Touch of the Bard at Punt Rd / Media pack chases its own tale at Punt Road (Age)

[one-eyed]

Touch of the Bard at Punt Rd
Michael Gleeson and Jake Niall | May 20, 2009

Michael Gleeson and Jake Niall pick apart the past few days at Richmond.

THE non-sacking of Terry Wallace began on Sunday afternoon when the Tigers glumly sat under fluorescent lights in the rooms beneath the Adelaide ground and stewed in the most galling of their seven losses this year.

Standing before the dejected players, a livid Wallace mixed explanation with condemnation. At least three players were subjected to old-fashioned cooks.

One of those baked, the talented but flighty Mitch Morton, was asked what had possessed him to play on with barely more than a minute left as the Tigers clung to a one-kick margin. Morton had attempted to run around the man on the mark and take a shot on goal, but his ambitious solo only returned the ball to Port when his miscued kick went out on the full.

The ball ended up in the grateful arms of Warren Tredrea, who booted the winner with seconds left.

Morton had priors for this sort of self-indulgence, which were the main reason he was — surprisingly for many observers — dropped after the Sydney game and forced to sit out the loss to Brisbane Lions.

The same leadership group that would confront Wallace yesterday, along with nine teammates, were the catalysts for Morton's brief exile.

Wallace demanded that Morton explain his fateful fandango. Morton mumbled an unsatisfactory reply, prompting Wallace to erupt with words to the effect that such an act can cost people their jobs — an outburst that some senior players felt reflected badly on the coach. Player discontent, inevitable in such a (yellow and) bleak season when the coach is merely serving out time, surfaced after the round-six defeat in Sydney.

Frustrated at repeated losses, the match committee and senior players had met before the Sydney game and agreed on a back-to-basics approach. Simplifying matters, they would play an accountable, man-on-man game.

And so there was some surprise when, before the game, a loose man was nominated to play behind the ball. That surprise was compounded during the first term, when, as Rhyce Shaw ran around without an opponent, a second Tiger was deployed loose in defence. What had happened to the week's plans?

A lack of constancy and communication was noted by some players.

On Monday afternoon, captain Chris Newman and the forthright, battling back pocket player Jake King went to Wallace to air grievances and discuss the state of the club. The players that day also met football department head Craig Cameron.

Wallace and Cameron had previously encouraged the players they were welcome to voice whatever concerns they might harbour in a challenging season.

The meeting between Cameron and the club captain was interrupted as Newman headed home to Berwick for his 27th birthday dinner. After further discussions, later in the evening, it was agreed that key players would meet president Gary March, Cameron and Wallace the next day. The group of 13 players included the four-man leadership group — Newman, Nathan Foley, Brett Deledio and Kelvin Moore — and the elder statesmen: Kane Johnson, Matthew Richardson, Joel Bowden, Nathan Brown and Troy Simmonds. Ben Cousins was absent due to hand surgery.

Even if Wallace had feared the worst, it is understood he was reassured earlier that the meeting had not been convened to sack him.

A range of topics were covered in a searching discussion of what had caused the season to unravel at Punt Road.

The players were not as one in their view of the coach and what had been happening at the club this year. It was resolved that communication had to improve, both between the players themselves and between them and the coach.

Measures were put in place to that end. Richmond is not one of the clubs that operates a peer assessment and empowerment system, favoured by the likes of Geelong and Sydney.

The hour-and-a-half meeting broke up but by then, news of its existence turned into assumptions — initially on the internet — that the coach and chief lieutenant Brian Royal had been sacked.

The coach had not been sacked. He was not going to be sacked that day, nor that evening at the scheduled board meeting. Wallace had gone home to review tapes of games and did not attend training — wisely avoiding what March admitted last night was a "circus".

The Tigers' management and March had met players and reassured them that a plan was in place that would see the coaching reviewed in a month's time — during the split round — and they would not shift from that plan. That was the game plan that, most of all, the players needed to know.

A day that had seemed to resemble Shakespeare's Macbeth, instead ended as Much Ado About Nothing. At least for now.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/touch-of-the-bard-at-punt-rd/2009/05/19/1242498752169.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Media pack chases its own tale at Punt Road
Greg Baum | May 20, 2009

Yesterday the story came out wrong. And it kept coming out wrong.

THERE'S fire at Richmond, that's plain. But there's no smoke, or not enough. Yesterday, symptomatically of the manic, modern media times, someone felt it necessary to Photoshop some in.

Terry Wallace began yesterday sacked. By mid-morning, he was on the brink of being sacked. By lunchtime, he had not at any stage been sacked, though the club was in crisis. At this rate of reversal, some time late today, Wallace will win last year's premiership.

Typically, Richmond botches its changes of coach. Partly, that was why Wallace was given an improbable five-year contract in the first instance, to obviate damaging annual speculation, foster stability, prevent the lines of communication tangling as they had in the past. But it became apparent yesterday that the crossed wires were elsewhere.

It became a parable about how big, voracious and intensively competitive sports media is, and how it never sleeps, and perhaps about how stampeding competition sometimes tramples over standards. When a story breaks, radio, television, newspapers, websites and fan forums bounce it about, constantly accelerating. A scrum of reporters develops, fans deluge forums, the internet lights up. Soon the story is at warp speed, out of control.

It happened previously at Richmond last year, when it recruited Ben Cousins. In that instance, the story moved so fast it almost overtook itself. Yesterday's story did. The circumstantial evidence at Punt Road added up to the end of Wallace. But it wasn't.

The Age is a player in this frenzied competition and we are conscious of the risk of appearing sanctimonious. Yesterday morning, on our website, we reported that other media outlets were reporting Wallace's sacking. We could hardly avoid it; it had become the talk of the town.

I don't know who said what to whom; a blizzard of criss-crossing trails leads back into the night. Some of those trails were clumsily covered. When the story first appeared on a newspaper website, it was bylined. The corrected story was by "staff reporters", the further correction by AAP.

But I do know that the story came out wrong. And for a couple of hours kept coming out wrong.

Part of the problem is the intimacy of the football world. There was a time when footballers and football clubs made news, and media reported on it. Now, the media has become the news. Footballers are reporters, reporters are stars, stars are officials. Wallace has previously worked in media and doubtlessly will again. The football world has become a dog chasing its tail.

Sometimes, this makes for insightful reporting. Sometimes it means that the story of the day runs ahead of its unfolding. Sometimes, it means that it doesn't happen at all as anticipated.

The trouble for Richmond now is that the Wallace story becomes self-fulfilling. It was improbable that he would be coaching Richmond next year anyway, certain only that there was a decision to be made about what would constitute the most dignified exit, at the end of the season or sooner. Now some of his dignity has been stripped away. The end will be messier than it needed to be.

Collingwood faces a similar sort of moral erosion. Eddie McGuire is staunch in his support of Mick Malthouse, as he must be, but Shane Wakelin's weekend remarks about Nathan Buckley and McGuire's succession plan must have a certain destabilising influence. The fact that McGuire says they were ill-informed cannot change that. Ever so slightly, the framework has changed.

Meantime, Wallace ploughs on, under no illusions. Were some reporters disappointed that Wallace was not sacked yesterday? Too right they were. "There was first disbelief, then bewilderment among journalists when it emerged late in the morning that Wallace would stay coach," reported AAP.

Yesterday might be summed up by varying a piece of philosophical whimsy: if a tree didn't fall in the forest, but everyone says they heard it, did it?

HOW THE DRAMA UNFOLDED

Monday night

- Richmond captain Chris Newman meets coach Terry Wallace.

Tuesday morning

- No sign of Wallace at Punt Road as players arrive for training.

- Herald-Sun online report says Wallace likely to be sacked.

- Wallace meets senior players, football manager Craig Cameron and president Gary March.

- Report on SEN radio by Craig Hutchison suggests Coburg coach Jade Rawlings could take over from Wallace.

- Players begin training and still no sign of Wallace.

- Report on The Age online says Wallace will "reportedly" be sacked.

- Herald-Sun online report says Wallace has been sacked.

- Herald-Sun online report says Wallace's assistant Brian Royal sacked.

- Media pack at Punt Road increases.

- Report on SEN radio by Greg Denham says Wallace will not be sacked.

- Herald-Sun online report states confusion surrounding Richmond coaching situation.

- Tigers captain Chris Newman says speculation about Wallace is not true.

Tuesday midday

- Craig Cameron and Chris Newman confirm Wallace remains head coach.

- Training concludes. No sign of Wallace.

Tuesday night

- Richmond board meeting, which Wallace is not required to attend.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/media-pack-chases-own-tale/2009/05/19/1242498752196.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[Muscles]

Interesting take from Gleeson and Niall.  They seem to point out that the coach and players agreed to one thing regards game plan and then during the game something else happened.

[Mopsy]

These two articles show the journalistic superiority of the Age over the Herald Sun

[Smokey]

These two articles show the journalistic superiority of the Age over the Herald Sun

Agree Mopsy.  For all my anti-media bias - at least one of them had the gonads to front up and say it for what it is.  This time anyway.  The Herald-Sun are scum, no if's, but's or maybe's.