hard yards

A sporting analogy referring to the game of rugby football, where making progress on the field, in measurements of yards, may lead to accomplishment and victory.[1]

Alternatively derived from sailing, when furling or unfurling the canvas from certain (perhaps higher) spars was both dangerous and difficult.

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the hard yards pl (plural only)

1. (originally Australia) The key effort in completing a difficult task.

   Synonym: heavy lifting

   do the hard yards

   put in the hard yards

   • 2007, Ian Cocoran, The Art of Digital Branding, Allworth Press, →ISBN, pages 128–129:

     As with coupons and vouchers, there is seemingly no end to the opportunities that exist to improve a Web site's traffic flow by giving something away for nothing—as long as users are prepared to put in the hard yards, of course.

   • 2010, Kelly Doust, A Life in Frocks, Sydney: Murdoch Books, →ISBN, page 129:

     Those clever women at the frontier of fashion do all the hard yards for us, every month, by attending the shows in London, Paris and New York.

   • 2017 August 22, Peter Lewis, “In a tough campaign the marriage equality team faces hard yards ahead”, in The Guardian‎:

     In tough conditions, with no room for complacency, the campaign will need to slog out the hard yards, give it 110% and leave it all on the field.

   • 2021 December, Jon Dale, “Dead Moon fever!”, in Uncut, →ISSN, page 8:

     The couple had already put in the hard yards: Fred started out in '60s freakbeat combos The Weeds and Lollipop Shoppe, with Toody joining him in early '80s punk trio The Rats.

• Eric Partridge (2005) “hard yards”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volumes 1 (A–I), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 967.