Wallace on Sport 927 (summary and audio)

[one-eyed]

Richmond coach Terry Wallace joins Adam White and Mick McGuane on PTSI about the Tigers' pre-season and hopes for 2009.

http://www.sport927.com.au/gateway/Daily_Audio/Sound%20Grabs/TW_160109.asx


It's a 25 minute long interview so there's plenty of stuff Terry goes through  .

[one-eyed]

Summary - I typed this all out so please do NOT cut and paste this elsewhere!

Q. Welcome Terry. Good to be talking footy again?

* Great to have footy talk back on the wire. I've been listening the last few mornings to Brett Ratten yesterday and the Roo boys this morning.

Even ourselves I mean you're so much into what you're doing at the moment and we're not that far off from when the practice match series starts. Once that starts you get more of a line of what others are doing and where they are at. At this time of the year you're more concentrating on your own so it's interesting to hear how others are going about it.

Q. How did you get through the Cousins "extravaganza"... How did the players get through it... Was it a distraction or business as usual?

* I don't think it was too bad. If it was midseason then you'd probably say it's a distraction. We expect there will be a fair deal of coverage in the lead up to playing in the first game as it was for Judd last year so we know and understand what will be coming with Ben but being Christmas time we were more concentrating on times they had to get prior to going away. So the boys were more concerned with doing their own thing.

Q. Was it a test case for their maturity and coping with it all just from your point of view to cast an eye over things and everything was okay?

* Yeah certainly. I spoke to the guys and said in general if you want to live in a cucoon then you're playing the wrong game. I think you've only got to look at Federal politics and there's something like 5 times more people covering AFL footy than Federal politics. So that's the nature of the game. I watched with interest last year how Hawthorn handled the whole Buddy Franklin scenario when he kicked 100 goals and was getting so much publicity. They seemed to handle the Buddy side of it so well and deflected a lot of the stuff away from the other boys and come through all that to win a flag. So you really should be able to do that if you're going to be involved in this game.

Q. On Cousins, there was a lot of talk about St Kilda and Collingwood entertaining the thought of getting Ben to their club. When did yourself and Richmond think 'yes we will get Cousins'?

* I've got to say it changed over a 15 month period. I go back to not this PSD but the previous year's PSD when we won only 3 1/2 games and we had first selection. Myself and Greg Miller at the time contemplated the idea of seeing whether the AFL would allow Ben to stay in the system even though he was unable to play. So we had done some work on it some 12 months ago and then we probably had a look at the same time Collingwood and the world were looking and said it wasn't for us. But things do change. Even Ben said in his interview he changed over a period of time and his want to get to back in the game became more desperate and hence his actions changed. The public feel for Ben changed over time. It was a moving landscape. I don't think at any stage it was the same 6 months ago to what it was at Christmas.

Q. Micky McGuane said he applauded Richmond for having the guts to make a decisive decision and not cave into public consumption. Mick said he presumes Ben would be a cat on a hot tin roof wanting to prove himself again and he needs to be carefully managed. Is the NAB Cup out of the question for him?

* No not all of it. Whether he is able to play round 1 I would doubt. Royal spoke about that yesterday in the paper. We are managing his program. In his first 6 weeks his ability not to get a soft tissue injury during that time is just essential to him being able to get continuity of playing footy this year. So he's doing a form of pre-Xmas program where he is doing some of the footy drills and an extensive running component to his training and making sure his weights training, I'm taking about his core strength, working through his thighs, hips and stomach to make sure he is strong as he's ever been in those areas. You only need to see the biceps in the paper to know he's got the build he needs to be but we just need to be sure his core ability strength is right before we put him into too much footy.

[one-eyed]

Q. Mick asked about Mark Coughlan - I don't believe he'll lose his inside work but is he showing on the track he still has that facet of his game?

* Yeah he has. My biggest concern with Mark is he played probably ... he went over to Germany and went to the same medical institute that Max Rooke went to to treat his hamstrings. Mark went over there and came back and played the last 8 games at VFL level. My concern at that stage was whether he lost any power in his game. Whether he had the capabilities of bursting out of packs and running for long periods of time and getting out into open territory. That was my concern but he had those 8 weeks and then he's come back to training and not missed a training session and what I've noticed over this period of time is his power has come back into his game with continuity and training. I suppose it doesn't matter if you're a tennis player or footballer if you don't have that continuity of training you're going to lose something. He's gained that all back and really now the ball is in his court. He is to me unless something goes horribly wrong between now and NAB 1 he is a certainty to play NAB 1.

Q. Mick said it adds to our midfield balance. You got Cogs, Tuck, Foley and Johnson but now you've got the outside balance of Lids, Cotch and Cousins.

* Correct and that's where you've got to have that balance. Another one we thought stepped up later on in the year was Matt White who is a really good endurance and speed athlete. So his ability to play the outside game and run and carry really assists us as well. Probably on a whole that's the area the Club struggled at. We didn't have a midfield that could compete against the best of the competition and puts too much pressure on other areas of your game. We genuinely believe we now can compete with anyone.

Q. How has your other recruits Tom Hislop and Adam Thomson settled in at Tigerland?

* Both been good. We saw we needed a couple more inside midfielders and we didn't know where Cogs was heading at that stage. We thought we needed to give Tuck a bit of a chop out. We thought when Tuck played his best footy last year and we could distribute the ball to those running players we looked a much much better side. So hence we grabbed Adam and Tom and both are going along really well. It's going to be fairly competitive in that mix. We also believe Tom more particularily can also play as a small forward. He's a real competitor so we'll given him that opportunity as well.

Q. Mick asked about Hughes and Morton. Are we seeing stronger frames over the past 12 months?

* Yes certainly. Once you've been in the system 3-5 years that the expectation. You go from a developing boy to a man. Both those blokes are in that category. I would say our midfield structure as we were talking about is right. Our backline structure is right. We've always been reliant of kicking goals through the brilliance of Browny or relying of someone doing something  of a more brilliant fashion. What we've probably struggled with over the past few years is the consistency of a bloke who is going to stand up week in week out. Probably Cleve Hughes, Jack Riewoldt and Mitch Morton are the three who we see are really need to add to that this year.

[one-eyed]

Q. What you could idenity last year that was the reason behind you starting to win a number of  games - was it the three defenders, a couple of guys in the midfield ...?

Never simply. It's a combination of things. First up, in the second half of the year we played a number of the sides in the bottom half of the ladder whereas the first half we played the opposite way around so that's a simple way of looking at it. We always believed we were going to win more games in the second half of the year. But in saying that we probably more than anything else the structure of the way we played our footy probably changed. Coming off a really bad losing season the year prior, we just went back to a basic one-on-one, let's just get our ability to compete right in the first half of the year. Second half of the year we layered in quite a few more zone structures introducing a few more layers to our game. The guys got a lot of confidence with that. People say why didn't you do that at the start of the year but we came off 3 1/2 wins the year before and just had to get back to basics and then layer as we went along.

Q. Mick said it's an evolving game from year to year so Plough what do you try to pre-plan. What I mean by that do you think the big trends of 2008 will be mirrored again this year?

* It's probably the thing I'm most interested in and can't wait to the practice matches and NAB Cup just to see which way teams go. I would say over the last 18 months there's been a bigger differentiation between styles of play than any other time I've been involved in footy. You've still got sides playing a fold back defensive call it a flood getting numbers back behind the ball and then running out. You have Geelong who play a puristic style of game which everyone loves - get the ball in the midfield and move the ball as quickly as possible. They still zone and play a combination of man-on-man and a zone. Then you have Hawthorn who play that really rolling scrum, rolling zone. So do teams follow the premiers and their rolling zone, do they follow Geelong's purisitic style or decide as the bulldogs do and play that straight man-on-man which they've done very well as well. That'll be the fascinating.

If you're talking about us - I would say what we did later in the year is almost the Geelong scenario. Try to add a zoning structure with still a man-on-man capability.

Q. It's always interesting because you probably pinch what you believe will suit the group you've got. Is that what you look for as a coach. A style that will suit the personnel you have any week?

* Absolutely. Probably the thing that has changed is assistant coaches play such an important role in that now. Each of the assistant coaches is running their own area of the field. For us Campbell has the midfield, King has the backline while Royal looks after the forward structure. So all of those are trying to put their own structure in place in how their aspect of the side runs. So they work in relation with me. So they'll come forward to me and say I'll love to set up our structure in a certain manner and we discuss the whys and wheres of it. They put in an incredible amount of time that is lost on the general public. I mean I love going to BBQs at this time of the year and people ask when do you go back to work. The guys get in at 7am and are still working till 6pm and putting in an extraordinary amount of work.


Q. You use Chris Newman as a sort of quarterback to sure up the defence. Is there any younger guy that can do that role?

* We're pretty settled at the moment. That doesn't mean there aren't people coming through.Young Jayden Post who we just picked up I think is going to be an incredible player of the future but whether he steps straight into your line-up. We've probably balanced ours up over the last few years. It's probably fair if you look at ours there's one spot up for grabs in our backline. Jordan McMahon had more kicks than any other player at the Club as a quarteback coming off the HB line, Chris Newman, and then our 3 talls will play every week in McGuane, Thursfield and Moore. Schulz who is a beautiful user of the ball has been our 6th back down there. Then there's Raines and King coming back from injury who will be pushing for selection as well. On top of that there's Tambling who played some nice footy behind the ball in the second half of the year. So they're the guys vying for backline spots.

[one-eyed]

Q. I know all clubs say this but this year particularly you seem to have the depth now Terry compared to previous years?

* I suppose thats's just growing the club over a period of time. I spoke to someone at the Club recently and 3 years ago if we lost just one half-back flanker who was an experienced 120 to 150-gamer you knew you would be replacing him with a 1-3 game newbie. So it was a loss straight off. Now if you lose that same player you know you bring someone in who is hungry to get back into the side. So it can be a win. He's an established 23-24 year old. So it puts you in a better position.

Q. Tambling - looks to have matured and be one of those players you were just talking about Plough. Previously from an outside looking in he looked a bit like a hypercondriac with something always wrong with him. But now he has will to compete and will to stay on the ground. He wants his career to endure?

* I think that's right. I think when you come form the NT and come in and start playing AFL from  a remote background straight away... I mean we threw him to the wolves straight away as we needed to get 50 games into him ... realistically he probably wasn't ready for it and probably he would've been better to play 20 games in the VFL and establish himself at that level and then come into the AFL side. But we didn't have time to wait to allow him to do that. Now he's matured and developed into a man. The thing with Richie now is to find his right position. We've played him as a small forward, down back I previously mentioned, and he's played onball. I think for his own footy maturity we need to settle him down into a position.

Q. Deledio - where is his best position?

* Again he came in when he was just 17 and everyone said midfield, midfield, midfield ... but he just wasn't ready for midfield. He's played more forward and a bit midfield but now he's a bonafide midfielder and won our B&F. A ruck rover in the old terms who knows he has the ability at any time if sat on to play CHF or FF and is very hard to match-up on.

Q. Ruck stocks - are you happy Terry with what you have at your disposal?

* Obviously during the trade period we made no bones about wanting a mature 24 year old secondardy ruck option. That wasn't possible and as everyone wants one they are valued probably more than they are worth in the market place. That's fine. We're quite comfortable going forward with what we've got. Simmonds is a really good first ruckman. We saw two years ago when we didn't have just how much we missed him. He's up and flying. What we need is one of our younger players to step up and take that secondary role. Angus Graham from a maturity point of view is say should be able to do that straight away. He played footy at senior level 18 months ago then hurt his ankle and missed most of last year. Then we've got Tyrone Vickery who was our first pick who obviously will try to push Angus out. And then there's Dean Putt who we picked up two years ago. So those 3 guys will be vying for that one position.

[one-eyed]

Q. It's a massive year for the footy club Terry. It's your final year of your contract. The fact Ben Cousins has come on board. Everyone at Tigerland is just expecting Richmond to make the Eight and not just top 8 but top 4. Is that going to be your biggest test to handle expectations and make sure Richmond improves this year?

* No not really. Those expectations are more external than what it is internal. Footy clubs mostly just get on with what they are doing and don't allow that external stuff to be a problem. You see Grand Finals year in year out. Very very infrequently is a game lost in Grand Final week. It's more just a pure game. There's no bigger build up than that. We know we've just go to do what we've got to do and continue to work on improving of the team. The playing division has expectations we will improve. We virtually missed the finals by a kick last year so if we are going to improve we expect finals ourselves. That's our own expectations. It won't matter what comes from outside we'll be working on our own expectations.

Q. Deledio mentioned earlier in the week he wants some shorter term success in the NAB cup. What should Richmond fans be expecting in the NAB Cup?

* We're going over to Perth first up so I'd like to know what the weather is (laughs). Are we going to get a 43 degree day and what happens there. Where we sit and what I heard from Ratten the other day and agree with is during this time you've got to work out how many games and ground time in particular do you want each player to play. I start with the older guys first. They're all different. Kane Johnson is someone who likes continuity in his footy. So he'll start a bit later as if he starts earlier then he has to play all the way through in the lead up to round 1. Richo is the opposite. He works better with a one on one off scenario so he can rest his body. So you go through all your senior player first and say Richo plays NAB week 1 and Kane doesn't. Go through all those guys and fit everyone else around them. We'll have a competitive side out there in NAB week 1 but we don't know what the opposition are going to bring to the table either.

Q. Obviously you want to look in the now with the NAB Cup and being right for round 1 but you also have to balance that in mind with a view on the end. Is finals a must for Richmond in 2009?

* Oh yeah that's exactly the case. As I said that's our own expectations as a playing group and coaching staff. I don;t disagree what Ratten said yesterday on your show that half the teams in the competition play finals. We've been 4 years into developing a list. 18 months ago we were never going to play finals with kids running out onto the park but that's not that case anymore. So we expect to play finals.


------ The End ------

[one-eyed]

Just a suggestion and I'll leave it up to you guys.

As there's a whole heap of different topics Plough goes through in depth in this interview, feel free to start a new thread or add to an existing one on OER quoting any topic in this interview so your thoughts/replies don't get lost amongst posts hopping from one topic to another and then to another.

Cheers! 

[Smokey]

Thank you and well done OE.  Your effort in typing that out is much appreciated by those who don't get the opportunity to hear this type of thing.

 

[Darth Tiger]

Thanks One-Eyed, much appreciated 

[Fishfinger]

Now that's dedication. Thanks. 

[Beren]

Legendary One-Eyed. Legendary!

[mightytiges]

...

Thankfully Mr One-eyed can use two index fingers lol.

The most surprising thing mentioned in the interview was Terry saying we tried to get Cuz 12 months earlier than we did when he was still deregistered.

[HKTiger]

...

Thankfully Mr One-eyed can use two index fingers lol.

The most surprising thing mentioned in the interview was Terry saying we tried to get Cuz 12 months earlier than we did when he was still deregistered.

If totally truthful indicates that Mr Barrett and a few others have absolutely no clue.

[Stripes]

OE you are truly an legend on this forum. Your dedication and work ethic amoung many other traits makes you a tremendous asset to this board.

Well done and keep up the great work!


I also found mention of the length and detail of the plan to recruit Cousins interesting. Also the exciting reality that we have true depth now in our list. Does make players such as Collins, Nahas etc have only a slim chance to play until they are better than an existing player. Rance is the player I feel most sorry for - will have to wait for injury or retirement...

Stripes

[mightytiges]

Also the exciting reality that we have true depth now in our list. Does make players such as Collins, Nahas etc have only a slim chance to play until they are better than an existing player. Rance is the player I feel most sorry for - will have to wait for injury or retirement...

True Stripes although the pressure on spots will mean those in the side will have to perform to stay in. Tough on the players but good for the team in general.