Turnovers costly: Wallace
12:03:37 AM Sun 16 April, 2006
Joseph Sapienza
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au
Following Saturday night's 46-point loss West Coast at Subiaco Oval, Richmond coach Terry Wallace believes his side must cut down on skill errors and hinted that certain players could face the chop in the future if they didn't make better use of the ball.
Richmond got off to a promising start against West Coast, booting three of the first four goals of the match and only trailed the home side by 13 points at the main break, but Wallace believed the third quarter, in which the Tigers conceded eight goals, was the gamebreaker.
"I thought in the third quarter we had a couple of chronic turnovers (and) that becomes costly," he said.
"Good sides will (punish) you and when you make a mistake, it ends up going back and goes through for a goal and (that) sort of multiplies the error quite significantly.
"But credit to them (West Coast), their pressure was excellent."
Wallace hinted that changes could be on the way to accommodate players who can take care of the ball.
"From our aspect we've got to keep turning our list over until we can get blokes who can use the footy … and that's no secret to anyone," Wallace said.
"Young blokes who can't use the footy in this day and age are not going to have long careers in the game, (so) we'll just keep working on that aspect and keep trying to find guys who can do it."
But Wallace acknowledged the young list at his disposal probably wouldn't make a world of difference even if changes were made.
"We've got a young list … we've got thirty players under 24-years of age, so we're very young. That's where we're going so what comes in (will) probably not (make) a lot of difference than what goes out with relation to experience."
It was a tough break for Tom Roach - son of Richmond legend Michael Roach - who had to be taken to hospital with a suspected broken jaw. Wallace said "it looks like it might be a crack in the jaw".
"We haven't had much luck with our young brigade at the moment," he said.
Darren Gaspar came off with a hamstring strain, but Wallace said it all depended on "just how he pulls up in the next few days".
Richmond takes on Brisbane next Saturday night at the 'Gabba.
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