Terry Wallace is gone, the only question is when
Mike Sheahan | April 20, 2009
IT WAS the worst imaginable result for Terry Wallace's Richmond: a fast-finishing eight-point loss.
In a game they just had to win, the Tigers ran out of time after trailing Melbourne by 38 points midway through the third quarter. They might even have pinched the win but for sloppy conversion in the last quarter, but what's new?
One team that didn't deserve to win almost stole the points from a team that had forgotten how to win.
So, where does that leave things at Punt Rd?
The Tigers are 0-4 and out of finals contention. The coach is in his fifth and, just as certainly, last season at the club.
The question now is: Does he get to complete the season?
The answer isn't known. The probability is he will remain in the job unless he chooses to walk away.
If the Tigers were to lose against North Melbourne and Sydney (SCG) in the next two rounds, he might decide he no longer can help this group.
But first things first. Good luck to Melbourne.
It was the Demons' first win of the season and their fourth in 26 games under Dean Bailey's coaching.
They got stagefright in the second half, but held on in a performance that will do wonders for the club's spirit.
It was a win achieved without the class and experience of Brad Green, injured in the first quarter after eight disposals.
The Demons will be itching to get a crack at Adelaide at the MCG on Sunday. Suddenly, the season has a level of excitement.
Not so at Richmond, for all is lost. What makes the loss even worse is the fact Matthew Richardson and Joel Bowden were high among the better performers.
Bowden had 44 possessions, Richo kicked 4.5 and took 15 marks.
Both seem to have been round the place since the club's last great era, yet, even in their 30s, the Bowdens and Richardsons who enjoyed success at Punt Rd were their fathers, Michael and Alan, in the late 1960s.
Without denigrating Melbourne, how does a team that started the season with finals aspirations concede six straight goals to the short-priced favourite for the wooden spoon? While many of us overrated the list, the group is capable of much better than we are seeing.
When the urgency of the situation hit home, Richmond responded with 4.7 in the final term.
Wallace looked a forlorn figure in the coach's box.
Despite all the money they are paid and all the attention we give them, the coach is at the mercy of his players come match day.
He simply had to hope things ended up OK, and they didn't.
Despite the late surge, it was always a big ask after falling so far behind.
The reality is Melbourne could have effectively ended the contest much earlier had it not been so wasteful in front of goal.
Brad Miller and Michael Newton were the main offenders, but you couldn't query Miller's endeavour, and he did kick three with three assists.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25356255-19771,00.html
