A cultural revolution
Caroline Wilson
The Age
July 14, 2006
TERRY Wallace's darkest hour during his short time at Tigerland came one month ago when Richmond capitulated to Hawthorn in Tasmania.
Brooding during the flight home he decided to snub his own post-match player review because he did not trust himself not to say something he might regret.
Virtually sending the entire team to Coventry for the following week, the coach did aim one brief barb in the direction of his star recruit Brett Deledio, who had appeared on Channel Ten's Before The Game and referred to the club's impressive top-20 draft picks of 2005 as "the Fab Five".
The first AFL coach to buy a permanent home on media street more than a decade ago had watched Deledio's performance and reportedly winced as last year's Rising Star had joked that Richmond had never lost when he, Richard Tambling, Danny Meyer, Adam Pattison and Dean Polo all played together.
Until the Hawthorn game. "So much for the Fab Five," Wallace told Deledio. Furious at what he perceived as a lack of respect shown by his players towards the Hawks, the senior coach left his assistants to address the players already chastened by enduring the Sunday night flight home in the same plane as their opponents on the Monday.
"I honestly didn't trust myself to speak to them for fear of doing permanent damage," the coach said.
"I really didn't speak to them until they got back from the break."
Honouring his promise to give the team the mid-season weekend off, Wallace farewelled his senior players with a gruelling Thursday penalty session. "They really didn't deserve any more than a few days off to visit their families," he said. "They hadn't earned it."
Of Deledio's media performance, Wallace said it was simply one example of a team attitude lapse. Despite losing by more than 100 points to both the Bulldogs and Sydney this season, he described the Hawthorn game as the worst defeat in his time at Richmond.
"They're kids and you want them to enjoy themselves," he said, "but it's a balancing act. You don't want them looking over their shoulders wondering what to say and what not to say, but we also wanted them to understand the massive month or so we had ahead of us."
Having bounced back yet again with upset victories over Collingwood and Port Adelaide, the Tigers are now in the eight, a game clear of ninth position and take on Melbourne in prime time at the MCG.
The resurgent Richmond has averaged crowds of close to 55,000 at its home ground this year, its membership has never been higher at just under 30,000 and a crowd of 60,000 tonight would lift its average home attendances including Telstra Dome to 50,000. But tonight's test against the Demons, who have only lost one game of 11, is the first of another gruelling month for Wallace's improving team with Sydney in Sydney, St Kilda and the Bulldogs to come in the following three weeks.
Despite the club's solid position, Wallace believes it is too early to tell whether he has had any meaningful effect upon the culture of a club that not only has been the worst performed side in the competition for almost a quarter of a century but, since the AFL was born, has lost its footing among the powerful Victorian clubs.
But he does understand the passion of the Richmond public and a desire to defeat first and foremost the big local trio of Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon. "What our people really love is to beat those big Victorian clubs," he said, "to come away with those bragging rights."
Interestingly, the win against Collingwood two weeks ago capped off a fascinating trifecta for Richmond in that for two years running, it has scored wins over those three teams, a feat not achieved since 1973-74.
Every week for Wallace has a theme. "I think if you go for 22 weeks just treating each week as another game, the journey gets pretty mundane," he said.
He is coy regarding tonight's game but it is worth pointing out that both sides, co-tenants at the MCG, remain undefeated at their mutual home ground this season.
Just as the Geelong game was built up as a chance to atone for 16 years of failure at Kardinia Park, last week's Port Adelaide game was "the battle for respect" at AAMI Stadium, where the Tigers had never beaten Port against an opponent boasting players who stated how much they loved playing Richmond.
But Richmond has endured false dawns in the past and Wallace believes he remains in honeymoon mode and is unlikely to really know the extent of his achievements for at least another two years.
"It's too early to tell whether there's been a cultural change," he said. "A lot of the problems evolving around the club evolved around the coaches and I think Richmond people were very open about wanting their footy club to change.
"I think a lot of it generated from Danny (Frawley) and being spat on. I think the feeling was: 'Enough's enough'. I thought there was a real opportunity to make a real impact and a generosity towards me from everyone involved. That's why I took on the job despite what some people were saying to me about the club."
Despite Richmond's improvement this season, Wallace believes he is nowhere near burying his demons with the club, demons emanating from his unhappy year at Tigerland in 1987. "It's been just under two years and no finals appearances, so, no," said the coach.
"Not that I ever had any issues with anyone here. There was no blue or bitterness, just disappointment from both sides.
"They had high hopes but as it turned out, there was me and Maurice (Rioli) two slow centremen in one side. In hindsight, perhaps it was never going to work, but once I looked at the job, it was great to get the opportunity to get something back.
"I'm not saying we've achieved much but I do believe we've got the club back on solid footing. I don't think we're the laughing stock of the other clubs any more.
"For the two years away from coaching I had in the media, I have to say that was the case."
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