Terry tells of new motivational ploy
7:17:27 PM Sat 9 July, 2005
Jennifer Witham
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au
Richmond coach Terry Wallace launched a new motivational tool with his Tigers last week in the lead-up to Saturday's 'Dreamtime at the G' clash, which assisted in helping the team overcome an undisciplined Bombers side in soggy conditions.
Speaking after Richmond's 26-point victory over Essendon, Wallace shared with those in attendance at his post-match media conference the tactic in which he likes to call 'crunch game'.
A ploy he initially introduced in his days as the Western Bulldogs' coach, Wallace had pinpointed this round 15 clash as a significant game for the 2005 season.
"There's a particular game for the year that we set aside where we work on it all week and the guys commit themselves to the cause with a pledge individually in front of each other about what they're going to be prepared to do for that particular game," Wallace said.
"We set this game as being a really important game for us, it was a crunch game for us, and it was something that I've had in my coaching for quite some time now."
The coach had identified that something special would be required to overcome the Bombers given their traditional rivalry, and used the approach of encouraging players to identify their individual contribution.
He also spoke of the disappointment of players such as Greg Stafford (suspended) and Kane Johnson (knee), who were unable to participate in the annual event.
"Certainly we set ourselves, we thought it was the launching pad for the latter part of the season. Certainly it doesn't mean anything in relation to where we are, or where we're going, but we thought we needed something to launch the next part of the season, and today we just needed to win," Wallace said.
"The guys pledged themselves at our last team meeting yesterday, and each and every bloke got up and spoke about what he was prepared to do to get the job done."
While Wallace employed this tactic during the week, one thing the Tigers didn't look at was the recent history existing between the two clubs.
"We sit here every week, and every week I say I don't speak about history, I have got no interest in history whatsoever, and last week people were saying how much influence is it that we haven't beaten a top eight side," Wallace said.
"Every week when I go into a press conference, people talk about you've got a record against this side, you're eight-two down against them. It doesn't mean anything.
"You guys speak about history, we speak about now. That's all that worries us."
Wallace also didn't consider that the immediate history might repeat itself from last week with another Tiger fade-out in the second half, and instead praised the performance of his players in trying conditions.
"I didn't give any though to last week at all, I thought it was a pretty strong and convincing win from start to finish, I didn't give last week any thought whatsoever," Wallace said.
"I thought the guys handled themselves really well, I certainly thought early in the game our ability to win first use of the ball, I thought we got free kicks because of our ability to go after the footy, and that was always going to be important in the conditions."
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