Wallace joins Tigers
10 August, 2004
Ashley Browne
Sportal
Terry Wallace has signed a five-year deal to coach Richmond, saying the pathway to success was clearer at Punt Road than it might have been at the other club to have chased his services, Hawthorn.
Wallace was introduced as coach on Tuesday afternoon at Punt Road and spoke of having some unfinished business at the club following an unsuccessful 11-game stint as a player there in 1987.
"There is a huge capacity here to be a strength in the competition," Wallace said of the potential to again attract crowds of more than 50,000 back to Richmond home games at the MCG.
"I'm honoured that the Richmond Football Club has given me the opportunity to take it forward and into a new era."
He also promised to bring a "winning culture" back to the club, saying that from afar as an opposition coach and as a commentator that there had been an air of instability hovering over the club.
But he was impressed with the approaches from and dealings with president Clinton Casey and football director Greg Miller, saying they had been "totally professional" from the start.
"The most important thing was that we got the best person available. We're just delighted with today's outcome," Casey said.
The deal was finalised with a half-hour meeting between Wallace and Miller on Tuesday morning, where both parties agreed to terms.
And while fulsome in his praise for Hawthorn, where he played 174 games between 1978 and 1986, he said the prospect of an extraordinary general meeting to resolve the political situation did not sit well as he set about resuming his coaching career.
"I'm hoping for stability with this footy club. That's what all Richmond supporters are hoping for."
Wallace denied suggestions that several of his former assistants from the Western Bulldogs would be joining him at Richmond and said outgoing coach Danny Frawley would be left to go about the remaining three games of the 2004 season.
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