Wallace to wield the axe
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen 7:01 PM Sat 09 May, 2009
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace says his side's poor ball-use and decision-making has to change if it is to get back on the winners list, and he is set to swing the axe in order to find players who can play at the top level.
The Tigers looked good for the first 40 minutes of the game, playing-on at every opportunity and holding a four-goal lead through the early stages of the second quarter, but then the Lions put the pressure on and Richmond fell away badly.
Despite losing by a seemingly-respectable 26 points, the Tigers finished with 84 more possessions, had one more inside-50 and even out-tackled the Lions 59-44, but their inability to see and hit targets cost them dearly.
Wallace said the club needed to make changes in order to see which players on the list were up to senior football.
"That's my responsibility coaching at this stage – I'm coaching the Richmond football club for the Richmond football club, and I will do what the Richmond footy club thinks is the right thing to do in regards to having a look at players”, he said after the loss.
"Clearly that's where we're at at the moment – we've got to make some difficult decisions ... We have to work out who are the right guys to take the club forward and who aren’t, and that's exactly what we'll do."
Wallace said the team's decision-making and ball-use were equally poor.
"We had times where guys got the ball and were looking down one tram-track, and we had guys streaming down the other side of the ground out clear.
“The ability to have vision to find them on the other side of the ground – you’ve just got to open up your vision in this game.
"We didn't hit our targets, and also our decision-making was poor."
The coach said he had spoken to the players and put them on notice regarding their positions after what Wallace called a lack of “respect for the ball”.
"The ball is gold in the game, and if you give up gold you're not likely to get it back in a hurry”, he said.
"The disappointing thing for me was that, from midway through the second quarter to midway through the last it was 12 goals to 2, and in that period of time we had one more inside-50 entry than them. We had 29 entries for two goals, and they had 28 entries for 12 goals.
"I reckon the blokes were having a crack, but I thought it was the worst we've disrespected the ball ... They kicked 10 goals in that period from our turnovers, and that's the ball game.”
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/76518/default.aspx
