Pinpointing where the rot started
Caroline Wilson | May 8, 2007
The Age
AS THE Richmond Football Club searches for answers and its shattered supporters search for meaning, it is worth examining not why it fell apart so savagely against Geelong at Telstra Dome but why not.
The Tigers did not capitulate because Terry Wallace waved the white flag on the season's eve. They did not give up because it was hoisted when Darren Gaspar was axed.
Certainly, the defender's career could not have ended more clumsily and the club should be embarrassed, but by all reports the one-time club champion's lack of intensity had become an issue and there was no meaningful player protest.
They did not fall apart because recruiting was left for too long in the hands of one man — one very busy man in Greg Miller, who came to the club as a saviour but has had to wear many hats, have many interests and play too many political games.
The team was not torn apart because its coach has been so busy selling the club — and close to 30,000 members would attest to that — that coaching at times was not the priority it should have been.
Nor were the Tigers flogged because they chose Richard Tambling over Lance Franklin, because they traded away early draft picks over the past five years and recycled too many players. It hasn't looked good for Richmond that David Rodan has become a regular in Port Adelaide's up-and-coming line-up.
While the off-field team probably never fully will be able to explain what happened on Sunday, it is worth pointing out that they are well aware of these issues and had been working to address them long before the on-field massacre.
Wallace might have blamed the media for misrepresenting his assessment of the list on the season's eve but he has been told that his timing was poor and his message ill-advised.
When a club has been in a winning position in four of its six games but loses all of them, surely lack of confidence plays a part. Suffice to say president Gary March fronted the media yesterday, while Wallace was advised to sell hope to his players and not the public. Save that for Tuesdays with Terry.
Miller virtually had control of the club under the last years of Clinton Casey's presidency. Casey's legacy was a redevelopment, some financial generosity and a $4 million debt. When there was no money to beef up the football department, the Tigers fell further behind.
Miller never truly accepted that the club had to take its medicine. The Tigers chased Dean Solomon, Robert Copeland and Trent Knobel and topped up with Mark Graham and Kent Kingsley.
When March replaced Casey, Miller's power-base eroded. The board took back the power of veto, insisting any contract longer than three years or worth more than a specified value had to be ratified by the directors. The football department was barred from trading first-round draft picks without board approval.
And now Miller's influence again will be reduced. His advice is considered crucial, his popularity unquestioned, but the club is searching for a new recruiting chief and is looking to restructure the football department. Again.
The club looks five years behind the competition. The question remains as to why the new era seems to be starting now, instead of 2½ years ago, when Wallace arrived.
But none of that explains what happened at Telstra Dome. Perhaps it was the loss the Tigers had to have. The club is no more certain of what happened that night than it is about the cause of Nathan Brown's pain and when he may return.
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