JOHN BARNES: Richmond's Terry Wallace must focus on the basics
April 16th, 2009
IF I was down at Richmond this week I'd try to get back to basics - absolute basics.
We all try to overcomplicate footy with tactics and analysis, but at the end of the day 'Plough' Wallace needs to get some confidence and morale back into his group.
You'd be amazed how confidence can affect a player's ability to hit a target or lay a tackle.
Like one of my old coaches Malcolm Blight used to say, if you could bottle confidence you'd sell it for a million dollars.
My solution might be a bit different than most, but I'd cancel a training session and take the group to the pub.
Not to get them blotto, but let the group sit in the corner and enjoy each others company - blow wind up each others arse, tell a few stories, have a few laughs.
You want the group to be playing for their mates and the jumper rather than just their spot in the team.
I know people will probably be saying 'beer is Barnsey's solution to everything', but this week you want the group to remember why they originally started playing footy - mates and a bit of fun.
It would be interesting to compare morale at the Geelong training sessions to Richmond's.
I can guarantee the Cats players will be getting to training early and staying back to kick the ball for half an hour each session.
Sticking with the basics theme - with the Tigers' kicking woes, the players should constantly have a ball in their hands this week.
Handballing to themselves, kicking, spinning it on their fingers.
Garry Hocking used to take a footy down the street with him and to cricket training over summer and I've heard Ben Cousins has a footy in his hands between weight sets.
When you see a pro golfer fluff a shot off the tee, how often do you see them then go through the mechanics of the shot again before they move down the course?
Same goes for cricketers after they play and miss outside off stump.
When I was working as a runner at Essendon, 'Sheeds' would get me to watch certain players around the club each week to count the number of times they touched a footy.
Some of these players would only have the footy in their hands 90 to 100 times a week - no wonder they couldn't hit a target under pressure.
I'd have around 2000 touches of the footy a day when I first fell in love with the game as a kid.
I'm not sure exactly how Plough will try to turn the ship around this week, but I do know he's big enough and ugly enough to cope with the pressure.But the media seems keen to see Wallace axed and the talk has been about Wayne Campbell taking over.
After working with Campbell at the Bulldogs last year, I'm not sure if he's senior coach material just yet.
He was a good assistant coach at the Dogs, loves his footy and had a great career at the Tigers.
But, maybe Richmond needs to start fresh and get away from their own culture. Damian Hardwick springs to mind for me.
He seems just the type with that mongrel and straight talking to fix the Tiges.
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