Connolly apologises for attack on Wallace
By Stathi Paxinos
The Age
May 15, 2005
Fremantle coach Chris Connolly yesterday apologised to Richmond's Terry Wallace, saying he was wrong and had made a "big mistake" in labelling Wallace's stance against AFL players' use of caffeine as grandstanding.
Connolly made a stinging attack on Wallace a week ago saying the Tigers coach had no right taking the moral high ground on the issue because he did not possess a clean track record himself. He claimed Wallace had sent players out to bash opponents when coach of the Western Bulldogs.
Wallace, who was disappointed some of his players had used caffeine tablets, had said he would back any AFL move to ban their use because it looked bad for the game.
Connolly yesterday told radio station 3AW he had made the comments when the club, which Connolly last week acknowledged sanctioned the players' use of caffeine tablets under medical supervision, had been under siege since revelations about Dockers star Matthew Pavlich's use of the tablets.
He said he had thought at the time that Wallace had been trying to stir up trouble, but had come to realise he was "wrong, there's no question about that".
"At that point in time I made a big mistake, I was very aggressive towards Terry Wallace because I thought he'd re-started the thing we were trying to put to bed and (I) went on in an aggressive nature," Connolly said. "I'm sorry for that and I've spoken to Terry at length."
Connolly said his comments about the club's use of caffeine tablets had been taken out of context and he was referring only to his own players using caffeine under strict medical supervision.
"I thought I was misquoted, I was talking specifically about our players (and) the things we do in an AFL environment," Connolly said.
"We wouldn't expect anyone outside an AFL environment to do any of these things and I went on at length to try and explain that and then, of course, a snippet was taken out and passed onto a lady at the Australian Medical Association who has really painted a poor picture of myself and the club in terms of promoting caffeine to just about anybody - and that couldn't be any further from the truth."
Connolly also said he was wrong for accusing Wallace of sending his players out to bash the opposition. "They were very aggressive at the Western Bulldogs and to be successful in AFL football you've got to be super aggressive."
Meanwhile, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou yesterday also told 3AW he had received worrying feedback from junior clubs that talk of the use of caffeine tablets had become all the rage among young players.
"We know in the last two to three weeks of junior clubs where one of the major discussion points at training has been the use of No-Doz," Demetriou said.
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