Tigers 'took a big step backwards': Wallace
Samantha Lane | June 2, 2008
RICHMOND took a sizeable step backwards yesterday, according to coach Terry Wallace, who said his players had been "shell-shocked" during the clinical 82-point dismantling executed by a rampant Sydney at the SCG.
Buoyant coming into the match after an encouraging, if not entirely fruitful last month, the Tigers — who face Adelaide at the MCG on Saturday — now have six days to right the wrong.
"It couldn't be more disappointing," Wallace said after the game. "We came up here really keen to see if we could get our season really alive. We thought we'd taken some real strides forward and then to be clinically taken apart like we were in the first half was unacceptable.
"We're really disappointed as a group in ourselves … we certainly today took a big step backwards."
In what Sydney coach Paul Roos described as the most complete performance from his team for some time, Richmond was held goalless until the 21st minute of the second term and the margin was 73 points at half-time. It marked the 1000th victory for Sydney-South Melbourne in the VFL/AFL, and the Swans had 14 individual goalkickers and winners all over the field.
"At quarter-time I got down to the guys and I thought they were shell-shocked. I came back to our (coaching) group and said 'I'm not sure where this is going'," Wallace said.
He added that around six of his players had chosen the wrong boots to play on the damp SCG.
"I thought our ability to hold our feet was awful all day. I said to the guys at quarter-time … 'As professional athletes you've got a real responsibility to make sure you wear the correct footware'."
"You can lose six or seven weeks very quickly and that's what I spoke to the players about, that we just can't afford to lose the six or seven weeks of really good footy in one display," Wallace said.
"That's, I suppose, going to be our task and my task over the next six days — to make sure that some of the things that happened in the first half aren't repeated in six days time."
Roos was pleasantly surprised at how well his side had handled the Tigers and had predicted it would be a "very, very hard game" before the match.
But the Swans booted six goals to Richmond's two points in the opening term and were never genuinely challenged.
Wallace speculated that his side might have overly built up the contest internally, but said he was slightly comforted by Richmond's second-half performance as the Tigers kicked seven goals to Sydney's eight.
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