Sporting life
By Geoff McClure
February 27, 2006
One out of the box COACHES' accessibility to the media on match day, once unheard of, has got to the point where many of them are happy to chat live not just before a game but during the breaks. But the AFL television evolution took one giant step forward on Saturday when Richmond coach Terry Wallace agreed to be interviewed live during the course of his team's NAB Cup opener against Hawthorn. And Channel Ten's head of football David Barham believes the exercise was so successful and not overly intrusive on Wallace's match-day operation that it may encourage him or any of the other AFL coaches to allow it to happen in a home-and-away match. "We were thrilled with how it went and we're very grateful to Terry for allowing us to do it," Barham said yesterday. Ten simply set up a connection in the Tiger coach's box and made contact with him about 10 seconds before the chats, one in each quarter, the minute-or-so interviews meaning each cross took less than 90 seconds of his time, which was provided free of charge.
We're from where? RICHMOND'S loss to Hawthorn in its pre-season opener means we are yet to hear the Tiger theme song in 2006, right? Wrong! Yep, a few red faces at Telstra Dome on Saturday when a rendition of We're from Tigerland broke out over the loud speakers instead of the Hawthorn theme song after the Hawks' 10-point win. Fortunately, the slip-up was rectified before the song had gone too far, a stadium spokesman telling us yesterday it was simply a matter of a staffer pressing the wrong button. And no, he was not a Tiger supporter.
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