any way around it,' she said at the time.

'Everyone is trying to evolve and that is wonderful, but it is male dominated and the life of a footballer and the life of a coach, for want of a better word, can become a very selfish existence.

'Because it is a demanding role and you are watching over the welfare of many, many young men so it does feel very important.'

Tigers great Trent Cotchin, who guided the club to three successive premierships with Hardwick, revealed in 2023 how the new romance drove a wedge between the coach and certain parts of the club.

'Was it a distraction for the group? In my view, at times it was,' Cotchin wrote in his book.

'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'.

Cotchin said 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.

'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.'