Wallace praises discipline
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen 11:34 PM Sat 25 April, 2009
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace has declared himself "very, very happy" after the Tigers notched their first win of the 2009 season, knocking off North Melbourne at Docklands by 36 points on Saturday night.
Richmond had lost its first four of the season to have the coach, players and administration under significant pressure, and the win in a low-standard but intense game has eased the situation.
Wallace said he was delighted with the way his team worked its way into the game.
"You're always happy with a win – I'm very very pleased," he said after the match.
"I thought after a pretty deplorable first five minutes, the guys really knuckled down.
"I was particularly happy with our disciplines in the game – we set certain blokes certain roles after that first five or 10 minutes and most of the guys took a fair bit away from their own game to do what the team needed.
"That's always a pleasing thing for a coach, because if you can rely on the guys – especially in my position, where you've been under pressure – and you know that the guys are still there listening to what you're trying to do, and for them to just follow those instructions to a 'T', I thought was fantastic from the boys."
Wallace made the point that his side was still young in experience as well as years.
"We're still fairly young – people talk about the top end of our side, with the blokes who are 30 years of age, but we had 13 blokes run out who had played 55 games or less tonight, so we're still fairly young, what we're putting on the park at the moment.
"I hope some of our supporters, who I believe have always believed that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that some of these blokes are just young and need games in them – I hope that they are driving home, seeing that some of those can play a bit of footy."
One of those youngsters was Robbie Nahas, picked up from Port Melbourne with the Tigers first selection in the rookie draft after he booted 50 goals for the season.
Nahas is listed as 176cm and a tiny 67kg in the AFL media guide, but showed exceptional speed and forward defensive pressure in the VFL last year, and Richmond had planned to pick him up in the pre-seaosn draft before taking Ben Cousins with their selection.
"I thought he was quite good all game, but I think early he was the spark that kept us going in our forward structure – I thought him and Jack Riewoldt were very very busy down in the forward line and helped us get back into the game.
"I thought he took another step tonight.
"He probably couldn't ride in the last at Flemington, but could go over the jump at Warrnambool next week.
"The competition's become defensive pressure in the forward zone, and I would think we've been nearly the poorest side in the competition at exactly that over the last 18 months.
"That's why we picked him up."
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/75639/default.aspx
