Finals not on Tigers' radar
6:01:03 PM Tue 6 June, 2006
Mark Rasmussen
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond coach Terry Wallace believes it is too early for his club to consider making the finals despite good signs that indicate the Tigers are on track.
Speaking at his weekly media conference on Tuesday, Wallace said much will depend on who wins the close games, referring not just to the Tigers, but all clubs in contention.
"I think it's too early for us to be saying we're a contender for the top eight or not. We've just got to try to win the winnable games," Wallace said
"The weekend was disappointing because there was an opportunity late in the fourth quarter and we didn't manage to seal the game.
"We've probably won most of our close finishes and have got over the line.
"Winning those close encounters, it's probably the difference between making a spot in the eight and not making a spot in the eight," he said.
With Richmond facing the Kangaroos and the Hawks in the next two weeks, conceivably the Tigers could go into the second half of the season in very good shape, but with interstate games coming against Port Adelaide and Sydney after the break, Wallace is keeping a cool head.
"Looking at our draw, we've still got a fairly tough draw ahead of us. We've got two games before the break and then we've still got a few interstate games to come," he said
With the ‘bump' back in the spotlight again after Tim Notting's hit on Blake Caracella which left the Collingwood with a fractured vertebra, Wallace believes that as long as it's fair, there will always be the room for the good old fashioned hip ‘n' shoulder.
"Like most people I think we should outlaw anything that's head high. I think most people believe the bump should stand if it's full body contact, but we must be careful of anything that's head high," he said.
With Cat Gary Ablett's bump on Eagle David Wirrpanda coming under scrutiny by the AFL tribunal, Wallace said he's baffled by what reaches and what doesn't reach the tribunal.
"I'm still surprised at some that do and some that don't every week," he said.
"We've had instances in the past few weeks that should come up and they haven't been looked at. That's just the circumstances of each and every week with the tribunal and the review committee," Wallace said.
Wallace sought to clarify with AFL umpires boss Jeff Gieschen several decisions from the Tigers game with Fremantle on Saturday night. While comfortable with the outcome, he was looking more for an explanation for his players than anything else.
"There was half a dozen instances in the game where we wanted clarification. We need to be able to go back to the players so that we can actually understand how we need to play the rule next time.
"I was comfortable with the outcome. I didn't have any issues. If we had been disappointed with it, we would have put in an official complaint with the umpires department, which we didn't do," he said.
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