Tigers staff face chopping block
Stephen Rielly | The Australian | July 26, 2008
RICHMOND's football department will undergo a makeover at the season's end, with long-time head of operations Greg Miller and one or more of coach Terry Wallace's assistants expected to lose their jobs.
While a review of the department, conducted by president Gary March and directors Peggy Haines and Michael O'Shannassy, continues, it is understood changes will be made once the Tigers' season ends, with Miller and, perhaps, two others to go in what will amount to the most serious overhaul the club has seen since Wallace was appointed coach four years ago.
The club has already spoken to former player Craig Lambert, who is working with Leigh Matthews' side in Brisbane, and had approached Michael Voss. In parallel, former Richmond captain Tony Free, who accepted an invitation to join the board in mid-June, has been conducting his own assessment of the department that has been interpreted by some within the club as a sure sign that change is imminent.
Free is understood to believe that a wholesale shake-out, if not a purge, is required if the club is to reach the next stage of its development, a position which is scarcely going to settle Wallace's nerves as he approaches the last year of his contract in 2009.
Only days ago, Wallace made a public plea for stability, knowing well that at Richmond patience is not always in strong supply.
March denied last night that Free is drawing up plans to level the department, describing his interest in the workings of Miller and Wallace's operation as a familiarisation exercise, not a review.
"To say Tony has been involved in that is factually incorrect," March said. "He is, categorically, not conducting a review of the footy department. He is learning about the department, though, because he's new to the board."
Miller, the former North Melbourne chief executive, joined Richmond in 2002 when Danny Frawley was coach. He was influential in recruiting Wallace to Richmond on a five-year deal in late 2004 as Frawley's replacement.
Together, they have been the most powerful football figures at Richmond since, with Wallace having also had long-time allies by his side in assistant coach Brian Royal and football manager Paul Armstrong. Jade Rawlings, David King and development coach Craig McRae flesh out the current team of assistant coaches at Punt Road.
Miller, who resigned as a director last month to allow Free to move into his seat at the board table, said yesterday he was unaware of any decisions being already made but did not discount the possibility they would come. Significantly, he said that he thought Free would have a bearing on any changes that are made.
"Tony is a new director and he's trying to learn and find out as much as he can. He hasn't been in the game for 10 or 12 years. Certainly he's around in all of our departments, gathering information, but what that ultimately leads to or what his conclusions are will be interesting," Miller said.
"I think it would have been hard to draw any conclusions yet. I know Tony is very keen and committed, but I hope that's not the case."
March said that the club always intended to add a second development coach to the staff at the end of the season and was thinking of hiring another assistant coach in any case. These would be additions to the existing number of coaches. He conceded, though, that this did not preclude departures and further signings.
"Is there any big shake-up at the moment? No there's not," March said. "Are we likely to add a development coach? Probably, yeah, and we might add elsewhere. But there's no-one in the gun at the moment."
Of Miller he added, somewhat equivocally: "Greg? Well, I think he said at the start of the year that if things didn't go well we could all be out of a job."
It is believed that a preliminary short list of potential candidates for Miller's position has already been drawn up, with relatively young, contemporary football executives the preference.
March, O'Shannassy and Haines held their first lengthy fact-finding briefings with senior members of the football department approximately four weeks ago, not long after Free took up his position as the director responsible for football.
With six rounds of the regular season still to play, the Tigers have more than doubled the number of wins they managed last year (three) and have some slim chance of playing finals for the first time in Wallace's tenure.
Against this, the club has still won only 31 of 82 matches in his near-four years and not finished higher than ninth in any season. The side is currently 10th.
It is understood that a good part of the agitation for change around Wallace stems from the view that the side is in roughly the same position it was four years ago - mid-table with Matthew Richardson still the best player and Nathan Brown coming to the rescue when he is not, as happened against Essendon last week.
Richardson, Brown, captain Kane Johnson and veteran Joel Bowden are all likely to be gone within the next three years and even if they are replaced in time by the likes of Trent Cotchin and Brett Deledio this will not necessarily allow the side to get significantly better than it is at present.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24078732-2722,00.html
