Tiger places under threat
By Melissa Ryan
Whitsundays
The Age
June 21, 2005
Richmond coach Terry Wallace and his players review the Tigers' loss to Adelaide on the first day of their four-day break in Queensland yesterday.
Photo: Sebastian Costanzo
Richmond coach Terry Wallace last night declared that seven senior positions were up for grabs in the team in the wake of last Saturday night's humiliating 70-point loss to Adelaide.
In a frank match review of the capitulation, which Wallace allowed the media to sit in on, the coach said it was unacceptable that 13 players had had two or fewer possessions in the final quarter. He said that statistic demanded immediate action.
"You can't be competitive in any game of football (with a statistic like that) and we spoke about Hawthorn at half-time and going into the break in the manner that they did, and that was the wildebeest coming out of us, just laying down and dying. We were just non-competitive in the last quarter," Wallace said.
"It couldn't get any worse than that, that's as poor as we've played," he said. "There are seven players whose positions are up for grabs in the senior side this week that can't be guaranteed a spot in the senior side."
Wallace said the Tigers would check with the AFL to see whether a number of their struggling players could line up for Coburg in the VFL this weekend and try to resurrect their form.
The match review took place on the first night of Richmond's four-day mid-season break in Queensland as the Tigers escaped Melbourne's winter.
But even though the Tigers are now on a break, Wallace was not going to let them forget their most recent performance. He described the poor number of inside-50s - the Tigers managed only 34 against Adelaide last week - as "a world-record low".
With June proving to be diabolical as usual for the Tigers, who are winless in that month since 2001, and having lost their past four matches to erode a good start to the year, Wallace was ecstatic at the timing of the four-day break in Queensland.
The playing list - apart from the recuperating Nathan Brown, who has begun weights work - and coaching staff are staying at Laguna Whitsundays, near Proserpine. The resort, owned by businessman David Marriner, sponsors the coach and has funded the trip.
The players held a football clinic for children from local AFL clubs when they reached their destination, and later headed to a beachside training session.
The players will take part in a number of activities to ensure they have a proper break from the rigours of football, before returning to Melbourne on Thursday. Today, they will hold a golf tournament, after which a fishing trip has been planned, and tomorrow, they will see nearby islands from the air.
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