Wallace wants a hostile 'G

[one-eyed]

Wallace wants the MCG hostile
13 April 2005   
Herald Sun
Katie Peart

In the same way that Fremantle has forged an air of invincibility at their "House of Pain" at Subiaco, and St Kilda at Telstra Dome, Wallace wants the Tigers to make the MCG one of the most inhospitable grounds a team can visit.

Richmond, preparing to host Fremantle on Sunday, has an appalling home record, losing its past eight home games at the MCG.

"We need to win home games," Wallace said. "If Fremantle was playing this game at the House of Pain they'd be pencilling it in as a win, a must-win situation. Well, we're in exactly the same situation, it's a home game.

"We have to have a hostile environment like they have a hostile environment. That's not over-cooking it . . . that's exactly what we have to build up with our own supporters.

"Last year St Kilda won every game at Telstra Dome, Geelong won every game at Skilled Stadium. If we're going to start to be competitive we have to win our home matches."

Big things are expected of ruckman Troy Simmonds against his old team.

Wallace said he felt the 26-year-old had not yet delivered a consistent, top-quality performance.

"He's probably played one out of the three (games) at the level I would have liked," Wallace said.

"I think he had nine marks in his second game against Hawthorn and was pretty good. I think he's shown patches of what we expect but not probably the consistency."

Last year's No. 4 draft pick, Richard Tambling, has been frustrated by a string of injuries, including hamstring, toe and back problems, and will not be pushed into making his AFL debut.

"We're picking him for a journey, not for what's happening right now," Wallace said.

"I'm hoping he could be right within a week but until he gets out and trains and does everything and gets through a couple of sessions -- he needs two, three, four sessions in a row -- we don't want him out there early, breaking down."

New captain Kane Johnson will have a scan tomorrow on his injured foot and is not expected to train today.

"We won't be taking any risks at all. If he's not right he's not playing," Wallace said.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,12838029%255E19771,00.html

[mightytiges]

Our biggest crowd at the 'G for a Freo game is only 26,000 back in 95 and it's fallen away since then not surprisingly.

R1 1995  26,219 
R14 1998 25,723 
R19 2002 19,509 
R3 2003  19,677 
R12 2004 18,666 

A good crowd for us on Sunday would be around the 25,000 mark. Time for some pay back after last year  . Shut up the Freo fans on dockerland who reckon they are going to win by 60-100 points and are calling the Tiges a basketcase of a club . You got to love that coming from supporters of a club that's been the comp's whipping boy since they came in 11 years ago except for one home final in which they got thumped anyway .

Bring it on! 

[DallasCrane]

Obviously I agree with the tone of what Terry is saying....

But why is the game even at the MCG. You look at those crowds and wonder why it isn't at the Spencer St Football Room. At least you can make it sound like there's a little bit of atmosphere or hostility with only 25,000 people in there. You get 25 thou at the G and it sounds like a Sunday picnic.

[mightytiges]

I would say we would get a bigger crowd at the 'G than we would if it was at Docklands. After going to the Richmond v Port game in 2003 when only 15,000 turned, a small crowd at the Dome has no atmosphere whatsoever. That would've been the quietest footy match I've ever been to .

Don't forget the 'G is our home ground  .