Ninth alright for Tigers
richmondfc.com.au
By Ben Casanelia
6:02 PM Sun 31 August, 2008
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace says his side is locked and loaded for season 2009 after rounding out its 2008 home and away campaign with a comprehensive dismantling of wooden-spooner Melbourne.
The win was the Tigers 11th of the season and eight from its last 11 games – only red-hot premiership favourite Geelong has won more games in the second half of the season.
“We’ll take ninth, that’s where we’re at,” Wallace said of the Tigers final ladder position.
“We believe that this time around it’s a strong ninth.
“I genuinely think we are on the improve and what we’ve got to do is take that momentum into summer and ride into the start of next season.”
Wallace hopes the club can add to its list during the October trading period. The Tigers are rumoured to be keen to lure out of contract Fremantle ruckman Robert Warnock to back up the aging Troy Simmonds.
Wallace said the decision might not be his to make.
“I’d like to think we’ve set the scene for the footy club and I’d like to think the club would now give us opportunity got go to the market place,” he said.
“Decisions have to be made there and they’re not all my decisions.
“I think we are now locked and loaded and ready to be able to put in some form of challenge going into next year. What that means is do we go with the group we’ve got at the moment, or can we go out into the market place and add to that?
“That’s a financial decision, it’s not always a footy decision.”
The Tiger coach said 11 wins did not exceed his pre-season expectations and he was thrilled the side was able to finish the year strongly despite fielding a number of inexperienced players.
He said the key to the club’s future success was to get more games into the group and keep it intact for the long haul.
“We’ve come a fair way and we’ve still got a long way to go,” he said.
“Always the challenge for us was to get the young blokes into reasonable form before our senior players were at retirement stage
“That’s clearly a battle we’ve still got but our senior guys have still got a bit of senior footy in them.”
Joel Bowden, whose career looked to be in trouble when he was dropped earlier in the year, kicked three goals and had 34 possessions to be among the best against Melbourne.
Wallace predicted Bowden would be used all over the ground again next season.
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