We're not going to panic - Wallace

[one-eyed]

Wallace: We're not going to panic
03 April 2006   Herald Sun
Damian Barrett

FEWER than 15 hours after their mauling by the Bulldogs, Richmond coach Terry Wallace forced players to relive the debacle on DVD in a bid to bolster their psyche before playing St Kilda on Friday.

Wallace brought forward to Saturday the team's debrief in the belief the experience had to be immediately addressed in order to stem more psychological damage.

The match review had been scheduled for today.

The 115-point loss to the Bulldogs left the football world convinced the Tigers would be 0-4, with St Kilda (Telstra Dome), West Coast (Subiaco) and Brisbane (Gabba) their next three opponents.

But Wallace said no one at his club was considering the worst.

"The last thing we are going to be doing is panic," Wallace said last night.

After match rehabilitation commitments on Saturday, players were ordered to sit through the Bulldogs match. "Obviously the magnitude of the loss and people stewing over it, we decided it was best we deal with it yesterday," Wallace said.

"We sat through most of the second half and some of the first half, where we had no issue as we were competitive.

"The second half was non-competitive. What I said to the players was I didn't want to sit there with a big stick and for it to be me standing up the front like a school teacher and berating them.

"What I wanted it to be was an open forum, for blokes to put up their own hands and say, `Gee, my effort wasn't good there' and for blokes to say to other blokes, `Your effort there wasn't good enough'.

"It was an open forum and discussion about how we went about it and it finished off at lunch time yesterday.

"It wasn't an emergency meeting by any stretch, they were coming in anyway. But doing what we did allowed us to focus on St Kilda from Monday morning."

Wallace wouldn't divulge plans to drag Richmond out of the disastrous start to 2006.

He refrained from responding to Bulldog Ryan Griffen's observations that Tiger players "gave up" and were "arguing between each other".

The Tigers last year turned around a 62-point loss to Geelong in Round 1 by winning seven of the next eight games. "I'm not prepared to go in to that (how to get them out of the disastrous start)," he said.

"We have done our discussions internally and that is where they need to remain.

"You only have to go back 12 months to know it can change pretty quickly. That's not saying it will, but it certainly can.

"Last year I got quoted as saying (after Round 1) we should have spent all our time down the pub. I don't know where we should have been this time around."

Wallace isn't daunted by coming opponents.

"Absolutely not, you play every side in the competition, we just happen to play a couple of them (good sides) straight off the bat," he said.

"You have to play them some time. I don't think it really matters whether they are spread three weeks apart or three together."

Part of his recovery program was to try to convince everyone the hard work of the pre-season would not be wasted by the events of last Friday.

"We were devastated by our performance because the one thing that gets lost when you have a performance like that is how much work everyone has put in," he said.

"The assistant coaches, playing group, everyone, and how much we did over six months.

"Everyone sees that and says, `Gee, you might as well have done nothing, it couldn't have been worse'."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,18688965%255E20322,00.html

[Tiger Spirit]

TW and others probably wouldn’t have experienced anything like what often happens at RFC after such a game.  It’s not really the sort of thing that people get trained in when they get to an AFL club.

The thing for him, and others, is not to get caught up in the emotion of it all.

All they have to do is just stick to their guns and don’t let their judgement be clouded by all the doom and gloom garbage that generally comes with a Richmond loss.  It’s Round 1 of 22 and we all know our list needs lots of work, so why the shock horror?

[Moi]

Does "we're not going to panic" translate to "there will be no changes" this week.
Has to be.

[Tiger Spirit]

Hopefully it means that they don’t make decisions purely as a response to all the hullabaloo that tends to go on right about now.

That’s the mistake others have made in the past, just because they let themselves be dictated to by everything else going on around them, rather than trusting their own judgement.

[Moi]

Definitely have to be strong i agree, and not make hasty judgments based on what's in the paper, on talkback or on these boards.

I just want them to make decisions based on the game last week - there's a lot for them to ponder on that, let alone what we're saying.

[blx]

Does "we're not going to panic" translate to "there will be no changes" this week.
Has to be.

on the other hand, play the exact same team and give them a chance to redeem themselves but let them know that anyone who doesnt get out there on friday and show some character then its make way for someone else who wants to the week after.

[Moi]

The only argument for no change is that we had so many going for a free ride, be hard to pick one from the next.
Yep, probably after St Kilda will give us an idea who listened to Wallace this week and who is prepared to make reparation for last Friday.

[mightytiges]

Does "we're not going to panic" translate to "there will be no changes" this week.
Has to be.

I think you're right Moi. Wallace gave them to round 8 last year didn't he after the Geelong loss.

[1980]

TW and others probably wouldn’t have experienced anything like what often happens at RFC after such a game.  It’s not really the sort of thing that people get trained in when they get to an AFL club.

The thing for him, and others, is not to get caught up in the emotion of it all.

All they have to do is just stick to their guns and don’t let their judgement be clouded by all the doom and gloom garbage that generally comes with a Richmond loss.  It’s Round 1 of 22 and we all know our list needs lots of work, so why the shock horror?

The shock and horror is because we are supposed to be competitive against good teams. Not smashed by them.

People dont get trained in this at other AFL clubs because their supporters havent put up with it for 24 years.

Its not Round 1 with 22 games to go. Its a demonstration of how far the Dogs have come with Eade and how far back we are compared to them. You may recall, that both coaching appointments were made in the same year, and the clubs could not be any further apart

[mightytiges]

The dogs list was and is at least 3-5 years ahead of ours. They still lack talls due to injuries but they have more quality midfield depth than arguably anyone else in the League. At least 14 players if not more who are hitting or in their prime. I'm not excusing Friday night because we simply rolled over but Wallace will need the whole 5 years of his contract just to get our playing list back into some balance when our teens reach their early 20s like the doggies have now.  Eade's job is alot easier than Wallace's.

[1980]

The dogs list was and is at least 3-5 years ahead of ours. They still lack talls due to injuries but they have more quality midfield depth than arguably anyone else in the League. At least 14 players if not more who are hitting or in their prime. I'm not excusing Friday night because we simply rolled over but Wallace will need the whole 5 years of his contract just to get our playing list back into some balance when our teens reach their early 20s like the doggies have now.  Eade's job is alot easier than Wallace's.

Sorry to disagree with you MT, but they were a club in disarray when Rohde got the ars. No way they were 5 years ahead of us, and they havent recruited the likes of Deledio since. Eade's job will never be easier because they dont have the resources we have, which is why we get the likes of Wallace and Browny to begin with.

It may very well be as simple as Eade proving to be a better coach than Wallace.

[Ox]

LMAO.

Panic comes from fear and they were full of it so how can they not panic?

That's what they do best.

Pack of Panicing poonces

[harry bosch]

The dogs list was and is at least 3-5 years ahead of ours. They still lack talls due to injuries but they have more quality midfield depth than arguably anyone else in the League. At least 14 players if not more who are hitting or in their prime. I'm not excusing Friday night because we simply rolled over but Wallace will need the whole 5 years of his contract just to get our playing list back into some balance when our teens reach their early 20s like the doggies have now.  Eade's job is alot easier than Wallace's.

Sorry to disagree with you MT, but they were a club in disarray when Rohde got the ars. No way they were 5 years ahead of us, and they havent recruited the likes of Deledio since. Eade's job will never be easier because they dont have the resources we have, which is why we get the likes of Wallace and Browny to begin with.

It may very well be as simple as Eade proving to be a better coach than Wallace.

Despite struggling under rhode they had a far stronger list than us at the end of 2004 so Eade had it a lot easier than Wallace
Eade took over a list down on confidence but young , full of talent and ready to peak..
Wallace took over a list down on confidence , old and lacking talent..

Eade may be a better coach than TW but you cannot really draw that conclusion given the clubs respective lists atm..

[bluey_21]

I reckon theres no need to panic, but the players are going to need a lesson in not giving up, and how to hit a target lol 

[letsgetiton!]

poo there  is no need to panic, its the first game.
all i want and expect now is when we play them again, i dont care if we win or lose, i just wanna see ryan griffens head decapitated! bloody hell he  is still in his footy nappy and he has that cheek. lets all pray he gets run over, or loses a leg somewhere, hate him with a passion already.
at least we have polo, polo at junior level always beat griffen and has his measure, lets hope come the the time, polo is there to blanket that south aussie fag!