Eade tipped for Frawley's job
By Stephen Rielly
June 29, 2004
Rodney Eade is the man most likely to succeed Danny Frawley as senior coach of Richmond, after Frawley announced yesterday he would step down at the end of the season.
Eade is the foremost of three candidates with the experience the Tigers want in their next coach.
It is believed the subcommittee formed to select Frawley's successor has not discounted the prospect of hiring a first-up coach but has established that it is unlikely to do so.
Eade, the former Sydney coach who took the Swans to a grand final in 1996, and Terry Wallace, the ex-Western Bulldog coach who took his team to successive preliminary finals in 1997 and 1998, both offer the requisite experience and are atop Richmond's list of potential replacements for Frawley.
Eade worked with Richmond football director Greg Miller at Arden Street in the early 1990s, Eade as an assistant to Denis Pagan and Miller as chief executive of the Kangaroos.
Gary Ayres, who left Adelaide last week, also has a decade of coaching and a grand final appearance with Geelong in 1995 to recommend him, but would be harder to sell to fans than Eade or Wallace.
Wallace last night said the hunger was still there. "There's something in there that still wants to be a part of it, but in saying that, it has to be the right job," Wallace said on Fox Footy.
The scope of Richmond's search has been narrowed by a number of constraints that the coaching subcommittee of Miller, president Clinton Casey and four-time premiership coach David Parkin will be bound by.
Miller said yesterday: "We've only met on process and a criteria but we've not actually talked about coaches." First among them is the acknowledgement that the club is not in immediate premiership contention and has to rejuvenate its list, a process that will take several seasons at least.
Richmond captain Wayne Campbell said as much yesterday when he discounted the possibility of being a part of a Richmond premiership side.
Whoever replaces Frawley must be prepared to endure one or more losing seasons. It is understood members of the subcommittee believe that in those circumstances, an experienced coach will be better equipped to withstand the scrutiny and criticism of the years of rebuilding.
This would seem to count against the assistant coaches-in-waiting such as Mark Harvey, Gary O'Donnell and Frawley's lieutenant, Darren Crocker.
Moreover, the experience of hiring a first-up coach in Frawley, for all that he contributed and will leave behind, did not work. Frawley accepted yesterday that by learning on the job, he made mistakes that ultimately led to his downfall.
The Tigers also recognise they do not have the money to woo Michael Malthouse, Kevin Sheedy, Leigh Matthews or Pagan, even if any of them wanted to take on the challenge.
The Tigers are going to lose more than $2 million on the season and the marquee coaches command as much as $800,000 a season and don't come alone but with entourages.
Sheedy, the choice of Richmond romantics, has not contemplated leaving Essendon this time and said as much again yesterday. It is believed that after Frawley's press conference late yesterday, Miller contacted Sheedy's advisers to be told that the Bombers' coach has agreed to a new three-year deal.
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