Critics stick lance into Tigers
By Mick Malthouse
Collingwwood coach
May 11, 2007
I AM not here to defend Terry Wallace. The Richmond coach has been around long enough to know that when you lose games and cop a dreadful flogging, the knives come out.
Terry's got a thick skin and enough self-confidence and experience to get through this tough period. So has his football manager Greg Miller, who has been around the traps for many years.
What's uncalled for is the criticism of Richmond's recruitment, most of which has focused on the selection of Richard Tambling in the 2004 national draft.
This sort of criticism is both uneducated and extremely unfair, especially on young Tambling.
First some history.
In 2004, the Tigers chose Brett Deledio with their first pick, then Hawthorn selected Jarryd Roughead. The Western Bulldogs took Ryan Griffin with their third pick, then the Tigers opted for Tambling. The Hawks scooped up Lance Franklin at No.5.
Now some of us still remember how many wise footy people were astonished that Tambling had been available at No.4. The Tigers were thought to have pulled off a coup, and I still don't think Tambling has done anything wrong in the early stages of his AFL career.
At 20, he's still young and like most indigenous boys brought down from the Northern Territory will take some time to settle. It's less than a fortnight since Tambling kicked four goals in a quarter against West Coast, so the kid can play. I think sensible people at Richmond would be happy with his progress.
But when those knives come out, common sense rarely prevails. People are starting to compare Tambling to Franklin, who has had a terrific start to 2007, and putting one and one together to make three. We are meant to think Richmond has "failed" because it took Tambling when it might have had Franklin.
By that logic, I guess the Hawks were at fault, too, for choosing Roughead before Franklin. And while Griffin is a terrific player, perhaps the so-called experts might also judge the Dogs had erred by snubbing Lance.
This is a rubbish argument, based entirely on hindsight.
Let me say I'm delighted Franklin is doing so well for the Hawks. I still remember being criticised for including Lance in my All-Australian team last year. Some people thought I was deluded. If this season stopped at round six he would be one of the first picked.
But how Lance Franklin performs has no relevance to Richmond's recruiting prowess. The draft process is one giant gamble. Every club can compile evidence to show how clever and prescient it has been by spotting players others have rejected.
At the same time, every club can produce a list of potential champions it missed in the annual lottery.
Last week, Collingwood played Adelaide and as part of my weekly ritual I went through the pedigree of every player in the opposition side. By my estimation, the Crows fielded seven ex-rookies and we had five.
That's a dozen players who in the early stage of their careers were not deemed good enough to make the national draft.
When Collingwood plays Carlton tomorrow, we will be led by Ben Johnson, filling in for injured captain Nathan Buckley and deputy James Clement. Ben came to the Magpies as draft pick 63, which means all clubs, including ours, overlooked him several times. Tarkyn Lockyer, probably our best player this year, came up from the rookies list.
You occasionally hear similar criticism of Hawthorn and St Kilda for "missing" Chris Judd in 2001. Now Judd is shaping as one of the all-time greats, but Luke Hodge and Luke Ball are both terrific players, making an impact at the elite level. Ball is a captain, Hodge a future skipper. Did the Hawks and Saints make a mistake in 2001? Of course not.
I could pretend to be some sort of genius at the Eagles where we grabbed Brett Heady at 92 and Dean Kemp at 117 in 1989. Or you could paint me and every other person as a dunce for missing James Hird, who went to Essendon at 79 the next year. It's only a few years since Aaron Davey slipped into Melbourne via the backdoor.
You need daring and luck under the draft system and it's nigh impossible to know how a raw teenager will take to the pressures of AFL. Even the smartest people in the recruiting game are making educated guesses. We should leave Tambling to get on with his promising career and lay off Wallace for so-called recruiting errors.
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