By Michael Gleeson
The Age
May 13, 2006
Richmond will play its third game of the year at Telstra Dome — yet will be aiming for its first win there. It has struggled at the venue that tends to favour quicker sides because Wallace admits the team he inherited lacked speed.
"Since I have been involved at the club we have a fantastic record at the 'G and it's something we are very proud of, but we have to be a team that can play at any stadium in any environment because that is the nature of the national competition," he said.
"I think this club was probably a little slow in the past and that has impacted on our ability to play at Telstra Dome over probably four or five years. I think we are getting quicker every week that we go out with the side.
"The way that we are selecting our side, I think we are getting more attuned to playing on the bigger grounds and the faster surfaces so it shouldn't be an issue for us."
Wallace said the Tigers were slowly being crafted into the mould of a side that better reflected his style of play.
"When you arrive at the club at any stage you inherit what you have got, then you start to try to mould it and manipulate it and make decisions from a recruiting perspective to guide it in the direction you want it to go … but obviously I think anyone will say it takes years to get the side to where you want it to be."
To that end, the Tigers are pushing the development of players such as Brent Hartigan, running off a half-back flank, and Andrew Raines and Mark Coughlan through the midfield, and even Patrick Bowden as a taller adaptable type of flanker.
"Hartigan is exactly the type of player I was trying to develop when I was at the Bulldogs … if you go to Adelaide you have players like Johncock and McLeod running off the back end of the square. I think the Bulldogs, when they were doing so much damage early in the season it was off the back of players like Gilbee and McMahon and that is the type of player that Hartigan is," Wallace said.
He said while Hartigan and Coughlan were at the club before Wallace arrived he had watched both players and seen their potential.
"They are the modern style of player," Wallace said.
Last year's premiers should provide a sound measuring stick for the Tigers today.
"They have 40 to 50 games more per player on average than what we have so that is two to three seasons more experience over the 22 players and I think they are 150 finals games up on us so they have a lot more experience running out for them," Wallace said.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/12/1146940736570.html
