Wayne Campbell early favourite for Tigers job
Jon Ralph and Mark Robinson
June 02, 2009
RICHMOND has ruled out veterans Mick Malthouse and Kevin Sheedy as its senior coach next year, with assistant coach Wayne Campbell the early favourite for the job.
The Tigers yesterday met assistant coaches Campbell, Craig McRae, David King and Jade Rawlings, asking if they were prepared to take on the caretaker role that will be created by Terry Wallace's departure after Friday night's match against the Western Bulldogs.
Last night the club was yet to make a final call on the replacement.
All four are considered legitimate contenders, but the successful candidate is far from guaranteed the senior role next year.
The Tigers will begin an exhaustive search for a senior coach immediately, with the decision likely to involve a coaching sub-committee led by head of football Craig Cameron.
The club said yesterday the caretaker coach would be named after Friday's game at Etihad Stadium.
President Gary March confirmed last night Sheedy would not be the interim coach, and indicated the Tigers were leaning towards a younger coach for 2010.
Asked about the possibility of Sheedy replacing Wallace, March said: "None . . . zero."
It is believed Malthouse, previously linked to the Tigers role, is not a consideration for 2010, with growing speculation he will stay at the Magpies.
Former Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley fits the club's criteria: he's young, marketable and widely acknowledged as an outstanding coaching prospect.
The field will include Sydney's John Longmire, Hawthorn's Damien Hardwick, Fremantle's Chris Bond and Geelong's Ken Hinkley.
Wallace will lead the club in his last game at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Former skipper Campbell will apply for the head coaching job at the end of the season, and is known to have strong support from March and former teammate and board member Tony Free.
Cameron dismissed discussion on the interim coach.
"We won't talk about that or the process at this stage," Cameron said yesterday.
"The process is ongoing but it will be made this week. We are happy to share that after this week's game and the process will start on Saturday."
After two weeks of discussions and another meeting on Sunday night, Wallace and Richmond agreed to part.
Wallace is keen to apply for other AFL positions, including the Gold Coast football manager's role, and does not believe it is fair to continue making decisions that affect Richmond.
He and the Tigers were reluctant for him to be involved in list-management decisions.
"It got to a situation where all of a sudden both the club and myself felt it almost untenable to stay in the role if I was going in a different direction," Wallace said.
"Probably the other factor I've found in the last week is you're starting at this stage of the year to deal with players careers and to be able to sit there and tell a player (from) a coach who's not
going to be going on . . . that was just getting difficult for both the club and myself to deal with."
Wallace yesterday bemoaned the lack of resources at the start of his tenure and said injuries this year had derailed the season.
"We got through the weekend's game, had a discussion last night and sat back and it was probably one of two scenarios," he said. "That was to either come in today and finish up or finish during the week.
"I didn't think we needed to run away and hide, I suppose that was the answer to it all.
"To finish a game, to not say anything and finish a game then just come in and say it's over, I didn't think that the appropriate way to go out."
Wallace said his legacy at the club would be decided when the players he recruited began to reach maturity.
"I know that there's been some people that have said I'm not leaving the place any better than when I arrived - I don't believe that," he said.
"Whoever takes on the role next up has got a very exciting footy side to go forward.
"The club was a basket case off the field when I arrived.
"The work that the board and the management have put in to turn that around, the next generation of players is there but also the next generation off the field is there."
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