Terry's Tiger blueprint
1:23:17 PM Thu 12 January, 2006
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to afl.com.au
Terry Wallace is not big on making lofty predictions before a season starts, but what he's certain of right now is that the Tigers are building something special down at Punt Road and it's going to be an exciting ride.
"My job is not to judge or predict where we're going to finish or what we're going to do (in a season) - it's to prepare a footy side to the best of our abilities and get ourselves mentally aligned to our own aims and then go after them," Wallace says.
"We've got a young squad that's getting younger - we've specifically gone down that path over the last few drafts - they'll take some time, but I think these should be exciting times if you're a Richmond supporter.
"We're starting to develop some really good young players that are going to be around the footy club for 10 or 12 years and that should be exciting to watch. Where that takes us in the first or second 12 months - who knows?"
Wallace doesn't subscribe to the prevailing school of thought in the AFL that has clubs progressing through a cycle that gives them 'windows of opportunity' to win a premiership in a given timeframe.
"How far out would Sydney have known that they were going to win last year's flag?," he asks, backing up his point.
"They mightn't have known six weeks out, let alone three years out. It's very, very difficult to be looking that far ahead."
Wallace, instead, prefers a "Field of Dreams" approach - if you build it, it will come - that sees him laying down solid foundations that will allow the club to be a premiership threat on an ongoing basis.
With so many factors at play in the modern AFL, Wallace feels it's fanciful to try to forecast when a premiership cup will land in the trophy cabinet and prefers to quietly build his team and leave the crystal-ball gazing to others.
"You need to have short, medium and long-term goals as in what you're trying to develop within your side to gain yourself a strong team, a strong environment and a strong club. But if you're saying you're going to win one at this point in time or you're going to be top four at this point in time - it's very difficult to say - it ebbs and flows," he says.
"Adelaide probably didn't think they were going to finish where they did last year - was that in their predictions? Probably not. There were probably other clubs that had predictions of finishing a lot higher that finished lower - it depends on your run at times as well.
"What we're about is trying to get a group of guys together that can sustain success for the club over a long period of time."
But surely he has some loose goals in mind as the Tigers prepare to embark on their 2006 campaign?
"I think every side in a competition where half the teams make the finals ought to be aiming for the finals - that's just where you ought to be," he says.
"We were only a game out last year, so that obviously is the next step in the progression, but the Bulldogs will be doing exactly the same and were a little bit closer than what we were, Fremantle will be doing exactly the same as well.
"I don't see too many teams in the eight that'll be giving up their spots too quickly, then you've got the likes of Collingwood that have had a shocking run with injuries, but have been up and around the mark for a few years prior to that - they would think they'd be there as well - I think every side aims for finals."
And while Wallace is not prepared to put a timeframe on success in Tigerland, he does have a firm idea of what he'd like to see happen and, indeed, what must happen if finals are to become a reality, in 2006.
"I'm hoping to see further development from some of the blokes that have been in our system for two or three years, both body-wise and with a little more maturity," he says.
"But I think our real strength area or improvement area won't necessarily come from those first, second or third-year players, I think it'll come from our mid-stream players. Guys like Ray Hall, Jay Schulz has now been in the system for five years, Troy Simmonds, those sorts of guys.
"I see that as more where your improvement ought to come from. Guys like Newman and Hyde to me are where your natural improvement comes from.
"I don't think you get a lot of improvement from your top end - you'd hope they can maintain that level, but it's that next tier of guys that you need to step up if you're going to improve."
After being faced with a huge mountain to climb when he arrived at the club, Wallace is free of peripheral concerns this time around and is able to concentrate solely on fine-tuning his players.
"The first year there was so much to do, whether it be embracing the culture of the club or the different groups within the club - it was all-encompassing last year," he recalls.
"Making sure that certain things around the footy club were in the right place - there were things that weren't the way that I would have liked to have seen them - so there was a heck of a lot to do.
"This summer and in particular from now until we get into NAB Cup, I'm pleased that I'm going to have a lot more time just with the playing group and that's really important that that's the case. It was an all-encompassing job last year, but now it needs to a lot more specific within the group."
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