Rich pickings in defeat for Wallace
Herald-Sun | Rebecca Williams | April 28, 2008
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace praised the Tigers' new-found intensity after they finished within 12 points of a Hawthorn unit he described as playing the "next generation of footy" last night.
While Hawthorn's inaccuracy allowed Richmond to stay in the twilight clash at the MCG, Wallace said he could not fault the tenacity of his side against the unbeaten Hawks.
"I could not be more pleased with the blokes that are playing in the senior side at the moment," Wallace said.
"We've played two of the best three sides in the competition and we are 12 points down over a fortnight.
"From that point of view, we only had two points out of the last two weeks, but it's certainly a change to the manner in which our blokes are going about their footy.
"Their ferocity has improved enormously and their real will and desire is there, but we just have to tidy up a couple of things and hopefully we can play some pretty good footy in the next couple of weeks.
"The signs are pretty reasonable. If they put that intensity into games, we'll win as many as we lose, that's for sure."
Wallace dismissed talk the Tigers, who had 227 handballs for the game, had fallen into the trap of over-using the ball as they did against Collingwood three weeks ago.
"Hawthorn play a different style of play than nearly any other side in the competition," Wallace said.
"They are the best drilled team I have seen in the last six or seven years, probably since Sydney played a different style to everyone else.
"Hawthorn has taken the game to another level and that's a credit to their coaching staff. What they are doing is getting the game played on their terms week-in, week-out and that's the difficulty when you come up against them.
"It's the next generation of footy and no wonder (Alastair Clarkson) wants to have lock-out sessions because he is doing things that other people aren't doing at the moment."
Wallace lauded the contribution of veteran Matthew Richardson, who again enjoyed being able to roam the field to finish with the impressive figures of four goals, 27 disposals and 13 marks.
"To see the amount of work that he is doing is quite amazing," Wallace said.
"That's why he has been such a great athlete in the game. I think he is enjoying the ability to get around the ground and compete like that and he is playing some pretty good footy.
"Obviously another four goals as a wingman is not a bad effort. He is getting as many now as what he was really getting as a key forward for us."
Wallace would not speculate on when veteran backman Joel Bowden might get back in the senior team after playing the last three games in the VFL.
"That's a match committee discussion, that's not for public consumption," he said.
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