It's young talent time at Punt Rd
Greg Denham
The Australian
March 11, 2006
TERRY WALLACE was given five years to turn around the struggling Tigers. In his first year he surprised everyone by winning 10 games, just one less than Richmond won in its previous two seasons.
And had its best player Nathan Brown stood up all year, it could have confounded most by playing in the finals.
Wallace faced a huge task in his first coaching stint for more than two years as Richmond was a deteriorating club in Danny Frawley's final three years as coach.
Since a preliminary final appearance in 2001, it had won just 18 of 66 games. The Tigers had won just five of their past 36 matches and Wallace inherited a list on a losing sequence of 14.
Wallace started with a clean-out. Out went Justin Blumfield, Tim Fleming, Simon Fletcher, Adam Houlihan, Duncan Kellaway, Ben Marsh, Bill Nichols, Matthew Rogers, Luke Weller, and Ty Zantuck. Brad Ottens and Aaron Fiora were traded.
He then snared five of the first 20 teenagers in the 2004 national draft, Brett Deledio, Richard Tambling, Danny Meyer, Adam Pattison and Dean Polo.
With a fresh list, Richmond, despite a 62-point thrashing by Geelong in the opening round, won seven of its first nine games to be a clear third on the ladder.
But then disaster struck.
The Tigers' season was as good as over when Brown fractured his right leg in two places against Melbourne in round 10. Without him, they lost 10 of their remaining 13 games.
After 14 straight weeks inside the top eight - a rarity at Punt Road in recent times - they finally slipped out after round 17. Richmond had more injury concerns late in the season and won only one of its last seven games.
The Tigers have a much tougher early draw this season - starting with the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, West Coast and Brisbane.
Richmond has turned the corner under Wallace, who was true to his word in making it a more attacking club. Its average score of 92 points was a huge improvement on the previous season.
Any improvement this season will largely come from its mid-range players such as Chris Newman, Jay Schulz, Richard Tambling, Andrew Raines and Adam Pattison, while Mark Coughlan has had his best pre-season preparation since his 2003 best-and-fairest year.
Newman is expected to be upgraded to an onball role, Schulz will be given the opportunity to hold down centre half-back, Raines will play across half-back, Pattison will be tried as a key forward and Tambling, who has built himself up since an injury restricted first season, will play as a forward-midfielder.
As well, the diminutive David Rodan returns after missing last season with a knee injury.
Apart from the retirement of former captain Wayne Campbell, the Tigers have a very similar list to Wallace's initial season.
He will again be looking for a good year from the experienced Matthew Richardson, who has kicked 65 goals in successive seasons, and Joel Bowden, who has won the club's best-and-fairest award in successive years. Defender Darren Gaspar also improved noticeably in 2005.
Shane Tuck was a real find and AFL Rising Star winner Brett Deledio is set to develop into one of the competition's elite players.
Wallace also has the option of going tall up forward, with Greg Stafford, Troy Simmonds, Ray Hall, and Pattison all in line for support roles. The Tigers are pretty much at full strength, with the exception of tagger Mark Chaffey, who had a restricted pre-season because of osteitis pubis, but he won't be too far away.
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