Newman speaks to media on Wed pre-Melb game

[mutes]

http://sportal.com.au/mediaplayer/audio/AFL/newman-lets-all-take-a-deep-breath-5089

I agree btw, media a bit hysterical about Wallace...even though I think he should not get a new contract.

[one-eyed]

Newman asks critics for calm
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen 1:04 PM Wed 15 April, 2009

BESEIGED Richmond captain Chris Newman has suggested the football world needs to calm down after the uproar following his side’s 0-3 start to the season.

The Tigers have played three of the top four teams, and with coach Terry Wallace in the final year of his current five-year deal, pressure is mounting on Richmond.

This Sunday the Tigers take on the similarly winless Demons at the MCG, which brings a different kind of pressure.

But Newman suggested that some perspective could be missing, given the season was just 21 days old.

"I guess everyone should just take a bit of a deep breath, and realise that we're only three rounds in. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," he told a packed media conference at Punt Rd on Wednesday morning.

"It's got a lot of attention.

"There's a lot of disappointed fans out there, and I can understand that – they've got every right to be disappointed."

Newman said claims that the coach was on 'death row' were ridiculous, but admitted it was difficult to shut them out.

"No, I don't think [coach Terry Wallace is on 'death row'].

"Those pressures – we're not really speaking about them internally.

"It's been a big frenzy and it's been pretty difficult to try and shut that out, with it being front page and back page news.

"But as I said, we're three rounds in – I don't want to get carried away, and I just think everyone should take a deep breath and just relax a little bit."

Newman said the players had not felt the need to circle the wagons around the coach.

"We're always going to be behind Plough (Wallace).

"No matter how much scrutiny he comes under, we're always behind him, we've always got faith in him.

"There's no panic, there's no storm internally – there's just no reason to rally around him. It's not a crisis."

The captain said he was preaching the same message inside the club.

"It's been difficult, there's no doubt.

"It's not easy if you've got this much scrutiny around you and there's so much attention on your football club and you hear your coach getting bashed and your players getting bashed in the media. It's difficult.

"But my role in the club is to just keep the players calm and let them know this is round three and we can fight through it."

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/74985/default.aspx

[one-eyed]

Glaring gaps in Tigers' bite: Newman
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen 3:00 PM Wed 15 April, 2009

CONSISTENCY and confidence are the two main ingredients missing from Punt Road, says Richmond captain Chris Newman.

The Tigers have been erratic in their first three outings; poor against the Blues in the season opener, very good for two quarters against the Cats in round two and good starters against the Dogs on Monday.

Newman acknowledged that significant improvement was required.

"We haven't been consistent in our quarters – in round one we were awful, we know that," he said before training on Wednesday.

"In round two we showed some improvement, but it's still not good enough. We didn't get the result.

"And we were reasonably competitive against the Bulldogs, but the last-quarter effort wasn't good enough and the second-quarter effort wasn't good enough.

"So it's consistency. Our skill level has come under some scrutiny and that's something that's let us down. Our turnovers are costing us goals."

Newman forecast changes to the side after the display against the Dogs and said that every player was on notice.

"Everyone realises that there's the possibility of changes," he said.

"I didn't play consistent footy on the weekend, and that's probably how the team went. I have to put my hand up for that.

"This week I have to make sure I have a four-quarter effort."

Newman said the problem was not fitness-based and that the side had started Monday's game like it had nothing to lose.

However, confidence was proving hard to sustain.

"We've shown glimpses of that during the season – it's just the challenge of getting the four-quarter efforts together and then winning a game," he said.

"Then the confidence can grow.

"Mental application is something that's let us down – four-quarter efforts aren't there, so it has to be mental.

"It's definitely not fitness. We feel as though we're as fit as any other team in the competition."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/74993/default.aspx

[Tigermonk]

tanking to kill Terry haha

[WilliamPowell]

Well at least he faced the media today, although IMHO he should have done it after round 1.

Having said my preference would still be SHUT UP. It doesn't matter what gets said it will get twisted

Just SHUT UP pluuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeee

"There's a lot of disappointed fans out there, and I can understand that – they've got every right to be disappointed."

I don't think disappointed comes close. And I don't want hear that we've got every right to be disppointed..  

"But as I said, we're three rounds in – I don't want to get carried away, and I just think everyone should take a deep breath and just relax a little bit."

This is why I reckon we need to shut up .... "relax a bit" isn't what we want to hear. I reckon there's an argument that its just adds more fuel for the fire so to speak

[Tigermonk]

everytime we mouth off we come unstuck, l been saying this for 20 years

[WilliamPowell]

I will repeat

Tigers:

JUST SHUT UP

I just don't want to hear anything

Time for talk is over...it's what happens on the paddock that's what matters from now on

[Tigermonk]

Like how Newman said he thinks we got the team to play finals & said if he thought we didnot that we lose every game

well we aint won a game Chris you know a win would be very nice haha

[WilliamPowell]

Like how Newman said he thinks we got the team to play finals & said if he thought we didnot that we lose every game

  yeah I heard that

Have I mentioned anywhere that I think they should JUST SHUT UP 

[Tigermonk]

exactly no talking just go out & play footy with good skills
l keep saying that every year  people must be getting tired of it 

[one-eyed]

No extra pressure, says Newman
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen  Fri 17 April, 2009

DESPITE the pressure surrounding his club, Richmond skipper Chris Newman says this week's game is no bigger than any other.

The Tigers are yet to notch a win – despite leading Geelong at Skilled Stadium early in the last term in round two – and this Sunday come up against Melbourne, which is also sporting a 0-3 record.

But with the Tigers widely tipped pre-season to finish in the eight, and coach Terry Wallace freely admitting that finals are needed for him to have a shot at keeping his job, losing and going 0-4 would be a disaster.

The three teams that have beaten the Tigers – Carlton, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs – are all predicted to make the finals, but the manner of the losses in rounds one and three are causing concern.

Still, Newman denied the match had any more significance than the available four points.

"This week is as big a game as any other game," he said.

"Melbourne will be pumped up and it's going to be a tough game.

"There's always going to be pressure if we lose another game of football – that's just the way that it goes, but this week, we're going to be trying our best, obviously.

"We think that our best is good enough to beat Melbourne."

But the media feeding frenzy that has developed around Punt Rd this week couldn't be totally ignored, Newman said.

"As you keep losing the pressure grows, there's no doubt about that.

"There's always going to be pressure and there's always going to be that expectation from our supporters who have been starved of success for so long.

"But if you go out there and freeze up because you've let all the external pressures get to you, then we're not going to play as freely as we'd like to, and that's going to really impact the result."

Despite the Tigers being 0-3, Newman said the goals were still the same.

"We think we've got the players here to play finals football and if we didn't think that we'd lose every game.

"I haven't played finals football yet – I want to play finals football. I want to be in a successful team. I want to be captain of a successful club at Richmond.

"Everyone wants success around here. We've got a lot of pride.

"We're not going out there intentionally trying to lose.

"We're disappointed in our effort and we're going to play with a lot of passion this week.

"As long as I'm captain, that's something that's going to be in the forefront of the minds of all the players."

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/75120/default.aspx