I couldn't find this on the web yet so I scanned it from the hardcopy
RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE
By Mark Robinson
Fri 06 March 2009, Page 106
Terry Wallace knows what's at stake. But he tells Mark Robinson he feels up for the challenge.
Mark Robinson: OK, let's make it a Ben Cousins-free zone.
Terry Wallace: I'm more than happy with that.
Your 30th year in the AFL?
That's about right. Started in '78 so it would make it 31.
And perhaps your last?
Possibly. That's the nature of the business, but I have to say I thought 1987 was my last when I left Richmond and I didn't have a club three days before the season started. I probably thought I was nearly done back in 1996 when the Bulldogs were getting wobbly. I've managed to slip the noose a couple of times, as such.
Do you stress that you could be sacked if the team doesn't have a good season.
I don't think that way. I would have 18-20 players on the last year of contracts, so why am I any different to what they are, except that I'm the one-off. They have the same anxieties.
Do you coach on edge because it's the last year of your contract?
I'm looking forward to it. It's been a five-year establishment setting up what I want . . . and it's getting to the stage where it's time to shine.
Has it taken longer than you initially thought?
I thought I said five years! Seriously, people talk about five-year plans for a premiership, but it was never any of that. Richmond needed stability and security. I wasn't going to go back into coaching unless I was given the chance to structure up something. This was an old list, the second oldest list in the competition at the time, so it was always going to be (a longer) time frame.
Do you want to coach again?
Absolutely, I want to coach again. I've already said this is the last place I'll coach because it is a cycle of five to seven/eight years to get something in the shape you want to have a go. I don't know if I want to be finishing a cycle of something else at 60. I don't see myself coaching AFL when I'm 60. I turned 50 in December, but I do see myself wanting to finish the job I started.
Can Richmond win the premiership this year?
Hawthorn showed that anyone can win the premiership.
So that's a yes.
I think the competition's open enough that several sides can win the flag. Look at the Bulldogs last year. They were a kick and half away from Geelong and they came from 12th.
The headline will be: ``We can win flag: Wallace''.
You're saying we think we can win the flag, but I'm saying I reckon there are eight clubs who can win the flag.
If you don't make the finals are you gone?
I think so. I think our people have been patiently waiting for the redevelopment. I think they've actually enjoyed the redevelopment of the list. There are a lot of Richmond people who are buoyant about seeing a young core group of backmen developing together. They've been excited by (Brett) Deledio winning the best-and-fairest last year, Nathan Foley playing terrific in the state game, but at the end of the day we're all here to be part of finals.
You and the president, Gary March, weren't seeing eye to eye at the end of last season. You've shaken hands and are on the same page again. Was that a difficult time?
No, it wasn't. I don't think there was as much in it as people seem to think. We had one public disagreement and it was based on, call it what you want, but it was Marchy's call on ranking what the season was and I got asked the question when you're at your prickly best, which was just before a game, and they got a prickly honest answer back.
Were you defensive of your coaching group as well? Didn't March rate them as highly as you did?
I rate them highly . . . No, it wasn't a big deal. We probably had a variance of disagreement on our ranking assessment of our season and that's where it stood. It's interesting, once you have a disagreement such as that, you end up working out both parties have the same stresses and issues and you are a lot closer to what's going on than what you actually thought you were.
Better relationship now?
Yes. It's remarkable how it works out. It is business and you are allowed to have disagreements. I can recall Geelong probably disagreeing in business going back two and half years ago and within 12 months they had won a flag. Sometimes it is actually healthy . . . to get a different point of view.
Gary said he would be looking at you mid-year and that's still set in stone?
Yes.
Do you want a decision mid-year?
No.
So why are you having this meeting mid-year?
The club thought it best to not be in a position where we're talking about it after Round 2, Round 3, after Round 6, so we just said `let's have a discussion at halfway'. I've always said I'm happy to go to my term and sit down and see if everyone was happy and comfortable with where everything had gone. You sign a five-year contract, it's a five-year contract, not a four-and-half-year contract, or four-year contract. It's OK to get to the end and say, `How is everyone travelling?'
Every game is important, but could we know after the first three rounds -- against Carlton, Geelong, Western Bulldogs -- if you will be coaching again?
No. We've had sides in the past who have lost early games and comfortably recovered.
And if you won those three, you'd be thinking, let's bring this mid-year talk forward?
Three and zip you're flying but it doesn't guarantee anything. Two and one you're probably in good shape but it doesn't guarantee anything. One and two, it's tight but you've played what have been some of the better sides in recent times and it doesn't mean really anything. Zip and three you're in a bit of trouble, but it doesn't mean anything.
Where will this club improve this year?
A lot of areas. In the natural development of players; you would think blokes who have been together for 30-40 games in the backline should improve, you'd think the age of our quality midfielders are on an upwards spiral, you'd think blokes like (Mitch) Morton and (Jack) Riewoldt should continue to improve as forwards and I don't think our senior group of players are looking like fading.
Kane Johnson has done his knee twice in the pre-season. That's got to be a concern.
It's a concern, yeah, and how he comes up will be interesting.
Do you have to change your game style to win the premiership?
We need to be defensively more sound.
Your teams have never been regarded as great tackling sides, so you must get better?
Yep. That was evident last Thursday against Collingwood.
Twenty-six tackles is not enough.
No, it's not.
Been a major project over summer?
Tackling is always bloody difficult. How much do you tackle? Do you work on technique? Do you just throw them into each other? Have we worked on tackling? Gee, we've had the Storm blokes down for the last two years.
Then why don't they do it in football games?
In fairness, sometimes it's style of play, I think we've played more open-style games. Look at Sydney games. Our figures will spike when we play Sydney because of how the game is structured. So what we've spent more time doing is how we're going to structure up to be defensively more sound, than running into brick walls trying to tackle blokes.
So your wide game will be closed down a bit?
Everyone's tricking up all the time, but you have to keep to what are your strengths and add to the package as you're going along. Offensively, we were sixth in the competition, but defensively we weren't good enough, be that tackling, prevention of inside 50s, that's the area of our game that needed to improve.
Stats time. You had the second most possessions in the league last year, you were 11th in inside 50s, but you were the fourth most efficient side. So, the problem is not scoring, it's getting it in there enough. The worst stat is in metres gained by each kick, you ranked 16th, which suggests you kick sideways too much. Thoughts?
Tinker again. We were still the sixth highest scoring side in the competition. So it's not broken. Offensively is not our problem . . . I think it's our ability to not turn the ball over. You chip, chip and you turn the ball over and it's coming back at you at a hundred miles an hour.
That's what happened against Collingwood.
Eleven goals to four on turnovers for the night.
Simply, players who turn the ball over might cost you your job and that puts them under enormous pressure.
Yeah, but I don't think that's any different at any club. The game has become so much more a possession game. We used to have blokes who we said were good kicks of the footy who kicked it 50m down the line. If you do that today it will come straight back. Unless you can use the ball your place in the game is in jeopardy.
Jordan McMahon. So many plusses but one negative: He coughs the ball up in bad situations.
You sure about that? Do you know where his kicking efficiency tracks? Very high.
But he does make errors in decision-making.
Clangers. His kicking efficiency is much higher than the public believes, but when he makes one they are massive. He was our No. 1 kick getter last year, but his clangers are one or two a game. But he's probably got the ball in his hands more often. But, gee, his run and carry is nice.
McMahon, (Andrew) Raines, (Chris) Newman, (Will) Thursfield, (Kelvin) Moore, (Luke) McGuane. Your most improved area, the backline?
It's a credit to the work David King has done with them and yes, they are coming along well.
Richard Tambling. He's shown improvement every year, but after four years do you know his best position?
No. And that's probably been the thing (with Tambling). Most people who pick their sides, they pick him on the interchange bench because they don't know where to play him. I would say Leon Davis was in the same position when he was of that age and has become a bona fide midfielder/forward. Richard has played his best football for us as an onballer, his consistency is very even, but if you are going to be a bona fide midfielder you have to step up with numbers.
Fair to say it's the best depth you've had in your time?
No doubt. And we haven't mentioned Adam Thomson and Tommy Hislop. Whether they are in the starting 22 or not, we've got blokes who we can go to who have strong bodies and who can play straight away.
They'll certainly lift the tackling average.
Correct.
Thomson showed against Collingwood that he hunts.
He does.
You need more?
You only have to look at our last couple of drafts: (Alex) Rance is a genuine competitive player, (Tyrone) Vickery is genuinely competitive for a big bloke, and Thomson and (Tom) Hislop are competitors. We thought we were well served with run, we needed more grunt.
Has Richmond been "unsociable" enough in its approach over the past couple of years?
We're the No. 2 contested (possession) team in the competition and the contest still is winning the ball and I'm comfortable with where we're at. What I thought we needed was more depth in the blokes who go and get the footy.
You're especially deep in the middle, so is it a matter of now just coming together?
In all honesty I didn't think we were ready until now. The development players (Foley, Deledio) are now coming into five years, four years. I remember reading last year that Gary Ablett was into his seventh year or eighth year and I couldn't believe it. It just goes so quickly. Our guys are now at the stage where they are fully-fledged midfielders who can handle themselves in the heat of the kitchen. They are men, not boys.
So, and I know it's a cliche, but no excuses this year?
And we don't want any. Up until this stage we've stood back and wondered and hoped whether we'd have a good year, and now we expect. Usually when you hope and wonder you're not ready. When you are expecting and demanding of yourself you are ready. And where it takes us, who knows?
You must be excited about Round 1?
Even having a taste of it last year, it was a great spectacle. Last year was Juddy and his first game, and obviously it's going to be a big game for both teams. Both teams believe they are moving forward so there's genuine excitement.
Thought you were going to mention you-know-who.
It's the first time I haven't been asked about him and probably the first time the first three or four questions haven't been about him.
Terry Wallace on Richmond's up and comers
Adam Pattison (Age 23, Games 53)
"He's been injured. He had a release of a tendon in his ankle and will be back by about Round 4. We're looking at him as a key- position forward. He came as a centre half-forward, but we didn't have any ruckmen so we virtually sent him to do the secondary ruck role from day one. It's really important we get Cleve Hughes or Pattison to step up. We played Cleve in the first NAB (game) and he went adequately and he's out injured and we've had Patto off the ground as well. We'll be a better side if one of them could hold down a key position. But that's up to them."
Angus Graham (21, 2)
"I thought he was ready (to be our second ruckman) 18 months ago, but he broke an ankle and he really had trouble last year getting on the park. He played underdone, so he virtually lost 12 months of his career. He's crucial. He's learnt to become a competitor working with Damian Monkhorst. He's a unit, and I reckon he's ready to play regular senior footy."
Alex Rance (19, 0)
"If he came here three years ago he would've walked straight in and played, now we're a little more settled in the back half. But if you're going to be a reasonable side you shouldn't have your 18-year-olds walk straight in. He's starting his second season, but he showed in the NAB Cup he can handle the pressures of the game, which is terrific. You wouldn't be frightened to go to him if anyone got an injury."
Trent Cotchin (18, 15)
"All going well I'm hoping he'll back in the first month of the season, back vying for selection. He's not back on the track yet, so he's almost an impossibility for Round 1."
Dean Polo (22, 31)
"He's played half-back/midfield. We've probably had a group of nine/10 there through the NAB. Shane Edwards has been there and you need a squad of them."
