Adelaide match articles

[one-eyed]

Tigers down to fired-up Crows
9:55:53 PM Sat 18 June, 2005
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

The Tigers will go into the mid-season break looking forward to a rest and time to plan after going down to the Adelaide Crows by 70 points at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.

Richmond put up a fight in the third term but faded badly in the last as Adelaide ran away with the 20.12 (132) to 9.8 (62) win to consign the Tigers to their fourth successive loss.
 
Skipper Kane Johnson started well before being dragged away from the action during the middle stages of the match, while Joel Bowden (28 possessions) was perhaps the only clear winner for the Tigers. Matthew Richardson fought bravely on one leg for four goals.

There were two late changes for Richmond, with Chris Hyde and Shane Morrison coming in for Ray Hall and Rory Hilton.

Scott Thompson (27 disposals) and Mark Ricciuto (22 touches) were important through the middle and while Scott Welsh finished with eight goals and Ian Perrie five.

There were plenty of stoppages in the first term as both sides worked into the game but the Crows led by 13 points through goals to Ken McGregor and Trent Hentschel.

The Tigers were struggling to go inside 50 but Troy Simmonds and Richardson provided a strong presence when they did - each kicking a goal midway through the term to reduce the margin to a point.

That was to be the last of the Tigers' scoring for the quarter, however, and a late goal to Thompson put Adelaide up by 10 points at the first break.

The form of the two sides went in different directions as the second term progressed. Errors started to creep into the Tigers game and they looked tentative while the Crows got their running game going and blew the game wide open with six unanswered goals.

Welsh and Perrie were the key figures for Adelaide up forward - contributing two and three goals for the term respectively - while Thompson stoked the fire in the Crows' engine room.

The quarter was summed up well by one play in which Martin Mattner chased down and dispossessed an indecisive Bowden on a half-back flank. The ball was then moved effortlessly downfield and finished in a goal to Welsh.

Richmond did well to stem the tide in the last five minutes of the quarter but at half time it was Adelaide by 37 points.

A change came over the complexion of the game in the third term as the Tigers managed to stop Adelaide's run and get their own going.

Simmonds and Richardson were again the danger men for Richmond with a goal each getting the Tigers back into the contest.

The deficit was back to a more manageable 26 points midway through the quarter, but two late goals to Adelaide broke the Tigers' resistance.

Hayden Skipworth dribbled through the Crows' first of the term at the 20-minute mark and Welsh slotted his third with under a minute left.

The margin was 39 points at the last change and any faint hope of a Richmond comeback was quickly extinguished.

The Crows' runners did as they pleased and Welsh caught everything that came his way - kicking four final-quarter goals and just missing a set shot for his ninth on the night.

Richmond coach Terry Wallace said the loss was as disappointing as the Tigers' round one defeat by Geelong, and that recently the Tigers have simply failed to match it with the stronger sides of the competition.

"From our perspective, that was as disappointing as what we've probably played since round one. We've had three games in the last four weeks against some of the better sides in the competition, and unfortunately they've just all been drawn together at the same time," Wallace said.

"We've had three of the top four sides over the last four weeks, and we just haven't been able to match them."

Wallace said it was touch-and go whether Richardson would play given his on-going knee problems.

"He's OK, he's come through as well as we could possibly expect," Wallace said.

"We didn't make a decision until the last minute on it, and we decided that obviously with the game being important and it being two hours of footy that we'd take the risk on playing him, and he did his part.

"We just couldn't get the ball up to him regularly enough."

RICHMOND: 2.0, 4.5, 6.6, 9.8 (62)
ADELAIDE: 3.4, 10.6, 12.9, 20.12 (132)

GOALS – Richmond: Richardson 4, Simmonds 2, Coughlan, Krakouer, Deledio
Adelaide: Welsh 8, Perrie 5, Hentschel 2, McGregor, Thompson, Ricciuto, Skipworth, Mattner
BEST – Richmond: Bowden, Johnson, Simmonds, Newman, Richardson
Adelaide: Thompson, Burton, Welsh, Perrie, Edwards, Ricciuto
INJURIES – Richmond: Nil
Adelaide: Nil
CHANGES – Richmond: Hilton (finger) and Hall (ankle) replaced in selected side by Morrison and Hyde
Adelaide: Nil
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Chamberlain, Ellis, Jeffery
CROWD - 27,092 at Telstra Dome

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=210143

[one-eyed]

Wallace laments 'worst' loss
12:11:27 AM Sun 19 June, 2005
Jen Withan
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

Richmond's 70-point surrender to Adelaide on Saturday night was a vintage display of the Tigers' 2004 form, according to coach Terry Wallace.

With the club near to its lowest ebb this season, Wallace admitted his side's effort against the Crows was as poor as he'd seen since taking over the reins at the end of the 2004 season.
 
"We were really poor in most of our parameters. The last few weeks our inside 50s have been reasonable, our scoring shots have been reasonable, today was just a breakdown of confidence in the way that we played the game," Wallace said.

"We just had no run and flow in our game, it was very very stationary, no one was prepared to take a risk, and it was right back to some of the worst football that I've sort of seen the team play.

"As I said to the guys, I don't think I've seen the side play any worse since I've been there, including practice games and the lot."

While Wallace compared the performance to Richmond's 62-point loss to Geelong back in round one, he appeared disappointed about the team's apparent inability to match it with the best in the league.

"From our perspective, that was as disappointing as what we've probably played since round one. We've had three games in the last four weeks against some of the better sides in the competition, and unfortunately they've just all been drawn together at the same time," Wallace said.

"We've had three of the top four sides over the last four weeks, and we just haven't been able to match them."

Wallace is hoping that Richmond supporters won't be jumping off the bandwagon just yet, with the reality being that the Tigers have still shown immense improvement this year.

And, he also took time to praise the performance of the Crows, saying their own improvement this season is certainly something to be commended.

"(The supporters) will be making whatever re-assessment that they need to make. The reality is we were the 16th ranked team last year in the competition, and we now turn in a position where we've got seven wins on the board and probably still in side the eight," Wallace said.

"We reckon we've made real genuine improvement in the first half of the season. Tonight was a real disappointing way to finish, and it's always disappointing when you know you're going on a break and you get to that sort of half-way point and your last one is your worst one.

"(Adelaide) are a very good side, and it's a credit to the coaching staff and the footy club how they've been able to turn things around in 12 months. I think most people in Melbourne hadn't really expected them to be in the position they're in, but they've got some really good quality players."

If one thing is to be drawn from the loss, Wallace believes the fact that the club has two weeks to actively do something about the current situation should be embraced.

"It's always a disappointing way to go into any sort of break. But, we've only got to wait two weeks – sometimes it happens in round 22 and you've got to wait six months before you can do something about it."

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=210145

[one-eyed]

Tigers' worst effort: Wallace
By Melissa Ryan
The Age
June 19, 2005

Adelaide'S 70-point thrashing of Richmond was last night described by Crows coach Neil Craig as one of their most important wins for the season, while Richmond coach Terry Wallace lamented his side's performance as "some of the worst football that I've seen the team play".

The only thing Wallace was "ecstatic" about last night was the fact that the mid-season break was now upon his struggling club - whose long-running June drought continues - giving them time to reassess and try to rebuild their fractured confidence after four consecutive losses.

"Today was just a breakdown of confidence in the way we played the game. We just had no run and flow in our game. It was very stationary, no one was prepared to take a risk and it was right back to some of worst football that I've seen the team play. As I said to the guys, I don't think I've seen the side play any worse since I've been there, including practice games and the lot," Wallace said.

"(The break) couldn't come at a better time for us, just the way things are going. If you'd asked me that two weeks ago when we lost by a couple of points to the West Coast Eagles, top of the pops and we thought we were going along pretty well, we would have wanted that momentum to keep going, but the last couple of weeks have been disappointing.

"We've had a few blokes sore, a few blokes under injury clouds and the ability to sit back now and reassess and just get ourselves right is the right timing for us."

Matthew Richardson struggled bravely through the game to kick four goals - hampered by his knee injury and poor delivery into the forward line - but Wallace said he was OK afterwards and would not require mid-season surgery.

The club flies to Queensland tomorrow morning for a four-day camp in the Whitsundays, left to reflect on the disappointing loss to the Crows and their poor performances against top-eight teams this year, having lost every encounter. "We wanted them to get a bit of sun on their backs for a few days and we wanted to have an assessment period of what parameters we've reached in the first half of the season and the parameters we haven't reached . . . what was pretty disappointing was that we were non-competitive tonight and we'll discuss that up there."

The road ahead after the break provides further hurdles for the Tigers in the form of Sydney, Essendon and St Kilda at the MCG, and Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/06/18/1119034107496.html?from=storyrhs

[one-eyed]

Tigers' backs to the wall
By Jake Niall
The Age
June 19, 2005

Last night was a reminder of why Terry Wallace sought, and received, a five-year contract to coach the Richmond Football Club.

Despite the early season bounce and the intoxicating optimism he has engendered at Tigerland, Wallace has a team that requires radical surgery - we're talking multiple organ transplants, not cosmetic nip and tuck. Yes, the Tigers remain in the eight, but on present trends, they're only renting a spot on a short-term lease that expires in July, if not sooner.

Nowhere is the need for major works more apparent than in the collapsing Tiger back line, which last night confronted an undistinguished Adelaide front half that Geelong had rendered impotent six days earlier.

The match-ups carried a theme. Ken McGregor, a useful key-position player at the peak of his modest powers, was manned by Shane Morrison, a plodding battler from Brisbane. Scott Welsh was picked up by Darren Gaspar. Welsh had been utterly smashed by Matthew Scarlett last Sunday, the Geelong blanket depriving him of a possession until the last quarter while snaring 30 himself.

Gaspar, however, couldn't keep up, even on short leads, and was replaced by Chris Newman, who fared worse, although there wasn't much he could do about Adelaide's midfield supremacy. Welsh, well recovered from his Scarlett fever, will never boot an easier eight than he did last night.

Ian Perrie had started on the bench. Once he came on, his opponent was Mark Graham, acquired cheaply by Wallace over summer to shore up the defence with a wise head; unfortunately, he also brings elderly legs. In the first half, Perrie, who had booted 16 goals in 12 games before this, looked like the spring-heeled next coming of John Coleman.

The Graham match-up was so horrible that Wallace had little choice but to throw Gaspar onto Perrie. If Gaspar did better, he still seemed creaking and cumbersome and, on the rare occasions when he got the ball, his kicking was as coyote ugly as ever.

Andy Kellaway was the other tall option. He is 30 in November, Gaspar is 30 next year and running around on a reconstructed knee. Graham is 32 and, even in his distant heyday, was more the third or fourth defender than someone who could wrestle with Jonathan Brown.

Wallace called Richmond's swiss cheese defence "pretty disappointing", observing that in the second quarter, "every time (the Crows) went down there, they managed to be able to mark it and that cost us pretty dearly."

Assuming the aim is to build a team capable of winning a premiership, Wallace will need to find at least two quality tall defenders. And in the event that he uncovers them inside three years, by then he'll need to replace Richo, who, for all his endearing deficiencies, is clearly the club's best player in the absence of Nathan Brown.

Joel Bowden is the sole classy mover in defence and while he has some years ahead, he's a rebounding runner, not a key defender.

So, given the bleak demography of Richmond's key-position players, the request for five years wasn't simply an ambit claim. During the week, Wallace appeared alongside Neale Daniher on Fox Footy and took the opportunity to quiz Daniher on rebuilding. Was it possible, Plough asked Daniher, to create a contending team without the benefit of early picks?

He was thinking of how Melbourne had managed to get Cameron Bruce, Brad Miller, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson, Matthew Whelan and others with either late or mid-range picks, supplemented by quality early choices - Travis Johnstone, Brock McLean and Colin Sylvia. Daniher thought the early picks essential, incidentally.

The Plough, it seemed, was mindful that the improvement brought about by his 2005 renovations might work against the grand plan of constructing a new, premiership-bound Richmond.

He had better hope that Jay Schulz or Adam Pattison have some defensive aptitude, or that there's some key-position prospects left by the time it gets to Richmond's call at the draft table. As the ides of June reappear and the club enters a familiar nuclear mid-winter, the Tigers again will be honing their game plan for October and November, not September.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/06/19/1119034107753.html