Eade, Wallace wary of return
By Chip Le Grand
June 30, 2004
FOR the best part of two years, Terry Wallace and Rodney Eade have been coaches in waiting. But at a time when vacancies at Richmond and Adelaide would suggest that wait is coming to an end, neither will crawl over broken glass to coach again.
As in most things, Wallace is more outspoken than Eade on this issue. In a candid interview with The Australian yesterday, the man who took the Western Bulldogs to within a kick of a grand final said he had earned the right to ask hard, direct questions of any club that came knocking on his door.
"I get the feeling that other people want me to put my hand up more than I want to put my hand up myself," Wallace said.
"I still have the passion to do it, but I am not going to be railroaded into taking something that I think is not the right option."
Eade, while more wary of public pronouncements, is similarly circumspect about any job on offer.
"I would love to coach again, but it has to be a good fit for both parties," the Swans' longest-serving coach said.
The essential prerequisite for both would-be coaches – and indeed for any experienced coach that Adelaide or Richmond target – is for the club to be brutally honest about its playing list and medium-term prospects.
For Wallace and Eade, the experience of Denis Pagan at Carlton looms large. Although Pagan's transformation of the Blues' playing list has been remarkable, he was sold a pup by John Elliott's outgoing board. Pagan admitted as much this week.
Wallace and Eade have well-paying roles as football commentators in print, radio and television and neither has a strong financial imperative to shift back into coaching.
Richmond, in particular, has lurched from one season to the next under successive administrations with little evidence of planning or a coherent, long-term view.
Both prospective coaches will want a realistic guarantee of stablility and direction before agreeing to be courted.
Wallace said the expectations of an untried coach might be different.
Essendon's long-serving assistant coach Mark Harvey and his Sydney counterpart Peter Jonas will be sounded out by Richmond and the Crows respectively.
Wallace believes there is a greater onus on coaches without senior experience to sell themselves into the job.
"If you are assistant coach and you are desperately wanting to get your first crack at it, under those circumstances you are trying to sell yourself to them," Wallace said.
"My position is probably a little different. Of course I still have to convince any prospective club that I am the right person to take them forward, but I reckon I am well within my rights to be asking questions of any prospective club about why I would want to come into their environment."
The flip side of having previous senior coaching experience is the inevitable baggage it brings.
Wallace and Eade are acutely aware of their perceived strengths and weaknesses.
Eade left the Swans mid-season and was portrayed by the Sydney administration as a good match-day coach who invested insufficient time and energy into player development. Eade admits his coaching was not perfect but believes his shortcomings were exaggerated.
Wallace was portrayed as a coaching mercenary after opting not to serve the final two years of his deal with the Bulldogs, reportedly in lieu of a more lucrative offer from Sydney.
Wallace and Sydney denied a job offer was made, but Greg Miller, the Richmond football director who will drive the club's search for a senior coach, this year expressed disappointment in the way Wallace left the Bulldogs.
While Wallace accepted Miller's explanation for his comments at the time, they form part of the reason why Eade is considered the coach most likely for Richmond.
Wallace has been linked more closely with the Crows. As of yesterday, neither had been approached by Richmond or Adelaide.
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