It's not all yellow and bleak
16 June 2007 Herald-Sun
Mike Sheahan
IT WAS a sign of things to come: Kane Johnson won the ball at the opening bounce of the opening round ... and kicked it the wrong way.
The season was off to an embarrassing start for Richmond and its skipper, and has gone downhill from there.
At the halfway mark the Tigers are last on the ladder with two premiership points, the worst start to a season in their 100-year history.
They are one of only 27 teams in VFL-AFL history to fail to win a game in the first 11 rounds.
Most recently, it was Fremantle in 2001. Before that, Sydney in 1993. Freo dumped coach Damian Drum before the 2001 season ended, as Sydney had done with Gary Buckenara in '93.
Richmond isn't going to follow suit with Terry Wallace, yet there are plenty of long-suffering members and supporters who want him brought to account.
Commentators, talkback callers and letter writers, too. Wallace is a protected species, they say. Looked after by his media mates.
The major problem for Wallace is that his club won 10 and 11 games in his first two seasons, prompting high expectations this year.
The problem, though, for those agitating for change is, is that he is only halfway through a five-year agreement. Wallace and director of football Greg Miller are a partnership, and it's a formidable union.
Despite the bleak situation on the field there is unity off the field. Or, if there's not, it is being kept in-house.
The supporter base (membership almost 30,000) seems to be coping better than it usually does.
Injuries to Nathan Brown, Troy Simmonds and Mark Coughlan represent a credible alibi, and there have been creditable performances.
Richmond led by three goals or more in four of the losses: to Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon and Fremantle.
Who knows what might have followed had the Tigers finished off their work after leading Carlton by 30 points five minutes into the third quarter of the opening game?
There's got to be a reasonable measure of talent in the group if it can lead Sydney early in the last quarter and be on terms with West Coast and Adelaide late in the game.
The only sense of achievement so far this year, though, came in the draw against the Brisbane Lions, and that was hollow, given the wasted opportunities.
Bottom line, Richmond is winless and seems a long way off the pack.
How much weight do we attach to injuries when every club is afflicted to some degree?
Basically, injuries always cut deeper at the bottom teams where depth is a problem.
The Tigers are without their best ruckman (Simmonds), their most brilliant forward (Brown) and their premier midfielder (Coughlan).
Brown, you may remember, was up and running, ready to start the season on schedule when he developed a "hot spot" in the leg so badly broken in 2005.
He was named in the team to play Carlton in the first round yet still hasn't played a senior game.
For whatever it's worth, Richmond was 7-2 and third on the ladder in 2005 when Brown was hurt.
Coughlan, the 2003 best-and-fairest winner, has played 12 games in 18 months; Simmonds, one of the three best ruckman in the competition last year, has laboured through four appearances this year.
The query from the outside looking in is that the Tigers always look vulnerable, even when they seem healthy on the scoreboard.
They have a rare capacity to lose control of the ball when all in black and yellow are storming forward.
When their disposal skills fail them, the opposition makes them pay.
It doesn't seem there's the required level of endeavour when they are in defensive mode, either.
Richmond ranks 15th for tackles. By extension, their opposition has been able to make the Tigers pay dearly for turnovers.
On the credit side, Nathan Foley has been a star. Not just for Richmond, but in the competition.
He is fifth for hardball gets and seventh for contested possessions. Yet another ringing endorsement of the rookie list.
While the decision to give up No. 8 in the national draft for a bloke deemed by Freo as expendable was queried, and rightly so, the Graham Polak deal has been successful.
He turns 23 today, now has 84 games to his name, and is blossoming as a key defender at Punt Rd.
Chris Newman has made an admirable comeback after such a serious leg injury and there is much to like about Brett Deledio's work in the past month.
Throw in the continuing development of Andrew Raines and Richard Tambling, the consistency of Shane Tuck, the return of Will Thursfield, and glimpses from Cleve Hughes and there is a bit of gold in what has been a depressingly black picture.
The direction is set. Or should be.
Wallace was seen to imply on the eve of the season that Richmond's best might not be produced on a sustained basis until 2011.
He must stay faithful to the philosophy. The one saving grace about bottoming out is there is only one way to go.
He has to follow the Hawthorn model: taking the best of the biggest youngsters in the draft.
He must hold his nerve, despite the pressure.
Wallace is one of football's more intriguing figures. Has been since his playing days at Hawthorn, the days of leather pants and red sports cars. Everyone has an opinion on him; much of it cynical.
His ill-considered decision to walk out on the Bulldogs late in 2002 and subsequent links to the Swans hurt him badly, and, it seems, he still hasn't been forgiven.
By the Bulldogs collectively, and by much of the football public.
That's why the lust for blood needs perspective.
With Richmond floundering on the bottom of the ladder, he stands accused of stuffing up, of poor list management.
While it's true he was central to decisions to recruit Mark Graham from Hawthorn in the 2004 national draft and Kent Kingsley from Geelong in the pre-season draft this year, it simply is wrong to accuse the Tigers of assembling a Dad's Army in recent years.
The more relevant query on Richmond's recruiting should be the quality (and size) of its selections in the national drafts.
Since Wallace's appointment late in 2004, the only recycling has been the exchange of Aaron Fiora for Simmonds, the selection of the veteran Graham at No. 65, giving up a late draft choice for Patrick Bowden, and trading No. 8 for Polak. Kingsley came for nought.
Fifteen untried youngsters, starting with Deledio and Tambling, have been secured in that time.
Yes, Tambling was chosen ahead of Lance Franklin, but who was to know Franklin would be a superstar? There were those at Hawthorn who had reservations, although they're hard to find these days.
It also happens that Tambling has played 43 matches at age 20 and yet may vindicate his selection at No. 4.
The relevant queries on Wallace this year are the decision to virtually force Darren Gaspar into retirement after five rounds, the failure to give Danny Meyer more than one game at a time, Jack Riewoldt's solitary appearance at senior level and the selection of Kingsley when the future was all that was left to play for.
Kingsley was unlucky to be injured before the season started, but there doesn't seem much point playing a man rising 29 when a team is winless after eight rounds.
I'm not quite sure why, but I'm tipping an exciting second half of the year for the Tigers.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21912007%255E20322,00.html
