Terry Wallace 'won't walk' on Richmond Tigers
Courtney Walsh | May 14, 2009
EMBATTLED Richmond coach Terry Wallace last night said he wanted to coach out the season amid speculation his career at the Tigers will end within a fortnight.
Wallace, who acknowledged pre-season that Richmond needed to play finals in 2009 for him to retain his job, reiterated that he had no intention to leave the Tigers despite their disastrous start to the year.
He said a reason driving his desire to remain at Punt Rd until September was his controversial decision to abandon the Bulldogs coaching job with a match still to be played in 2001.
At the time, it was widely held he was positioning himself for the vacant Sydney spot eventually won by Paul Roos, though Wallace has denied that.
"I am committed, from my point of view, to coach out the year," Wallace said.
"There are many reasons why. You have a group of players that you start the season with ... and I would not expect any of those to (finish the season now).
"I had a really unfortunate finale at the Western Bulldogs ... and it cut me really deeply."
Wallace last night revealed he had made a special request to address a meeting of the club's board next week.
But he denied he wanted clarification about his future.
"They have made it clear to me that I am coaching and carrying on," he told Melbourne radio.
"Nothing has changed. There is a monthly board meeting (and) I just thought that the time was right for the board to see that I am still at the top of my game ... and to know where things are at."
The Tigers board declared three weeks ago it would make no decision about Wallace until the completion of an internal football club review, due at the end of next month.
Since then, Richmond posted its only win for the season against North Melbourne, were competitive against Sydney despite the potentially season-ending injury to Matthew Richardson early in the match, and then were dominant for a period against the Lions before falling away.
Wallace said he had canvassed his players to see whether he retained their support ahead of Sunday's match with Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
He was confident that was the case but said if that changed, he would walk.
"At any stage, if they came to me and said it is too hard for us ... or the playing group came to me and said we need a refresher, I would do what was right for the Richmond football club, not for me," he said,
Despite the pending demise of his tenure at the club, Wallace is confident the Tigers will reach their best form in the next month.
Outstanding youngster Trent Cotchin is likely to play his first match this year against the Power, with promising defender Andrew Raines and veteran forward Nathan Brown also in consideration.
"I think over the next month, we have a real chance to reach (our best)," he said. "If it is too late for me, that is fine."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25475789-2722,00.html