Plough's aftermatch media conference / Tiger leaders iron out club critics

[one-eyed]

Richmond's Friday night fever
11:27 PM Fri 10 August, 2007
By Russell Holmesby
richmondfc.com.au

AFTER suffering a week of criticism from all corners of the football world, Richmond coach Terry Wallace said that the shock win over Collingwood was player-driven more than anything else.

“It’s been a long time in between wins and Friday night footy seems to suit us. Our last win was on a Friday night against Melbourne. I think that the guys really set themselves,” he said.

“We’ve been copping our fair share of flak over the journey as is expected under the circumstances. People said I criticised our senior players last week, but what I said was that I wanted our senior players to take hold of the group and run with the ball. That’s exactly what they did.”

Wallace said that the older players had put up their hands for certain jobs and cited the case of Joel Bowden, centre half-back for most of the year, who thought he could better serve the team by going to full-back and picking up Anthony Rocca.

The decision to start Graham Polak and Brett Deledio deep in attack was not a player-driven one, however as Wallace sought additional strike power in front of goal.

He said it was also a statement about the capacity of youngsters Will Thursfield and Luke McGuane to lead the defence with Polak playing elsewhere, and added that the young duo had not been given appropriate credit for strong efforts against Geelong the previous week.

“With Joel going back to play at the back end I trusted Luke and Will to continue on their roles.”

Wallace did not want to read too much into one night’s performance from a number of young players but praised Nathan Foley who had made a huge advance not only in this game, but for the whole year.

“The one player who has stood up and taken a massive step forward is Nathan Foley. The other guy who has been very good is Will Thursfield coming off that knee reconstruction. It really was a massive reconstruction – one that was like a car accident – and he’s done some great jobs for us.”

Wallace said Daniel Jackson’s 13-possession third quarter had been crucial in setting up the win.

Wallace gave credit to the football club for weathering the storm of criticism and said there “hadn’t been one inkling of a crack anywhere in the veneer of the group”.

Sitting next to Wallace was Kayne Pettifer, who celebrated his 100th game by booting the sealing goal. He said that the team had gone through some tough training sessions and skipper Kane Johnson had exhorted his teammates to play as hard as they had trained.

http://richmondfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/6301/Default.aspx?newsId=48960

[one-eyed]

Tiger leaders iron out club critics
11 August 2007  Herald-Sun
Michael Horan

IGNORE the constant criticism, stick fat and have a red hot go.

That's the formula bottom side Richmond used to bring down top four aspirant Collingwood and claim just their second win of what has been a wretched season.

After a 10-goal flogging against top side geelong last week, Tiger coach Terry Wallace put the club's pride and dignity in the hand of the senior players and between them they pulled off one of the upsets of the season.

"The guys really set themselves. We've been copping our fair share over the journey as you'd expect under the circumstances," Wallace said after his side's 10-point win last night.

"Last week I said in the last four weeks I would hope the senior group would take hold of the group and run with the ball. That's exactly what I asked them to do and that's exactly what they did.

"They pretty much ran the week, had a lot the say in setting up the structure in the way they wanted with myself. They sepent a fair bit of time and committed themselves to certain opponents. "They set the example of the week and they followed it through on the night, which was tremendous."

Wallace said Joel Bowden insisted he go back into defence because he could best serve playing on Anthony Rocca instead of going further up the ground as he had in recent weeks and when the Tigers were seriously challenged in the third term last night, it was skipper Kane Johnson who demanded the players stick to their tasks.

And all of them made a pact to stand together and silence their critics.

'We came away from last week's game and everyone criticised everyone about everything we did against the best side in the competition," Wallace said. I didn't hear one person say McGuane and Thursfield beat Ablett and Mooney on the day on their merits," he said, pointing out the public and media had become blind to any positives at all.

Richmond has been good for a half and bit for the past month before capitulating and getting absolutely thrashed. When there were signs early in the third term last night of it happening again, the Tigers' acid test had arrived.

"It was a testing time I must say. We felt the momentum was their way - they had a bit of memntum in the second quarter and they came out in third and it went their way - so it was a pretty pleasing sign that we stood up and said 'look, we want to get a result here," Wallace said.

"We'd been in that position too often and too long this year and (this time) they stood up and played well.

"In a ssense it doesn't change anything. It doesn't change ladder positions - it doesn't change anything in context at all - but what's it worth?

"I've just got to give credit to the footy club. As much as it has been attacked everyone has stayed very, very strong and committed. That's right through from the board, management, the playing group - everyone has been really really strong and solid with each other.

"There has not been one inkling of a crack anywhere within the veneer of the group. We stikll have real belief in what we're trying to achieve. Others haven't seen it and have criticised us left right and centre about our direction or whether we've got any good young players.

"Everything. We just hope our people see we are going in a (good) direction and we're going to continue to do so no matter what anyone says about us."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22225683%255E19771,00.html

[one-eyed]

Self-belief the key for Richmond
August 11, 2007 - 10:07AM
The Age

Self-belief will be the major factor in helping Richmond build on Friday night's breakthrough win over Collingwood and gaining something out of a disappointing AFL season, according to coach Terry Wallace.

While some Richmond players will be forgiven for waking up on Saturday with sore heads after posting only their second win of the season - an impressive 18.8 (116) to 14.12 (96) victory at the MCG - Wallace said the Tigers could learn from other sides which battled at stages in 2007.

"You saw Port Adelaide go through a really good time, then a really poor time and then a really good time," Wallace said.

"You saw Brisbane ... struggle for five or six weeks and then all of a sudden get in a winning vein and then take that forward.

"The guys need to sit back and have a look at that in the cold light of the day and say 'We're good enough to play good footy'.

"For some of our guys that's the first victory they've played in at senior level.

"They've got to understand they can start to compete with the better sides in the competition and that's experience."

Richmond are hopeful their supporters are also convinced that the team is headed in the right direction.

"We hope that our people see that we are going in a direction and that we're going to continue going in that direction no matter what anyone says about us," Wallace said.

"I hope our supporters can still see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, albeit it might be a long tunnel and it might be a hard journey."

http://news.realfooty.com.au/selfbelief-the-key-for-richmond/20070911-sp8.html