Apologetic Tigers to swing AFL axe
The Age
May 8, 2007 - 4:34PM
Richmond will make as many as six changes for Saturday's AFL match against Port Adelaide as the club responds to the worst loss in their history.
Tigers coach Terry Wallace, captain Kane Johnson, president Gary March and football director Greg Miller fronted a huge media pack on Tuesday to face questioning over Sunday's 157-point belting at the hands of Geelong.
Wallace said it was an unacceptable performance and the selection axe would be swung hard.
"You can't accept efforts that are not up to standard," Wallace said.
"Unfortunately some people didn't play as well as what they would have liked to, they'll pay the price for that and others will come in."
He said as many as six changes were likely, with at least two to be forced by injury, with ruckman Troy Simmonds (ankle) and half-forward Richard Tambling (shoulder) certain to miss.
Key forward Jay Schulz (corked thigh) is also in doubt.
But Wallace said long-term his young squad would not be harmed by the huge loss and it would not sway the club from their rebuilding strategy.
He said Richmond's list had been described by some as a "car wreck" when he took over the coaching job ahead of the 2005 season and it was still being fixed.
"It can take a period of time, especially when you started with an ageing list to develop that and turn it around," Wallace said.
"We had I think four players on the weekend that had played 100-plus games, that's fairly inexperienced.
"It's still no excuse for the manner in which we played and the manner in which we lost the game, but certainly we were very, very young."
March said he had no doubt Wallace was the right man for the coaching job and would certainly stay for the remaining two-and-a-half years of his five-year contract.
"All we can say to our supporters is we've got to go through a process and see it through," March said.
"I don't think in the past we went through a process and saw it through in its entirety.
"That's what we've got to do this time is see the process through.
"We've seen it through off-field, we've now got to see it through on-field, you can't chop and change just because things don't go right halfway through a plan.
"Maybe some mistakes this football club made in the past was chopping and changing halfway through a plan ... we've got to stick with it and be solid with it.
"If we do I've got no doubt we'll get the outcome that Richmond supporters desire."
Johnson admitted he and many of his team-mates were down on form and apologised to supporters for Sunday's pathetic showing.
"We're sorry for the performance the other night, it was inexcusable and we're embarrassed about it," Johnson said.
"We just want to make sure that we do everything we can to turn it around in the next few weeks and show everyone that we are serious about where we're going."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/Apologetic-Tigers-to-swing-AFL-axe/2007/05/08/1178390292150.html
