Wallace drops sink-or-swim style
Nathan Brown | March 30, 2008
THE question I get asked most by football fans (other than about my broken leg) is about my relationship with Terry Wallace. The player-coach relationship is a strange one that balances on a tightrope of good performance and common ground.
Some players are intimidated, uneasy and even confused by their coach and others just seem to click and have a good rapport.
People are intrigued by my relationship with Terry — my teammates joke about it and many outside our club can't understand it.
I often wondered why he seemed to like me in the early days at the Bulldogs because as players we were polar opposites. He was blue collar, as hard working as they come, hence the nickname "Plough". He had limited pace and wasn't the greatest kick, but what he lacked in certain areas he made up for in desire and courage.
I was a kid from the country with talent, nice skills, but more lair than flair. I had a poor work ethic, an undisciplined attitude and a carefree nature that annoyed many, including Terry. But he shaped my career with a brutal conversation that took place in one of the strangest places you could imagine.
After the Bulldogs lost a semi-final in Brisbane in 1999 to end our season, we went out and drowned our sorrows in "Brisvegas". After a big night out, we went back to our hotel, which, incidentally, backed on to the Brisbane River. We were all in one of the boys' rooms and Luke Darcy dared me to swim across the river for a small sum.
Terry (as he likes to tell it) was out for an early morning run, and decided to join me in the river. I was already booked in for a shoulder operation the next week, so a swim would do it the world of good.
The Brisbane River is about 200 metres across at this section, flanked by a cliff on the other side. I only found out later that there were sharks in the river. Making it to the other side was easy enough, even though we had to dodge the city cat cruiser on occasions. But the problem was that the only way back was to swim. About halfway across, I started to struggle and was in a bit of trouble. That was when Terry, to my disbelief, decided it was the ideal time for a heart to heart.
He questioned my lifestyle and commitment, told me I wanted everything easy and that life wasn't easy, and unless I changed my attitude, I was on a fast train to nowhere.
When I was struggling to even keep my head above water, he pushed me under. As I struggled back up he said: "What are you going to do? Give up or push through it?" He then swam off.
Thankfully, I got to the bank of the river a little bit after Terry and later had a good think about what he had said. I decided to take his advice to heart and do something about my attitude.
The next year I was the fittest I'd ever been and had just about my best year of football. Motivation works in strange ways.
Terry has been my coach for 10 years and in two very different eras.
In the late '90s, he had a group of men who were hungry for success and he was a young coach who was even hungrier.
He was a hard taskmaster, his honesty was brutal and his praise was lavish. He was a coach ahead of his time with innovation and took us to within a kick of the grand final in 1997. Many of our young kids today at Richmond would be very surprised how a player and the game was evaluated back then, but I believe it shaped my mental strength today.
One of Terry's better sprays was after that 1997 preliminary final against Adelaide. It continued the next morning at a meeting when the Adelaide theme song was played at high volume through the clubroom speakers. I remember it like it was yesterday.
There are many aspects of football that are different now. In 1999, aged 22, I was still the youngest player at the Bulldogs in the seniors.
At the Tigers, we have 10 players under 22 picked for today's match against North Melbourne.
Terry's coaching methods have moved with the times. He now has a new age philosophy of nurturing the generation Y kids and building their confidence. There is limited criticism and finger pointing — the philosophy now is all about building up confidence and character with positive reinforcement, rather than the model of days gone by when a verbal spray and peer embarrassment made you stronger and angrier to repay the coach and the team the following week. Both coaching methods have their place and show Terry's versatility as a coach.
As widely recognised as Terry is in football, few can claim to know him well. Those who can will tell you he is fiercely loyal and they repay the compliment.
Terry has said Richmond will be the last club he coaches. He has built a nice platform for the club with a healthy young list and an appetite for success.
I hope he coaches the Tigers for a long time yet so he can continue having the influence on young players as he had on me.
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