No favours for Wallace as Tigers draw difficult start to 2009 (Australian)

[one-eyed]

The media sharks are already circling for blood.....

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No favours for Wallace as Tigers draw difficult start to 2009 campaign
Stephen Rielly | October 25, 2008
 
IF there is a coach with more reason than any other to feel aggrieved by the shape of the 2009 draw, it is Richmond coach Terry Wallace.

The Tigers, who have not played finals in Wallace's four years at Punt Road, face four of the top eight sides of 2008 in the first six weeks of the season, including top-four teams Geelong and the Western Bulldogs.

They open the season against Carlton at the MCG, as they have for the past two years, then head to Skilled Stadium to confront the Cats in round two, play the Bulldogs at Telstra Dome in round three and then meet North Melbourne and Sydney, at the SCG, in rounds five and six.

Given what was learned from the 2008 season, the only game the Tigers will feel confident about winning in the first six weeks of next season is against this year's wooden spoon winner, Melbourne, in round four.

It is a seriously challenging start to a campaign that, one way or another, is likely to determine Wallace's future.

Apart from the lack of a single appearance in September since succeeding Danny Frawley at the end of the 2004 season, Wallace has witnessed the worrying departure of two important football department allies, Greg Miller and Paul Armstrong, in recent months and next season is the fifth and last of his contract.

While the Tigers can be thankful that they play premier, Hawthorn, and Geelong and St Kilda only once next year and travel interstate just twice in the second half of the season where there is also a run of seven consecutive matches at the MCG, the formative early months of the campaign are reminiscent of the exceedingly tough start to 2008 that saw the side win only three of its first 11 matches.

It was a run that, back in June, led Wallace to draw attention to how difficult it had been for his team which, with a softer second-half draw, won eight of its remaining 11 matches to miss the finals by two points.

"We are halfway through the season and out of our 11 games, we've played seven of those games against top eight sides and I don't think many people expected us to be beating those type of sides," he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24547681-5012432,00.html

[one-eyed]

Pressure builds as Tigers eye top draw
Mike Sheahan | October 25, 2008 12:00am

AS IF there wasn't more than enough pressure on Terry Wallace and his men. Now, Richmond has been gifted what surely is the most accommodating program for any club in 2009.

The best-performed team from the bottom half of the ladder this year has been given every chance to consolidate and improve next year.

Given the climate at Punt Rd in recent months, anything less than finals will be seen as yet another failure to deliver on expectations (not always reasonable), with major ramifications for a coach in the fifth and final year of his contract.

While Wallace might argue that grading a fixture in October for the following year is fraught with danger, there are certain key indicators that bode well for the Tigers.

They will play the 2008 grand finalists - Hawthorn and Geelong - once only; Geelong in Round 2, Hawthorn in Round 21.

They will face this year's top four teams a total of five times, with a return match against only the Western Bulldogs.

At the other end of the spectrum, they will play both of this year's duffers, Melbourne and West Coast, twice.

In the first 10 rounds, Richmond plays six of this year's bottom eight and only two teams from the top four.

Given the importance of momentum, that's got to be a plus.

Six of those 10 games are scheduled for the MCG or Etihad Stadium (what was Telstra Dome).

While the Tigers will be required to travel five times for the year, the proverbial white shorts don't worry them these days.

One of the 2009 trips will take them to the Gold Coast and an engagement with Adelaide. No disadvantage there.

If the Tigers' form was genuine in 2008, they should be counting the hours until they kick off the new season against Carlton in front of up to 85,000 people at the MCG on March 26.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24548349-19742,00.html

[Jacosh]

One draw 2 opinions, it never ceases to amaze me how different two journo's opinions can be on one subject depending if they favour it or not.  While Sheahan must like RFC, i dont know Reilly but he obviously doesnt like us much does he.
I dont understand why they both said it was a good thing we only play Hawthorn once.  We have their measure it would suit us better to play them twice and say Carltank once.

[mightytiges]

It just shows some journos want us to fail and have us in their scope already 6 months out from the start of next season. What has Miller and Armstrong got to do with the 2009 draw release  .

Mike is more realistic but the whole white shorts thing was 10 years ago under Geisch so is just as irrelevant.

[bojangles17]

i find it unbelievable that journos have put our necks on the block at the prospect of playing NM and the doggies twice...why dont they say it out allowed just to gewt a sense of how ridiculous it actually sounds...the roos fell into the finals qualifying with a solitary win more than us in 2008 and the doggies limped in to the 8 winning 3 from last 8 or 9 ...Not playing the roos in the run home may very well have cost us a genuine chance of making this yrs finals...I reckon it's a very fair draw for us, NO EXCUSES

[mightytiges]

The first 6 rounds are tough but in saying that they are nevertheless winnable if we improve again on this year and truly are a finals side next year. Touchwood no long list of injuries to key players, this draw will give us a true reflection of where we'll be at in 12 months time whatever happens.