Wallace makes point of earning respect
07 May 2006
Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace said his team had won back some respect after coming back from the brink to clinch a third consecutive win last night.
The Tigers held on by two points against the Bombers in the Dreamtime at the 'G game that was fittingly sealed by young Aboriginal debutant Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls when he kicked a point at the 30-minute mark to break a 95-95 deadlock.
"When I got the ball, I've seen the goals and Terry told me to take them on, so I just tried to take them on," Oakley-Nicholls said.
"I was hoping for a goal."
Wallace watched helplessly as the Bombers cut back the Tigers' 16-point lead at the 10-minute mark of the final term to take the lead by 10 points.
He had reminded the players of comments made in the past about Essendon's dominance over Richmond.
"One side's been down and one's had a strong history," he said.
"Essendon have been at the top of the tree for a while and we've been down the bottom of the tree for quite some time and I just thought there'd been a couple statements made and we just needed to win back a little bit of respect.
"We've certainly got respect for them and it was a real arm wrestle against them.
"I was just pleased that I shook hands with Sheeds at the end of the game because the result could have quite easily gone the opposite way.
"We worked hard for a long time to get the result and I thought we were just getting in a position where we were wrestling it from the opposition and getting a hold on the game and then all of a sudden the game completely changed.
"They just took control out of the middle of the ground, some really great work from (Jobe) Watson who's becoming a terrific player and all of a sudden (Scott) Lucas got a hold of the game (with three goals).
"From being in a commanding position, all of a sudden we were going to struggle to get a result."
Another debutant Dean Polo had levelled scores at the 25-minute mark when he coolly goaled under pressure.
The 19 year-old from Wy Yung collected 29 possessions and two goals in a best-on-ground performance to win the Yiooken Award.
"We would have expected him to play well because he's very brave," Wallace said.
"The ones who are prepared to put head their head over the footy and don't have fear are the ones that normally stand up in big games and play well.
"I thought he'd be OK, but no one expects the magnitude of his game today."
Wallace said the team, now 3-3, still had plenty of work to do and would not look at this match as a season-defining moment.
"It's just another win," he said.
"What it is, it's really pleasing from the aspect of where the football club's going. And that's about what it stands for.
"As a selection panel and match committee we were brave enough to play two debut games and one playing his second game of footy (Cleve Hughes) and I think that's where we're going.
"We're trying to put quality players on the ground and we're going to get some ups and downs, but the reality is every time they go out we should expect that they're going to get a little bit better."
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