Richmond Tigers look to life after Terry Wallace eraStephen Rielly and Greg Denham | April 21, 2009
RICHMOND will begin to consider a future without coach Terry Wallace tonight, with the board to meet in the knowledge that it is now a matter of when, rather than if, he is to finish up at Punt Road.
The Tigers are not expected to move on Wallace in the short term but should he, or they, have a change of heart and decide to make a move in the face of a continuing run of defeats, it is understood that assistant coach David King is likely to take over from him as caretaker.
Of Richmond's three full-time assistants, Brian Royal is the most senior but he is seen as a loyal lieutenant of Wallace's who is likely to depart at the season's end, and the other, Wayne Campbell, a former Richmond captain, is in only the second year of his apprenticeship. Campbell was at the Western Bulldogs part-time in 2007 before taking on a full-time position alongside Rodney Eade last year.
King joined Wallace at Punt Road only months after retiring as a player in 2004 and while he is viewed as an unlikely permanent successor to his embattled coach, he is seen to have more experience and knowledge of the list than Campbell, to do what is possible as a caretaker to prepare the team for 2010.
How many games, if any, he will have control of, though, remains at issue for the Richmond hierarchy, which has seen a season that began with talk of September only four weeks ago descend into near-chaos.
They will hear Wallace's explanation of what has gone so spectacularly wrong tonight. According to president Gary March, the coach has been asked to attend the scheduled board meeting to add detail to the usual monthly football department report presented by general manager of football operations, Craig Cameron.
Sunday's loss to Melbourne - the side's fourth in as many games - left only a mathematical possibility of Richmond playing finals. No team since the introduction of the final eight in 1994 has lost the first four games of a season and played finals.
Moreover, the Tigers have won only 35 of 92 games in Wallace's time and not played finals in any of his four completed seasons in charge. Wallace conceded before the season began that only a top-eight finish could have him coaching Richmond for a sixth season next year but he said on Sunday night that he will not resign.
The unexpected crisis on its hands has the Tiger board unprepared for an immediate change, although March said yesterday that a contingency plan was in place. This plan, he stressed, did not involve Kevin Sheedy, the legendary Essendon coach and Richmond player who is back at Punt Road, as an ambassador.
"Kevin Sheedy's not part of our contingency and never has been," March said.
"Kevin came back to the football club and he made it clear to me he didn't want to be involved in football and I made it clear to Kevin that we didn't have a role for him in football, so that's never been a part of the plan.
"As a club, you've got an obligation to have contingency plans in place. We've thought through those things (Wallace leaving mid-year) and we have got some plans in place."
Neither March nor Cameron would or could guarantee Wallace's tenure for the rest of the season yesterday. Tellingly, they are two members of the four-man sub-committee which will decide when it is that Wallace will make his exit. The other members of the sub-committee are football director Tony Free and chief executive Steven Wright.
The Tigers last replaced a coach during a season when Jeff Gieschen took over from Robert Walls midway through the 1997 campaign.
Wallace met with Cameron as part of the club's normal Monday game-review process and, later, the pair met in private.
"I met with the match committee and the coach," Cameron said. "Our immediate major concern is to get the guys up for Saturday's game against North Melbourne. They are a bit rattled, but at the same time, they need to ask themselves some questions."
Much of the criticism Richmond and Wallace have received in recent weeks has centred on the club's poor drafting and player development over the past five years. While it will not be enough to save Wallace his job, the Tigers have spent an extra $400,000 since last season on improving those areas.
The club has boosted recruiting and now has three full-time recruiting staff, while two full-time development coaches, Jade Rawlings and Craig McRae, are on staff, along with a full-time sports scientist.
Meanwhile, Ben Cousins, Trent Cotchin and Andrew Raines are all scheduled to return from injuries in the VFL this weekend for Coburg. Cameron said Cousins (hamstring) and Raines (knee) would most likely be considered for senior selection in round six, while Cotchin (Achilles) would probably need at least two to three weeks in the lower grade.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25362350-2722,00.html
