Lyon and Walls on Wallace

[one-eyed]

Buy, buy, buy: captain Kane Johnson talks to his troops after the Tigers' win on Sunday, while Terry Wallace looks on.
Picture: George Salpigtidis

I'm sold on Plough
04 July 2006   Herald-Sun
Gary Lyon

FOR some reason it has become almost an insult to be described as an excellent salesman.

Terry Wallace is an A-grade salesman, and Richmond, and its supporters, should be thankful.

He sells the club in the most positive light, having been the trailblazer for other coaches in terms of their openness and accessibility to the media.

That Wallace is an innovator should be applauded. I have no doubt he gets under the skin of some of the more traditional coaches in the game, but bad luck.

How many coaches would admit to monitoring media commentators at Richmond games, and actually using their comments and ideas if he deems them appropriate?

People talk about ego, but there are not many coaches I know that would fess up to that. Wallace has an open mind, is his own man and will do what he thinks is best for his club.

The fact that he spent considerable time in the media between coaching stints has given him an innate understanding of how to use it to his advantage.

``Tuesdays with Terry'' is his weekly forum to sit down with the press and discuss footy issues, not necessarily restricted to the Tigers.

Again, there is some sniggering behind his back, and his Harlem Globetrotter entrance after Kevin Sheedy's comments earlier this year that the Tigers were playing basketball may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but it is all part of the hard sell.

The fact he chooses to wear the hat of coach, salesman and, occasionally, showman, bucks the trend of what has been the ideal of how a senior coach should present himself.

But where Wallace earns his respect is in his ability to sell his football vision to his players.

As in all transactions, the sale is not complete until the buyer pays. And the Richmond boys have been buying what Wallace has been selling in a big way.

This was never better demonstrated than their upset win over Adelaide, their win over the Cats at Skilled Stadium and then again on Sunday against the highly rated Magpies.

Wallace has an exceptional record in getting his teams up to win games when it just doesn't seem possible. He inflicted Essendon's only loss for 2000 when he was at the helm of the Dogs, using a similarly unconventional game plan to the one he used against the Crows.

The fact he is able to tactically manufacture these amazing results is one thing. But for his players to execute a style of game that is foreign to them is to fully understand his superb salesmanship.

From all reports, the Tigers' loss to Hawthorn two weeks ago stung the Richmond coach more than most.

Unfortunately for Wallace, he can't go out and physically do anything about it. But he does seem to be able to impose the sense of desperation and need for redemption on his players as well as anyone.

His planning for Collingwood was meticulous and spot on. One tall forward, 25m out from goal, surrounded by committed hungry crumbers, and an instruction to his ball winners to barrel it in, long and quick.

Goals were scored from front-and-square crumbs, as well as the ball clearing the pack and skidding towards an open goal. It was uncomplicated, but effective, and it was carried out by 22 players with a far greater resolve than their opponents.

How far the Tigers can go this year is hard to gauge. The absence of Mark Coughlan, and now Chris Newman, makes life difficult. But it is another hurdle that Wallace will be plotting to overcome.

However he decides to do that will make for an entertaining run home to the finals.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19670747%255E20121,00.html

[one-eyed]

Born-again and better for it
Robert Walls
The Age
July 4, 2006

Afl football is so much the better for having two of the game's most creative thinkers back doing what they do best. Yes, Rodney Eade and Terry Wallace, coaching needs you.

In only their second year with their new clubs, they have their players, fans and sponsors genuinely excited about what might be.

There are strong parallels between the two. As players, they were premiership teammates in the Hawks' glory days. Wallace forged his reputation and nickname "Plough" by the grinding, relentless way he played as an under-the-packs centreman. Eade played out on the wing, where his nous and quick feet bedazzled the opposition.

Both are strong-willed. They left the Hawks when they felt the club they had served so long no longer appreciated them. Eade went to the Brisbane Bears, Wallace briefly to Richmond and then Footscray. Both went to battling clubs and I'm sure that's where the seeds would have been sown for their coaching careers. They would have realised once they had left the Hawks' nest just how good the programs and values were at Hawthorn, now that they could compare them with what was happening elsewhere.

After experiencing success in their initial coaching stints, both fell out with their clubs. Their strong-willed personalities came to the fore. Eade left Sydney and Wallace the Bulldogs, both feeling as though their efforts hadn't been respected and appreciated enough by the powers that be. Were they right? Probably. But they both would have had a valuable lesson reinforced: that there is little time for sentiment in football.

So at the end of the 2002 season, neither had a job. And for the next two years, they didn't coach. It was the making of them. It gave them time to pause and reflect. They would have realised just how big an industry AFL football is, and that senior coaching positions are prized and privileged appointments. Both knew they could coach very well, but they would have realised that working harmoniously with chairmen, chief executives, boards and sponsors was just as important in today's game. Having two years off also gave them the chance to digest the way the game was heading. They had time to observe, question and formulate their own plans on an ever-changing game.

And that is something at-the-coalface coaches have little time for, as the next training session, team meeting and game consume their thinking.

Wallace and Eade were sorely missed in 2003-04 but they have come back to the coaching ranks rejuvenated. Listen to them closely and they will tell us something new about the game we love. How refreshing. They have boldness to experiment and change. Plenty of today's current coaches have never had an original idea. They just rehash the quotes they remember from the books they have read.

Because of their originality, they excite their players. You can bet that Bulldog veterans Chris Grant and Scott West can't wait to get to the next team meeting because there's very chance Eade will hit them with a football thought they hadn't heard before.

And Wallace at Tigerland would have the same effect on Kane Johnson, Matthew Richardson and Darren Gaspar.

Both are superb salesmen. You need only look at Sunday's results for proof of that. Against overwhelming odds, their teams triumphed. The depleted Bulldogs took on the mighty Eagles at Subiaco and became the first Victorian team to beat them there in four years. At the MCG, in front of 63,000 predominantly Magpie fans, Wallace masterminded a thumping of the highly fancied Collingwood. The resolve of the Tigers was magnificent. Wallace had his charges inspired to risk life and limb for each other.

Rarely do coaches have their players in the palms of their hands. These two do. Confident coaches send out confident players.

And you can forget about the tail wagging the dog in teams coached by Eade and Wallace. They are the boss. Each player knows his role and if he doesn't apply himself as expected, he will be replaced by someone who will. Players may not like that but they respect it, and they eventually realise that the team comes first.

For the good of the game, it is hoped that they become premiership coaches, as the game needs more men of flair and dare.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/07/03/1151778869029.html