Tigers consider options
By Karen Lyon
realfooty.theage.com.au
June 30, 2004
The Richmond subcommittee formed to find Danny Frawley's replacement is expected to meet at the end of the week, with prospective candidates for the coaching position to be interviewed in a fortnight.
The committee has focused on candidates with recent coaching experience such as Rodney Eade, Terry Wallace, Gary Ayres, Robert Shaw and Tony Shaw.
But it also has broadened its search to include former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon and Essendon assistant coach Mark Harvey.
It is believed Lyon was approached by committee member David Parkin on Monday afternoon and sounded out about the position but he told Parkin he would prefer to concentrate on his media career in the short term.
Of the left-field possibilities, former Adelaide premiership ruckman Shaun Rehn, who now coaches in the SANFL, is thought to be held in high regard by Parkin.
But Richmond's director of football Greg Miller - one of the three members of the subcommittee along with Parkin and Tigers president Clinton Casey - said yesterday the club would try to hold off any announcement on a new coach until the end of the season out of respect for Frawley.
"You wouldn't like to announce that coach while Danny is coaching in the last nine weeks. I don't think that would be a good position to be in (but) you might be forced into that situation, given the scenarios," he said.
The complication for the Tigers is a possible extraordinary meeting in which the current board could be challenged and what role an interim board would have in appointing a new coach.
Yesterday, Miller moved to clarify the club's position on seeking an experienced coach.
Eade, the former Sydney coach, appears to be the frontrunner, ahead of Wallace and Ayres.
"We know who is in the marketplace out there and we will address each one that we think is suitable," Miller said.
Former Tigers captain Matthew Knights said yesterday that the best two candidates for the Tigers' coaching job were Eade and Wallace.
He said the former coaches had been out of coaching for a while and were now "hungry for success".
Knights, who now coaches the Port Adelaide Magpies, also told SEN radio that he believed Casey should resign from his position as president of Richmond, saying if he was "a loyal Tiger, he must move on".
Despite a desire for an experienced coach, Miller did not rule out Kevin Sheedy's assistant at Essendon, Harvey.
"I think a guy like Mark Harvey does fit into the mould," Miller said.
"I am not sure how long he has been in the system at the Bombers for, but it has been quite a while. He has been at the coalface, not totally in charge but he certainly has had a great deal of experience and I would not necessarily rule him out."
Miller also rejected any suggestion the club would completely overhaul its coaching staff, including all assistants next year.
"The suggestion that there is going to be a total clean-out in not correct. What we need to do is wait for the coach's appointment. He will assess each of the staff members, obviously with some of the knowledge that I have, and will make decisions on who is going to be part of his team.
"I am very keen to push for stability at Richmond and try and (get) everyone to appreciate what it takes to be successful. You need a group of people, and I am unashamedly following the Collingwood model.
"You have got a president and the CEO and even a welfare officer and the football manager, a group of people who have committed to each other and are in for the long haul and I think it needs that and that is one of the key ingredients for getting success on the field," Miller said.
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