Terry Wallace time bomb after another Richmond loss
Mark Stevens | April 20, 2009
THE future of besieged Richmond coach Terry Wallace will be on top of the agenda when the club's board meets tomorrow night.
Although it is a scheduled monthly meeting, the review of the season will have significantly more sting following yesterday's disastrous eight-point loss to Melbourne.
Tigers head of football Craig Cameron last night stopped short of categorically stating Wallace would lead the club into Saturday's clash against North Melbourne.
"I'm pretty confident Terry will coach next week, yes," was as far as Cameron went in the rooms after the loss.
Cameron met the club's football director Tony Free before fronting the press, but denied that was a sign of crisis.
"He (Free) is the director who looks after the football area . . . normal process after the game," Cameron said.
Cameron and Free met briefly in the absence of Tigers president Gary March, who was on the Gold Coast attending a wedding on a massive day for the club.
March, who had made a commitment to a long-term business associate, did not return calls last night.
Wallace said he would be speaking to both Cameron and March in the wash-up.
He said the president had been "absolutely" supportive throughout Richmond's nightmare start.
"Marchy's been terrific. Obviously he's questioned how we've been playing and where we're going, which is exactly the president's right," Wallace said.
"Myself and, I think, Craig Cameron and Marchy will have a catch-up over the next 24 hours and a debrief."
Richmond now has a 0-4 record and needs a minor miracle to make the finals.
Wallace said before the season started he needed to make the finals to get an extension to his five-year contract.
But he is no mood to walk away, declaring the team can get back on track if it regains some grunt and starts winning more contested ball.
Asked if there was any circumstance this year where he would walk away from Punt Rd, Wallace replied: "I don't want to answer that publicly."
He then added he would not walk away from the fight because he would not expect his players to do so.
Richmond captain Chris Newman said the loss was "gut-wrenching".
"We really wanted to come out here, give a four-quarter effort and get a result for him (Wallace)," Newman said.
"I'm behind him and he doesn't deserve that."
It is unusual for the low-key Cameron to talk after a game, but he fronted the media pack after a brief chat with Free, who remained well away from the action as Wallace took his players through a lengthy post-match review.
Cameron said the loss was a "tough one", but said the future of Wallace would not be discussed publicly.
"We had a plan at the start of the year in terms of the review of the position and we're not going to speculate on it publicly," Cameron said.
Cameron said it was not fair on Wallace and his family for the club to speak publicly about the coach's future.
After the Round 1 loss to Carlton, March said the Tigers should be judged on the next month. They have lost all three since and will now go in as major underdogs against North Melbourne on Saturday night.
Cameron said the club's goal of making finals had not changed because it was still "numerically" possible.
But Cameron also said: "At some stage, we'll have to look at where the season's headed."
Asked if the team was still playing for Wallace, Cameron said: "I think second half today showed players still play for him.
"If they didn't have confidence in him, the game could have completely slipped away. I think Terry can coach."
Wallace took heart from the players' reaction to a halftime spray in which he described their performance as "diabolical".
He said the game was lost in the second term when the inexperienced Demons slammed home eight goals to Richmond's three.
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