Tigers must communicate better: Wallace
May 29, 2007 - 7:19PM | The Age
Richmond coach Terry Wallace is annoyed his message did not get through in the Tigers' latest AFL loss.
Wallace was frustrated his players could not "spread the word" better during the dying stages of last Saturday night's loss to Essendon, the Tigers' ninth straight defeat.
With his side narrowly in front, Wallace told his interchange players to tell their teammates how much time was left and to slow down play.
Trouble was, the Tigers continued playing at breakneck speed, gave the ball away and lost by eight points.
"You would hope that at a professional level the guys would be better than that, we'd know and understand exactly what we needed to do in that circumstance," Wallace said.
"There's only three minutes to go and you're still a couple of goals in front, you can take that momentum away from (an opposing) side just by gaining possession of the ball.
"We clearly had the ball and gave it back."
Wallace said the Tigers had to get better at communicating in close games.
"We certainly had blokes in our side who knew how long there was to go, but that word didn't spread within the group well enough," he said.
"That's part of a learning process as well.
"We had told a couple of our interchange players who were coming on - I specifically spoke to them to (and said) how long there was and what we needed to do - and they needed to get that word, along with runners, out.
"That word needed to be right through the group and it should have been and it wasn't."
In six of Richmond's nine defeats they have either led or been level in the final quarter.
Wallace said there was no problems with morale at Tigerland, as the spirit was good despite the winless start and heartbreaking loss to the Bombers.
Richmond will be buoyed this week by the return of forward Nathan Brown, who will play his first match of the season, albeit for the VFL reserves.
Brown has not played because of soreness in the leg he broke two years ago.
Midfielder Dean Polo should return from a dislocated shoulder to play the Lions.
Onballer Richard Tambling should also be available despite taking a heavy hit against Essendon.
http://news.realfooty.com.au/tigers-must-communicate-better-wallace/20070929-fgx.html
