Richmond Tigers unite behind coach Terry Wallace
Greg Denham | May 20, 2009 | The Australian
RICHMOND's hierarchy believes the club will emerge from a crisis meeting yesterday more stable and stronger after the Tigers formed a united front around embattled coach Terry Wallace, by insisting he will coach out his contract until the end of the season.
Following a discussion late on Monday, initiated by Richmond captain Chris Newman with Wallace -- leaving the coach feeling a little uneasy about his immediate future -- a secret meeting away from the club's Punt Road headquarters was scheduled for yesterday morning by Tigers football manager Craig Cameron.
Present at the Port Melbourne location was Cameron, Wallace, Richmond president Gary March, 14 senior players, including the leadership group, and injured star Matthew Richardson.
The players were addressed first in-camera by Cameron before being spoken to by Wallace and March. The meeting lasted 90 minutes. Wallace went home to work on his strategies for Saturday night's match with Essendon at the MCG, while players filtered back to Richmond for training sessions overseen by Wallace's assistant coaches.
Cameron said he had no doubt that communication within Richmond would be vastly improved as a result of the meeting.
"Things got aired, and now I think there's finally clarity at this football club," he said. "We are now in a far better position than we were last week because now we know where we're all coming from."
Richmond sits 15th on the ladder, with one win fewer than at the corresponding time last year, when the Tigers rallied late to finish ninth, missing the finals by two points.
With just one win from their first eight games, the Tigers have been under siege from all fronts, but Wallace was given full support by Richmond's powerbrokers amid media speculation that the coach was preparing for an early exit.
However, Wallace, who is in his fifth and final year of a contract at Punt Road, is unlikely to have his tenure extended beyond this season.
Following a gut-wrenching three-point loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday, when Richmond had fought its way back to take a seemingly unbeatable lead in the final minutes, several media outlets yesterday ran with news that Wallace had been sacked based on the perception of a swell of player upheaval.
However, first-year captain Chris Newman said his playing group fully supported their coach and that it was his role as head of the leadership group to ensure that players did not become affected by yet another distraction.
Newman said he and his teammates expected Wallace to be at the club for the rest of the season.
During Monday's meeting with Wallace, Newman raised several of his players' issues, which were understood to have included queries over selection process and match-day tactics.
Cameron said the specifics of yesterday's meeting involved setting a standard, which would translate into winning games.
"We thought it was important, with our season at one and seven, for us to actually make sure that we were all on the same page, make sure that we we're heading in the right direction and that we could have an open and frank meeting," Cameron said.
"We've come out of that meeting knowing exactly where we're headed with Terry Wallace continuing as coach of our football team. It was very important not to let anything get in the way of what we need to achieve for the rest of the year."
Cameron stressed that Wallace had never offered his resignation to Richmond.
He also denied Wallace had been sacked and then reinstated. "There was no point in time when Terry wasn't the coach of Richmond," he said.
"There's been a lot of speculation about the position that Terry's in, about our club over the last month, but at no stage has our club altered from its course that we have a process in place to review Terry's position from 2010 onwards and we haven't budged from that position."
Wallace did not appear at last night's regular board meeting, after last week requesting to attend, to personally update directors of his eagerness to coach out his contract and on the progress of a number of the 35 players he has so far used at senior level this season.
"After speaking to Gary (March) today, and fundamentally everything he was going to speak about at the board meeting now has been covered," Cameron said.
Both Newman and Cameron scoffed at suggestions that Wallace had "lost" his players after their narrow loss to Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium last Sunday.
"He was emotional, everyone was upset and some players were told some home-truths which is pretty normal post-match," Cameron said.
Newman said: "He was sensational after the game, his post-match speech was really good and obviously (he was) pretty upset with the loss as we all were."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25509186-2722,00.html
