Hysteria fails to recognise strengths of March and Co
Caroline Wilson | April 22, 2009
THE campaign of finger-pointing and ridicule being waged by the media and much of the football industry against the Richmond Football Club has became hysterical, hypocritical and, at times, inaccurate.
As bad as the playing group has been this season — and yes, they have been shocking — it is crazy to suggest that an administration that has finally turned a once-endangered club into a profitable enterprise, signed up a record membership and reached a multimillion-dollar funding agreement to rebuild Punt Road has become a basket case after four losses.
Terry Wallace looks finished as a coach — a victim as much of his own inadequacies as of the recruiting disasters at Tigerland and the administration, or lack of it, he inherited. The board recognised as much at last night's meeting but vowed to stick with the coach for now and, unless the situation becomes untenable, until the end of the season.
If president Gary March put his hand on his heart he would admit he had so far failed to fully rebuild the least successful AFL club in almost three decades. But the personal attacks on March have been ridiculous, given so little of what seems wrong at Tigerland was his doing.
To March's credit, he has never indulged in the blame game despite the fact he has spent much of his three seasons in the job cleaning up the mess he inherited and bolstering a woefully under-resourced football department.
Instead of sacking Greg Miller early in his tenure as some were pushing, he attempted to work with the unsuccessful football boss in a restructured role.
He has also supported the club's chief executive, Steven Wright, who, on business benchmarks alone, has been Richmond's best chief executive since the VFL turned into the AFL.
In recent days, March has been pilloried for admitting the club had a contingency plan should Wallace not see out the season; for missing a crucial game of football to attend a close friend's wedding and for failing to guarantee Wallace will complete 22 rounds of football. Surely, it would have been more crazy for March to lock Wallace in for the remainder of the season given the deplorable state of the football team and its mental fragility.
As one who criticised James Brayshaw last season for missing a crucial game due to media commitments this might sound hypocritical, but surely March has been one of the more football-committed presidents in recent times and was at least available for comment after the Melbourne humiliation.
Craig Cameron fronted the media instead on Sunday night and was not definitive enough in guaranteeing Wallace would last this week. He, too, has been called faceless and reactionary, and yet his main crime appears to have been denying the Tigers would take Ben Cousins after the AFL committed an about-face on Graham Polack's list status and the club was piqued. He has certainly never hidden from the media.
March has also been pilloried for being at the whim of Kevin Sheedy — a ridiculous claim. Sheedy was never going to be more than an ambassador.
Cameron, who came to the club at the start of 2008 as the Tigers' new list and strategy manager, ended up replacing Greg Miller after a series of candidates including Daniel Richardson and — interestingly — Wayne Campbell had withdrawn from contention.
Reportedly, Cameron's view on Richmond's list was far from bullish, a view that has never wavered although he would probably admit to being a little seduced by the Tigers' run home last year. Now the media suggests the entire club was seduced along with the fans and yet few at the club saw the team any better than a bottom-eight prospect.
In the new football boss' only draft and trade period, the Tigers did take 20-year-old Tom Hislop from Essendon with pick No. 58 and traded pick No. 42 for 22-year-old Adam Thomson from Port Adelaide. Cousins came via the pre-season draft and both its early draft choices went on big, potential key-position players.
All of the above are yet to be proven and the Cousins debate will wage on, but I maintain the view that by taking him the Tigers took a bold and risky punt that will prove the strength of the club under March and Co.
No one is suggesting that all is well at Tigerland. Clearly the football malaise is infectious and as good as young Trent Cotchin might be, no cure is in sight.
But to date the administration — if not the players — has held firm and repeatedly stopped short of feeding the frenzy or attempting to fight it. And the fans who have been accused of being everything from fickle to cannibalistic continue to turn up in big numbers to support their club.
The club, which we continually hear implodes regularly in such crises and continuously sacks coaches, has employed only two in almost a decade despite achieving just one finals series. The Tigers might have overestimated themselves in the pre-season, but, to date, to their credit, they are underestimating the court of public opinion.
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