Fragile times, fierce action needed at Tigerland
Mark Robinson | April 01, 2009
A NEGATIVE first before attempting positive reinforcement.
Richmond's pathetic effort on Thursday night means Terry Wallace has a poorer win-loss record than his predecessor, Danny Frawley.
Wallace's record stands at 35 wins from 89 games, a winning percentage of 39.32 compared to Frawley's 45 wins from 113 games at 39.82 per cent.
That Frawley was hounded from Punt Rd by the media, fans and ultimately the board in what was a dreadful period in Richmond's history, puts perspective into Wallace's position: It's delicate.
Not because Richmond lost against Carlton, but how it lost.
As for percentages, Wallace has cleaned out the list and rebuilt it in his time, and that brings inconsistency of performance, but still does not explain or forgive the Round 1 loss.
Nor would Wallace be asking for forgiveness.
Who knows how Wallace has dealt with the debacle behind closed doors, whether he's been angry, encouraging or been eye-to-eye honest, but redemption first starts on the track.
The Tigers yesterday hit Victoria Park for an arduous midweek training session.
Arduous not for its fierce tackling and defensive pressure, but for its demand for enthusiasm, hard, quick running and, in particular, rapid movement of the ball.
A famous old coach once said 'It's amazing what happens when you play on'.
And to beat Geelong on Saturday, it appears the Tigers have decreed their football this week will be instinctive, that they'll have a get-it and move-it type attitude against Geelong's renowned pressure.
The Tigers yesterday had assistant coaches barking at player groups all over Victoria Park: "One, two, three, move it, move it, MOVE."
Another drill had players searching for longer targets in handball drills, in essence to attack, be bold, find space.
As expected, enthusiasm and voice were strong.
Wallace didn't speak to the media.
In times of desperation, clubs nominate a player who usually is calm, rational and mature and, significantly, can avoid a headline.
So, Matthew Richardson was out because he wears his heart on his sleeve and would say something the club might not appreciate. Nathan Brown has already spoken. Brett Deledio was pumped by James Hird in this paper yesterday. Chris Newman was a chance for he is captain, and it wasn't a role for the kids.
That left Joel Bowden.
Bowden's so slick he wouldn't be out of place at the UN General Assembly.
Yesterday he had one word to describe what was needed this week -- competitiveness.
He said the players reviewed the Blues match on Friday, had the weekend off "to reflect" and have hit the track with intent.
"Geelong are a very good side. It's going to be a great challenge for us and in some ways that's a good thing for us because we have to get back on the horse and be ready to go," he said.
"Everyone needs to improve, everyone has to play well."
The mood?
"The mood's OK, we have to make make sure we are competitive this week."
He added: "Football is a very, very hard game and someone once said footy's about 90 per cent mental and only 10 per cent physical.
"This week against Geelong we need to go in with a very, very strong mindset that we're going to go hard at the ball and play our role.
"Everyone has to play their role, from the most senior to the most junior player, they're going to have to do better, myself included . . . we have to make sure we're competitive because last week we weren't competitive."
Bowden, perhaps similar to most of his teammates, avoided the media at the weekend, so much so that he missed suggestions by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire that Kevin Sheedy could be coaching the Tigers by Round 4.
"You know what, I missed that one," Bowden said.
The coach was off limits.
"We're here to play footy, we don't speculate about the coach, we won't talk about the coach's position, that's the job of the media."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25271965-19742,00.html
