Wallace to Richmond: what they said
6:15:41 PM Tue 10 August, 2004
Samantha Lane
Sportal
Terry Wallace:
On Richmond:
"I'm honoured that the Richmond Football Club has given me the opportunity to take it forward into a new era. I know and understand that it's been a difficult time for all Tiger supporters and members. All I would like to say is that I'll be doing everything within my power to develop a winning culture back to the Richmond Football Club, getting it back to where it thoroughly deserves to be."
"The efforts of both Clinton and Greg and their professionalism in the way they approached all meetings that were conducted over a period of time, that made me super enthusiastic."
"I just thought this football club was a club that has such a huge capacity to be one of the real strengths of the competition….I suppose I'm dreaming that I can do that, I believe that I can change the culture and the way that the Richmond people are feeling about their footy club. That was probably one of the majors reasons."
On reaching his decision:
"I've probably been a little bit disappointed with the accusations that it (the deal) was done and dusted some time ago. I spoke to both Hawthorn (CEO) Jason Dunstall and Greg (Miller) last evening and told them where I sat with my decision."
On Hawthorn:
"I just didn't think the EGM (extraordinary general meeting) pathway was the right way to go. I thought there was an ability at Richmond to allow a smooth transition for me to be able to take on the role. That was significant in the final decision making."
"It just became a situation where I would have only been going with my heart (to Hawthorn) and I didn't think the right reasons. I just thought it was a little bit cloudy."
"We never got to the terms of agreements or anything like that with Hawthorn because there was just roadblocks I the way that didn't allow it to get that far."
"They could not assure a clear passage through to me being able to take on the job, that there may be some EGM or some sort of situation there that wasn't clear….that was a key factor in me not going to Hawthorn."
On the potential for board instability at Richmond:
"I'm a football coach and I've got to deal with getting this club to win games of football and I think that's where I sit….I'm hoping for stability in this footy club, that's what I'm hoping for. "
On his future support staff at Richmond:
"If you have a look at my past history I've never had an ex-teammate sitting along side of him. I've just always tried to go out and get the right people."
"I think that's the way you should go about things, and I'll be doing exactly that with Greg (Miller) and we'll just be working through the process of whose here, what's working, what we believe isn't and what decisions need to be make from there."
On Richmond and Hawthorn's lists:
"I didn't think there was a lot of difference between the lists. If you're looking at a long-term sustainable objectives as a coach, unless there is a huge margin between the two I didn't pick it on list structure."
"One of the real pleasing things for me was just the situation with the younger players at this football club at the moment."
"I think you would be kidding yourself that if any side that's finished down in the bottom four of the ladder, if you didn't think that (a culling of Richmond's list) was going to occur. I think you have to go down that path."
"How deep that goes I think obviously that depends on and is determined by how we go in the trade period and how that goes. It's an ugly time of the year for players…I can't make any promises to any player on the list. All I can try to do is make promises to the players that remain that we'll have a better list going forward."
On what he will do between now and October 1:
"What is paramount is that there's a respect for Danny Frawley to do his job. I won't be around the scenes here, I won't be behind the scenes, I won't be, as it was suggested in some media outlets, in the box or anything like that."
Clinton Casey, Richmond president:
"Terry's just detailed a presentation to the board, and we certainly agree with his evaluation of our list and his long term plan for the future building of our team and the promotion of this football club."
"We know there's no short term fix in football, and therefore we’ve offered a five year contract….and the board will provide the support and security for Terry to recruit and build a strong team that's going to produce some consistent performances for this footy club."
Greg Miller, Richmond's director of football:
"Last Thursday I was concerned that four hours with Hawthorn was a long time and I just tried everything we could behind the scenes to make sure Terry would coach us. As he said, he told me last night at about nine o'clock."
"The financial side of it was done in half an hour this morning and that's really all it took."
