Wallace: finals quest against odds
01 August 2005
Herald Sun
Grantley Bernard
FADING on the run to the post with three straight losses, Richmond coach Terry Wallace last night admitted the Tigers would have to beat the odds to make the finals this season.
Humbled by bottom-placed Carlton at Telstra Dome yesterday, the Tigers face a road trip to Fremantle that will almost certainly determine if they finish in the top eight or just settle for a season of improvement.
"Obviously, the season's still open and still alive and you would say now that you've got to win something against the odds to get there," Wallace said.
"Prior to now we would have said that if we win the games we should win you'd be able to just about get there. Now you'd have to do something over and above that to make it."
After the Dockers (9-9) at Subiaco, Richmond (9-9) plays the improving Western Bulldogs (8-10), struggling Hawthorn (4-14) and fellow finals aspirant Geelong (10-8) at Skilled Stadium in the last game of the season.
That is a testing run home and the way teams are bunching for the last one or two spots in the top eight, it doesn't leave the 10th-placed Tigers much leeway.
With those four games left, Wallace, who has lifted Richmond from four wins to nine in his first season at Punt Rd, says the Tigers can afford to lose one more game.
Richmond will be hoping for better luck with injuries going into the Fremantle game.
The Tigers lost key defender Darren Gaspar (hamstring) and Mark Chaffey (osteitis pubis) as late withdrawals, while key forward Matthew Richardson was knocked out in the first quarter of the 35-point loss to the Blues.
Richardson was carried off on a stretcher after the collision with Carlton's Brad Fisher and, though he returned to the bench and did some run-throughs at three-quarter time, did not play again. He is expected to play against Freo.
The Tigers are hopeful Gaspar will play against the Dockers, while they have to decide whether Chaffey, who has been a good midfielder this season, should go on ice or power through to the end of the season.
While the wear and tear has caught up with Chaffey, so it has with the Tigers, who started the season 7-2 only to slump with a 2-7 record over the back half of the season as injuries and fatigue have taken their toll.
"We've got a few out, we've got a few a little bit sore running around. That catches up with you," Wallace said.
That said, while Wallace is adamant the rebuilding Tigers will accept their final ladder position and try to move forward again next season, he remains optimistic of a revival in the last month this season.
"Probably . . . over the last two months you wouldn't say we're finals aspirants," Wallace said. "Now it's up to the guys to see whether they can tip that back around. It only takes one win against the grain and all of a sudden you're back in the hunt and alive and kicking again."
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