Tiger players must feel heat as well
Shane Crawford | April 19, 2009
TERRY Wallace had the choice of two coaching jobs in late 2004 and he opted for the bottom team over the then second-bottom team. It's incredible to think that, 4 1/2 years on, he chose Richmond over what was then a lowly Hawthorn.
Since then, the Hawks have won a premiership under Alastair Clarkson. And Richmond has failed to make the eight in Wallace's first four years and is looking down the barrel of missing out again.
At the time, you could probably understand why Wallace made his decision. I know he was concerned the Hawthorn board wanted a fair amount of control over the team's direction. He also felt Richmond was a better fit for him.
Now, Wallace is fighting for his coaching life ahead of today's critical game against Melbourne after a week of public and private scrutiny.
In many ways, I can understand the frustration and the impatience of fans of the yellow and black. I used to be one before I went to Hawthorn.
But I can't understand the theory that if the Tigers lose today the coach should go immediately. That's crazy talk. It's Round 4, and to think about sacking a coach so early in a season is ridiculous.
In fact, I reckon the man who Wallace replaced as Richmond coach, Danny Frawley -- now the boss of the AFL Coaches Association -- should suggest to the AFL that clubs should not be allowed to sack coaches mid-season.
You can't sack players during a season; so why is it any different for coaches?
Sure, if a coach is struggling, he should be sacked at the end of a season. But not during a season.
The other thing we should all consider in this situation with Richmond is that perhaps the players are as much to blame as Wallace. I heard some of the players this week suggest the club had started slowly because it had come up against gun teams in the opening three weeks.
That's a cop-out.
If you want to be a good team, you have to beat good teams. And it's not only that Richmond has lost to Carlton, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs, it has been the way it has lost.
The Tigers were horrible against the Blues, then hit back with a better performance against the Cats. But last week they were terrible again.
It was as though the players were so satisfied with their efforts against Geelong they weren't prepared to work as hard against the Bulldogs.
I expect the Tigers to defeat Melbourne today. But what I worry about is that if they do win, what sort of performance can we expect against North Melbourne next week. Will they be satisfied with getting a win? They shouldn't be.
What troubles me most about Richmond's list now is that they turn over the ball more than almost any other team in the competition.
If I was in charge of putting together a playing list, the first thing I would insist on is recruiting players who use the ball efficiently. The Tigers don't have enough players capable of doing that.
You can't have any confidence in a game plan if your players give up the ball so often.
In my view, Wallace is a good coach. He has one of the most tactically astute football minds going around right now.
When the Tigers upset the Hawks last season, it was pretty much because he read the Hawthorn zone better than most other coaches at the time.
Having said that, you can understand why he is under the pump. This is his fifth season at Punt Rd, and they're yet to play in September in that time.
But the heat should also be applied to the players.
They need to make a stand, starting today.
And I can tell you, the ones who put up the white flag won't be there next year -- regardless of who is in the coaches' box.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25354114-19771,00.html
