Richmond chief quits
July 27, 2008 - 9:14PM
Richmond's director of football Greg Miller has bowed to pressure and stood down from his post, ending a messy episode that has put a dampener on the club's charge to the AFL finals.
At a time when the Tigers should be celebrating Saturday night's thrilling win over Brisbane and focusing on earning their first finals berth in seven years, the club famed for eating its own was facing another high-profile sacking before Miller fell on his sword.
Miller is the first casualty of a review of the football department conducted by club president Gary March and two of his board members.
"It was agreed by both parties that Greg would step down immediately from his role as general manager of football operations," March said in a club statement after meeting with Miller.
"I would like to thank Greg Miller for his six years of tireless service to the Richmond Football Club.
"He has been integral in the rebuilding of our young list.
"Greg should be proud of his work with the Richmond Football Club and I would like to specifically acknowledge his dedication to our club coterie groups and supporters over the years."
Instead of attending Saturday night's game at Telstra Dome, Miller left Melbourne for the weekend.
Tigers coach Terry Wallace was left in the awkward position of having to field questions over Miller's future before the announcement.
After his side rallied to come from behind and beat the Lions by three points, which put the Tigers within reach of the eight, Wallace said he was unsure about Miller's position and needed to seek answers from the club's administration himself.
"Certainly it was a distraction for myself over a 24-hour period," Wallace told Fairfax Radio.
"My biggest concern was that number one, the playing group wasn't distracted last night and I didn't think that really occurred, so that was OK.
"The other scenario was I knew I was going to be facing the music (in media interviews) prior to the match with not a heck of a lot of knowledge where exactly things were sitting and what was going on.
"So I found that very, very awkward. I was almost the spokesperson for something that I didn't have knowledge on and that's difficult."
Miller contacted Wallace to tell him he would not attend the game.
Wallace said Miller had gone "up bush" and hoped to contact him.
Miller, a former chief executive at North Melbourne, has been an influential figure since joining Richmond in 2002.
He recruited most of the players on the club's list and Wallace after Danny Frawley was sacked, and until this year held a position on the board.
The review has also reportedly cast doubt over the future of Richmond assistant coach Jade Rawlings given the Tigers want to bolster their strength in that area.
But Wallace said he had been assured by March and new director Tony Free that Rawlings' position was safe.
Wallace was also confident his own position was safe and that he would coach into a fifth season, in 2009.
© 2008 AAP
