Mike, Robbo, Smith, Caro, Niall and co. on Wallace's demise and legacy [merged]

[one-eyed]

Fate sealed on Sunday night
Mark Robinson | June 02, 2009

 IN the pre-match euphoria on Saturday night, Terry Wallace intimated he wanted to do "a Tony Shaw" and coach out the season.

Twenty four hours later, in the Middle Park home of Tigers president Gary March, Wallace's career at Punt Rd had been terminated, effective almost immediately.

In reality, Wallace knew before he coached on Saturday night the game was up.

Dare we say it, he was already a member of deadmancoaching.com.

Yesterday, then, was a crisp, mainly unemotional, professional, amicable and respectful sacking.

Richmond opted out of a wretched fifth season, abiding by its "process", and Wallace left with dignity, some dented pride because he failed at Punt Rd and, for what it's worth, the remaining dollars of his five-year deal.

If anything, yesterday put a full stop after the "when" and not the "if".

March, who flew to Perth on business on Thursday, would say yesterday only that he spoke to Wallace "over the weekend". Most likely it was Friday rather than game day.

Exactly why Wallace was hunting for the Tony Shaw scenario in his comments pre-match is puzzling.

Had it something to do with his contract payout?

Or, being a ruthless competitor behind his Macleans smile, was Wallace was clutching the prospect of a reprieve?

Just a couple of hours after March and Wallace put their arms around each other and belted out "yellow and black" in the changerooms, the president caught the red-eye flight back to Melbourne.

Wallace left Perth the next day, arriving back late on Sunday afternoon with his wife Kerryn, whom the Tigers had flown over to celebrate her husband's 500th game and, as it tuned out, a magnificent victory.

The two were pictured having dinner in the Perth restaurant called Friends after the game.

The following night, Wallace went to March's home. The meeting began about 6.30pm and lasted roughly 90 minutes.

At that gathering were the coach, the president, chief executive Steven Wright and head of football Craig Cameron.

That Wallace should not coach out the season was the right decision.

As was part of the reason outlined yesterday that, as the Tigers oversee their list management, Wallace, who wants to be at another club next year, could no longer be involved in discussions on Richmond's intellectual property - namely the players.

March described the meeting as "fantastic".

It wasn't a wake, nor was it a celebration, and no alcohol was shared between the four highest-ranking blokes at the footy club. Simply, an outcome had been reached. Time to move on.

Wallace addressed the players at 10am yesterday and faced the media at noon. Wallace sat on the right of March, in full Tigers formal regalia, and Cameron on March's left.

Stony-faced, the footy boss's sole contribution to the Wallace situation was that no discussion would be held regarding the interim appointment.

March was more forthcoming, complimenting Wallace on a terrific career, even drawing a laugh or two from the man he saw sacked.

As Wallace set about his thank yous, righting wrongs, offering his CV and camouflaging what would have been a broken heart, Kerryn watched, only occasionally allowing her bottom lip to quiver.

She bravely held it together as her husband faced the sporting nation. She might not have been so secure out of the camera's glare,

"To Kerryn, to Brent, to Georgia, and to Cameron: You can't do this job without having real stability on the home front and I've been very very lucky and fortunate in that way so thank you to everyone," Wallace said.

Near Kerryn were assistant coaches Wayne Campbell, Brian Royal, Jade Rawlings, Craig McRae and David King, great friend Paul Armstrong, manager Craig Kelly, and a host of football department staff.

Of the players, only skipper Chris Newman and veteran Joel Bowden turned up.

The other players might have reasons, but it wasn't a great look.

Maybe some of them felt guilty. Maybe it was one final message to the coach.

Wallace didn't seem to care.

He spoke honestly and deeply, and the Bulldogs apology was sincere, not that some at that club will acknowledge that.

Nor might Tigers fans feel so moved. They might say good luck, but the overwhelming feeling from them is goodbye.

And so Wallace gets another game, and the irony of it being against the Western Bulldogs, the club that denied him one final game back in 2002, is not lost on anyone.

Then, it was a player revolt and Bulldogs president David Smorgon listened.

Now, it was a "minor" player revolt and March didn't listen.

The Tigers stuck to their process, ignoring the debacle of two weeks ago when some players wanted Wallace out.

March was firm: The club and not the players will be making the decisions. It did.

Indeed, March strongly hinted in Saturday's Herald Sun that Monday was action day on Wallace.

"We've said we'd probably make final decisions in June . . . any time from next week onwards, I would say," March said. It came quickly enough.

So, Wallace, a warrior nomad as a player, innovative with a touch of Hollywood as a coach, gets his final game on Friday.

The reception will be interesting. Whatever happens, after 32 years in the game he probably deserves it.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25572594-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Writing on the wall after 4 games
Mike Sheahan | June 02, 2009

RICHMOND and Terry Wallace, particularly Wallace, went into the season with two short-term targets they just had to hit.

They had to be credible against Carlton in Round 1 and had to beat Melbourne in Round 4.

The Carlton assignment ended in an 83-point loss, the Tigers seven goals down three minutes into the second quarter of their first game.

The next morning, the Herald Sun asked: "How early in a season can a club be deemed to be in serious trouble?"

The coach was critically wounded before 14 clubs had started their seasons.

Twenty-four days on, the Melbourne encounter ended in an eight-point loss after a pathetic first half, when Richmond fell five goals behind.

The damage was irreparable; Wallace was a goner.

Club and coach formally announced yesterday they were cutting their ties. He will coach the Tigers for the last time on Friday night.

As fate would have it, the opponent is the Western Bulldogs, where he started coaching (mid-season) in 1996.

He was to leave the Bulldogs on bad terms; he was determined to avoid a repeat performance this time.

This time, the cut was as clean as it could be, given a mid-season parting of the ways.

He leaves in style. There is no bad blood between the parties, and he has graciously acknowledged many people who supported him during 32 years as a player and coach at Hawthorn, Richmond and the Bulldogs.

He even availed himself of the opportunity at yesterday's media conference to announce his intention to pursue a job in administration at another club.

So, what do we make of him as a coach? In statistical terms, he has coached at two clubs for a total of 246 games, with a win rate of 47 per cent.

What hurts him is the record in the current decade.

It is 164 games from 2000-09 for 67 wins and just one final (the Bulldogs in 2000).

That was after taking the Doggies to finals in his first four full seasons, finishing third in 1997 and '98.

They should have won the flag in '97, pipped by Adelaide by two points in a prelim final. The Crows went on to win the flag by 31 points against an undermanned St Kilda.

This year, the Tigers are 15th with two wins from 10 rounds. They should have beaten Sydney and then lost the unlosable game to Port Adelaide, yet they were lucky against Fremantle at the weekend.

Wallace was committed, meticulous in his planning and innovative. Extremely so. He started so many practices now seen as normal.

He introduced balls to pre-Christmas training at the Bulldogs, reasoning that cricketers, golfers and tennis players all prepared for their sports by honing their skills as well as running hundreds of ks under the scorching summer sun.

He did away with the rousing pre-match address, preferring to chat individually to players.

He thumbed his nose at the taboo of coaches (and now players) daring to speak to the media before a game for fear the footy gods would decree bad luck.

More recently, he sent Matthew Richardson to a wing.

Yet, he could be stubborn, too. He seemed committed to lightly framed, quick players of 182-188cm who could kick long and straight. Supposedly.

Recruiting and list management hurt both club and coach.

Wallace said yesterday the buck stopped with him, but made the point the recruiting manager gets the credit when a club is successful, while the coach cops it when the list is deemed substandard.

Yet he has to accept responsibility for players taken by Richmond with exposed form. Players such as Jordan McMahon, Tom Hislop and Adam Thomson, all recruited from other AFL clubs.

Ditto with a host of younger players yet to make significant progress. Will Thursfield, for example, who has gone missing this year after 18 games last year at 22 years of age.

For all that, Wallace can count himself unlucky.

Nathan Brown was an elite player in the competition when he broke his leg in 2005.

The Tigers were 7-2 going into that fateful game against Melbourne and Brown had kicked 34 goals. He hasn't been the same since.

This year, one of the most talented youngsters to come into the game in recent years, Trent Cotchin, has played three of 10 games because of a summer training injury.

Andrew Raines has played three, Richardson six.

But, as Wallace would tell you, that's coaching.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25573369-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Resourceful Alastair Clarkson cashes in
Jon Ralph | June 02, 2009

TERRY Wallace will forever bemoan the lack of resources available to him when he took on the "basket case" that was Richmond in late 2004.

For his first two seasons at Punt Rd he had a bare-bones recruiting staff led by Greg Miller, and no development manager until triple Brisbane Lions premiership player Craig McRae joined the club in October 2006.

Even yesterday he said the club's lack of resources had never allowed him to flourish as a coach at Richmond.

Yet Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson had all the assistants and experts he needed when he took charge in the same year as Wallace.

The reason: he was prepared to take a cut to his proposed wage if it allowed him to recruit staff

including Port Adelaide assistant and biomechanics expert David Rath.

It has never been reported before, but Clarkson volunteered to take the pay cut to give himself a full complement of support staff.

Clarkson reasoned there was no point receiving a huge pay packet if he didn't have the support to execute his grand plans. Five years later he has a premiership and a contract that, on rough estimates, puts him in the top third of coaches on pay alone.

And Hawthorn's success is generating $4 million profits that mean it can recruit any coach, expert or external consultant.

There is scarcely a player at Hawthorn who does not achieve his maximum potential, such is the devotion to their development.

Wallace has been cruelled by the overwhelming lack of development that took place before McRae came on board.

The list of players who have failed to live up to their potential is long: among them Danny Meyer, Cleve Hughes, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Adam Pattison, Dean Polo, Jay Schulz and Richard Tambling.

What few supporters realise is that lack of development was the problem, not their recruitment.

In 2004, Tambling was acclaimed as the best indigenous youngster since Essendon champion Michael Long.

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy was shattered Richmond's No. 12 selection that year, Danny Meyer, did not make it to Windy Hill.

But at Richmond, many of those highly rated youngsters stagnated through a combination of factors headed by a lack of quality time with a good development coach.

Former Queensland under-18s coach McRae is known as a superb developer of young talent, but for Wallace the horse had bolted.

It was not his fault the Tigers handed him a weighty cheque and a five-year deal.

But he must be wishing he had followed Clarkson's lead and funnelled some of that cash into an extra assistant or development coach.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25572596-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Super salesman Wallace laments the bottom line
Greg Baum | June 2, 2009

THE move that led to Richmond's last and match-winning goal before a date for the end of Terry Wallace's coaching career was agreed began in the dying seconds at Subiaco Oval last Saturday night with Joel Bowden.

At almost 31, in his 14th season and the only current player other than Matthew Richardson to have played in a final for the Tigers, Bowden has been a wonderful servant and remains an astute footballer, as he now demonstrated by recognising that a gamble was needed if Richmond was to win, and dashing to the wing.

But Bowden also has come to represent old Richmond, from the other side of the black hole that Wallace long ago identified in the club's playing personnel, the sort of player who might already have been moved on if the Tigers had managed to patch up that hole with crafty recruiting and were following a logical path to premiership contention, beginning with a place in the finals this year.

Bowden passed to Trent Cotchin, who at 19, yet already showing Judd-like capability, is the face of new Richmond, taken at No. 2 in the 2007 draft and one the Tigers did get right — officials brook no dissent when they say they would have taken him even if Carlton had overlooked Matthew Kreuzer — but who because of injury was playing only his third match in 2009 and so stood for a more fundamental explanation for what had gone wrong this year.

Wallace dared to imagine yesterday that if it was not for the injuries to Cotchin, Richardson, Ben Cousins and Nathan Brown, this story might yet have had a different ending.

Cotchin hit up Mitch Morton. Morton could be said to characterise the flawed and fascinating institution that for 30 years has been Richmond Football Club, a character even Wallace and all his energy and charisma ultimately was powerless to subvert: talented, eye-catching, watchable, a refugee of the system, capable of the prodigious, but also of the calamitous, a mystery perhaps even to themselves.

Two weeks previously, Morton's decision to play on — a brain fade — had cost the Tigers a game against Port Adelaide and set in train a messy series of events that shook the sangfroid of the playing group and made yesterday's announcement a matter of when, not if. Now, blithely, audaciously, Morton played on again and kicked the winning goal. It made Wallace a rare example of a coach who was sacked after a victory.

The trouble, of course, was that it was only the second of a season in which, despite all the hope and goodwill engendered by a strong finish last year, the drafting of the renegade Cousins and Wallace's trademark optimism, the premiership now looked as far away as ever. "Premierships are what it's about," Wallace acknowledged yesterday.

And Wallace the coach retires with none. Yesterday's reflections on his achievements were instructive. Richmond president Gary March's dwelled on pre-match warm-ups, now practised by all clubs, the "uber" flood, the "basketball" game, even his ground-breaking participation in the Year of the Dog documentary when coaching the Bulldogs.

Wallace himself nominated the move of Richardson to the wing, so nearly gaining him what would have been one of the most popular Brownlow Medals of all, and recruiting Cousins when no one else dared. Neither mentioned famous victories — at Richmond, there were too few — nor finals campaigns — there was none. It is a hard business; it is a cruel bottom line.

The truest that can be said of Wallace's exit was that it was in character. Necessarily, an AFL coach is a salesman. This is not meant pejoratively. He must sell a game plan to his players, the future to his board, hope to his supporters, cogency to the media. None did this better than Wallace.

Yesterday, he was still at the whiteboard, still performing. As March made his fateful announcement, Wallace smiled, grimaced once, swallowed hard another time, winked at a friend, all nervous tics. But when he spoke, it was without quaver, nor pause, for around 15 minutes.

He said that as he wanted to work at a club next year — Gold Coast would seem a perfect fit — it would be incongruous to continue inside one that will become a rival. In any case, there was no point trying "to hold on to something that perhaps was not there (any more)".

He looked back on his time at the Bulldogs as "14 wonderful years and one horrible week", and apologised to Bulldogs fans and president David Smorgon for what was seen to be his abandonment of the club in 2002. Friday night will show if time has led to forgiveness.

Richmond, he said, had been a "basket case" when he arrived, without even a recruiting officer until his second year and a development coach until his third. He said it was a moot point who made a series of ill-fated recruiting decisions that were seen to have cruelled the Tigers' advancement. "But the bottom line is that the buck stops with the senior coach," he said.

He said his leaving of Richmond was a mutual decision, reached civilly and without acrimony. He said he was hardy enough to have weathered the recent media storm easily, but that it had been "tough" on the players. This appeared to drive to the heart of the matter.

He said his foremost emotion yesterday was confusion, but today would be determination, to see the job through professionally. "The long journey of 32 years has finished," he said. Contemplating his legacy, he said: "I say I've added to the game. History will judge if I've added to the Richmond Football Club."

The sacking of a coach ought not to shock at Punt Road; there have been 11 since the last premiership. Like Wallace, all had believed that they could save the club from itself. Wallace, like all of them, failed. Heroically.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/super-salesman-wallace-laments-the-bottom-line/2009/06/01/1243708402553.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Terry Wallace's coaching career of tinkering with 112 wins from 246 games
Stephen Rielly | June 02, 2009 | The Australian

RICHMOND president Gary March meant well yesterday, when he described Terry Wallace as an innovative football coach.

His participation in a well received documentary a decade ago, his enthusiastic co-operation with the media, his ability to pluck a tactical rabbit from his hat on occasion, March said, allowed Wallace that much.

It was a Wallace-coached Western Bulldogs side that engineered Essendon's sole defeat in 2000 and a Wallace-coached Richmond 22 that confounded Adelaide in 2006, the president pointed out.

What March declined to say, of course, was that Essendon won the flag with a 24-1 record nine years ago and Adelaide, befuddled for a day, got to within two kicks of a grand final in 2006 when the Tigers again finished ninth. That those sides were concerned with winning wars, not battles.

And so, as well intentioned as he sought to be, March only reinforced the view that, ultimately, Wallace's career as a coach has been superficial. That his achievements, such as they are, have been peripheral, amounted to little more than tinkering.

When Wallace finishes up this Friday night, against the Bulldogs, he will have coached for the best part of 12 seasons. In the last seven of those - two with the Dogs and five with Richmond - finals have eluded his teams.

It could, therefore, be argued that one of his finest achievements was to coach for so long without ever taking a team to a grand final. He got close with consecutive preliminary finals in 1997 and 1998, but was never a contender again. His overall record of 112 wins from 246 matches screams of mediocrity.

His Richmond years will be his last. It is worth remembering that Wallace preferred the post at Punt Rd over the same position at Hawthorn in 2004 because, as he said at the time, the Tigers' list was better.

Richmond has not played finals since and, at 2-8, seems certain to finish in the bottom four for the second time in three years.

The Hawks, admittedly a far more disciplined and financially able club, have already won another premiership and seem set to contend throughout the coming years, when the draft system that would ordinarily give the Tigers a helping hand will instead serve to establish new teams on the Gold Coast and in western Sydney.

Understandably, Wallace doesn't agree with the view that by taking the Tigers all the way from 16th to 15th in five years the club is in no better shape now than it was when he took over from Danny Frawley.

And yet, apart from Trent Cotchin and Brett Deledio, Richmond's best players are their oldest, players such as Matthew Richardson and Joel Bowden, who were principals for Frawley.

Wallace said that losing close games and not having his elite troupe available often enough this year had brought the club to its knees, and to yesterday's announcement. Of the four players he mentioned in that regard, only Cotchin is younger than 30. Richardson, Nathan Brown and Ben Cousins were the others he spoke of, all of whom could be gone by the season's end. What future then?

Wisely, Wallace made no mention of the recruiting pattern established on his watch that began with Mark Graham in 2004, built with Patrick Bowden in 2005, Graham Polak in 2006 and Kent Kingsley in 2007, and culminated in Cousins' arrival last December.

Even so, Wallace described the second chance granted to Cousins by Richmond as a proud moment, one of two that came to mind yesterday. The other was the decision to shift a 33-year-old Richardson to the wing last year, thereby giving the champion and veteran some respite from his key forward responsibilities in his twilight years.

"You only had to go to the Brownlow Medal last year ... the whole of the public and footy people got to see what a magnificent athlete Matthew is," Wallace said.

A little later he added: "Earlier this year, I said that if the last decision I made in football was to give a champion of our game one last opportunity, that would be something that I would live with very comfortably. To give Ben Cousins another opportunity to play the game was, I felt, the right thing."

It was at this point that a comparison made by Wallace himself to former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas made complete sense. Thomas, who gave rotating captains and managerial jargon to the lexicon of the game, didn't win a grand final or get any closer to one than a preliminary final, either.

Success eluded them both.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25571789-2722,00.html

[one-eyed]

Richmond's game plan was no plan at all
Jake Niall | June 2, 2009

TERRY Wallace failed, in large part, because he and Richmond did not deliver the game plan he promised in the area that was most crucial to his success: list management.

Upon receiving a five-year contract in recognition of the difficulties ahead, Wallace pledged that the Tigers, who had suffered for repeatedly taking short cuts in their recruiting, would take a long-term view; they would grow their own, be patient and eventually bring home the bacon.

"Supporters want to see their own players developed," Wallace said at the announcement of his appointment. The inference was clear — the Tigers had to invest in the draft, and in youth, and not be tempted by the call of the quick fix.

As a coach with five years to deliver, Wallace had a unique opportunity to prune back the list, offload older players and even to trade some proven performers who wouldn't give the club much in 2008 and 2009, when the Tigers were supposed to be in flag contention.

At first, it appeared Wallace and his then powerful football director Greg Miller — whose role in the 2004 election victory that followed Wallace's appointment gave him even greater clout at Tigerland — would stick to that obvious plan and "go long" (term) in rebuilding the list.

The Tigers let Brad Ottens walk to Geelong and received two first round draft picks, following the path employed by St Kilda when it lost Barry Hall to Sydney. Consequently, the Tigers entered the 2004 national draft — a day that would define the futures of Richmond and the club Wallace had spurned, Hawthorn — with picks 1, 4, 12, 16 and 20.

The story of how Hawthorn, which had picks 2 and 5, ended up with premiership pillars in Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin, compared to the pacy pair of Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling, has been recounted often in the tale of how two clubs went in different directions.

But the choices that Richmond subsequently made should not be discounted either. In order, the Tigers chose Danny Meyer (since delisted), Adam Pattison (minimal impact) and Dean Polo (foot soldier).

Five picks inside 20 in a defining draft yielded only one elite, A-grade performer — Deledio.

More recruiting miscues followed in 2005, after the Tigers had enjoyed a solid season, finishing 12th but winning 10 games. Their first two draft choices were spent on Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls (pick No. and Cleve Hughes (No. 24), players who appear destined for delisting at season's end.

Mistakes begat the short-cuts Wallace had said he would avoid; the Tigers traded "down" in the draft, or gave up picks outright for Graham Polak, Mitch Morton and — most unsuccessfully — Jordan McMahon.

Wallace had also picked up an unhealthy number of discards, starting with his first bob-each-way bet, Mark Graham, in 2004. He and Miller would bring in Trent Knobel, Patrick Bowden and Kent Kingsley.

It's noteworthy that many of the seasoned imports or discards were required to fill key positions at either end. The Tigers were chasing their own tail, seeking to compensate for their failure to find players capable of playing down the spine in 2004 and 2005.

To what degree was Wallace responsible for these calls? Certainly, like all coaches, he was involved in any decision to give up a pick, though blame for the botched execution of selections might be laid with the recruiters.

Wallace yesterday said the question of responsibility for the list was "probably the most fascinating part of the whole game", suggesting that if he was to be blamed at Richmond, he might deserve some credit for the stronger position of the Bulldogs.

"It is the unknown, but the bottom line is that the buck stops with the senior coach." It did yesterday.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/richmonds-game-plan-was-no-plan-at-all/2009/06/01/1243708402550.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Resolute leadership is parting gift
Patrick Smith | June 02, 2009 | The Australian

WELL, it's one way to push that bizarre bloke Ben Cousins off the back page. Get your coach to resign.

The Birdman barely rated a mention after 10am yesterday when the news bubbled with the imminent announcement of Terry Wallace's resignation at Richmond.

Wallace had one more game in him and told the world so at a packed news conference at Punt Rd at midday. Closer analysis however would suggest it was more a job application than a retirement. Wallace was keen to underline his corporate background in the media business, a significant supplement to his CV now that he concedes coaching is a younger man's game.

There's a job going begging in the sun, perfect for any man with a yearning for a good tan. The Gold Coast needs a man of Wallace's experience, equilibrium and knowledge. He would make the perfect general manager of the new franchise. Whether that is his future time will tell, but he definitely sees the next phase of his professional life in club management and not coaching.

The early exit of Wallace was flagged in The Australian last Wednesday and his last hurrah - that's if the Western Bulldogs supporters forgive him - will be on Friday night against his old club. His 501st game as both player and coach will signal an early end to Wallace's five-year contract but in which the club has learnt much, even if it was in a clumsy and haphazard way.

To appoint Wallace for five years was the right decision, though it was criticised heavily at the time. It gave him ample opportunity to develop a list of his making and drenched in his coaching philosophy. That he got close to the finals but never reached them limited his opportunity to scoop the best of the talent pool with early picks in the draft.

The club and Wallace have made mistakes that sat about to haunt them. In 2007 Wallace briefed the media about the Tigers list, what he needed to do to it, where it might all end up. As it was, the coach said the list would mature into a genuine premiership menace in 2011. It was a measured evaluation of the Tigers list - where it had strength, where it was weak, where it was too old, where it was too young.

Wallace did not say the club would have to wait until 2011, rather it was how the list was tracking before season 2007. He was strangled by the media for his frankness. The briefing was seen as a smokescreen for his first two years which did not produce a finals appearance. Whatever the exact intent of the briefing, the manner in which it was portrayed by a significant amount of reportage and commentary proved destabilising to the club's ambitions. That season the club won just three games and Wallace's judgment would forever be questioned.

Ultimately though, Wallace's list never took the shape or form that suggested even his delayed premiership was truly ever going to be possible. The side rallied late last year, winning eight of its last 11 games to finish ninth for the second time in three years.

President Gary March thought this was neither here nor there. Publicly, he appeared more than a tad disappointed which no doubt was a reflection of other people within the club who had become uneasy at Wallace's slow progress in improving the side. It caused friction between the coach and the president that was always going to prove fatal.

With March's obvious lack of enthusiasm for Wallace's 2008 season, coupled with his announcement that the coach's position would be reviewed mid-season, Wallace's tenure had become almost indefensible. Tony Free, a former captain, was brought in to make an independent assessment. It was thought to be hardly flattering. At that very moment the club should have stood down Wallace or reappointed him for another year.

That it didn't meant that the supporters, media and everybody else lined up behind Wallace with a collection of stilettos, chainsaws, bazookas, axes, spears, pitchforks and daggers. The first sign that the Tigers would struggle in 2009 meant that the coach would be set upon with a flurry of weapons and all aimed at his back.

The tension was quadrupled when the Tigers were the only club prepared to take Cousins after his 12-month ban by the AFL commission was lifted, albeit with heavy impositions on the Brownlow medallist. It was the worst possible thing the club could have done. The supporter base is volatile with unrealistic opinions of its team's ability. Accordingly, fans and members contrived an equation that meant Richmond plus Cousins equalled finals success. When Richmond lost the first match to Carlton - an 83-point thrashing - Wallace was effectively doomed. When he lost the next three, the last against the embryonic Melbourne, the coach was never going to see the season out.

As the call for Wallace's head moved from hysterical to obscene, March and his administration ran and hid. They simply could not be found. That no one heard from chief executive Steve Wright was not unexpected and it didn't much matter that they didn't. Given that he had not been seen for more than a decade, no one would have known what he looked like anyway.

General manager of football Craig Cameron spent the height of the controversy locked in a cupboard. March lost his tongue. And the club lost its way altogether. Only when the club had to sort out player disquiet after the disastrous loss to Port Adelaide did it come of age.

March was assertive, Cameron decisive and astute. Together they pulled the club together when it threatened to roll recklessly to the very brink. It might have been the remaking of the club. It certainly gave birth to a new, resolute and aware leadership forced to deal with what ultimately was Wallace's less-than-mediocre results. Cameron and March then managed the situation as best as anyone could and brought Wallace to the place where he knew he must stand down.

And that might prove to be Wallace's greatest legacy. His demise, shambolic at the start and dignified at the end, was the making of Cameron and March and reignited Richmond's self-esteem. Victories are not always recorded on the scoreboard. The season 2009 might yet be Wallace's very best year, not for what he did but how his failings forced others to lead the club and not just head it.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25571790-12270,00.html

[one-eyed]

Friendly fire as Wallace resigns as Tiger coach
Caroline Wilson | June 2, 2009

TERRY Wallace and Richmond president Gary March famously fell out for four messy weeks at the end of the 2008 season. But by midday yesterday, when the end finally came for Wallace, the two men behaved like genuine friends.

So much so that before the news conference in one of football's grittier graveyards — the Richmond Social Club — Wallace asked March whether he would mind if the outgoing coach could use the occasion to make a long-overdue apology to his old club, the Western Bulldogs.

If Wallace's imminent sacking had been the AFL's worst-kept secret of 2009, then the seven-year-old story of how Wallace quit as Bulldogs coach on the promise of the coaching position in Sydney has haunted him since the Bulldogs players refused to play under him for what should have been his last game at that club in 2002.

Conceding his 32 years as an AFL player and coach would come to an end, coincidentally against the Bulldogs, on Friday night, Wallace said he was sorry for how he had behaved in his final week at his former club. He directed the apology to the Bulldogs players, supporters and president David Smorgon.

Smorgon was surprised to learn of the Wallace apology. The Age caught up with him yesterday in Queensland, where he had been unaware the coach and Richmond were parting company, despite some premature speculation a fortnight ago.

"It takes a man of strength to admit he's done the wrong thing," said Smorgon, "and in doing so Terry has done the right thing. I accept his apology and I look forward to knocking him off on Friday night."

Confirming that Wallace — "a great player for our club" — had never returned to the Whitten Oval since leaving, Smorgon declared him welcome at any time.

Richmond entered the 2009 season full of hope, and the coach firmly believed he could take the team to its first finals appearance since 2001.

But like so many massive theatrical productions, the Tigers never recovered from their disastrous opening night against Carlton, and the firm decision to replace Wallace as coach was made towards the middle of May.

For almost three weeks it had been obvious to all parties that the end was near, and by the time Wallace drove to March's South Melbourne house on Sunday night he knew it was all over.

Wallace said he was leaving now because the situation was becoming untenable, not so much for him but for the players, who had not coped well with the constant speculation.

Captain Chris Newman, who confronted him two weeks ago after the close loss to Port Adelaide but never fell out with the coach, stood alongside his teammate Joel Bowden observing the proceedings yesterday, along with Wallace's assistants, from whom his short-term replacement will come.

March said it was better that Wallace depart now given the massive decisions facing the club, particularly regarding its underperforming playing list and the ageing 30-somethings on it. Richmond remains a club that has never known success in the expanded AFL and has not won a premiership for almost three decades.

Wallace had hoped that yesterday's formal parting with the Tigers would end the undue pressure that had been placed upon him and his family. But that was not the case.

Last night he told The Age he was "very angry" at the harassment of his family by the Herald Sun. The newspaper had offered to pay his wife, Kerryn, for an exclusive interview in today's paper and remained parked outside the Wallace home last night. While Kerryn briefly left the house to collect her husband from a regular catch-up with friends, the newspaper, according to Wallace, had twice approached the house and attempted to interview his teenage sons.

Wallace's dignified performance yesterday included his stated ambition to remain working in football.

Despite the bridges he has set out to rebuild, there remain some enemies who would describe it as karma that he chose Richmond over Hawthorn five years ago and that Sydney ultimately overlooked him for Paul Roos.

He said his apology had taken seven years partly because of legal issues, and it is known there was some form of settlement with Sydney.

Two years ago, Wallace insulted his predecessor Danny Frawley when he described the Richmond he had inherited as a "train wreck". Yesterday he described the Tigers at the end of 2004 as a "basket case — a club with no recruiting boss, no development coach and no talented 21 to 23-year-olds".

Certainly, there was no process in place to choose the coach. Wallace was handpicked by the Tigers' then football boss, Greg Miller, and former president Clinton Casey, who were in election mode.

He was handed a five-year contract worth an estimated $2.5 million — the remainder of which he will receive in a deal struck eight days ago.

Given that the Casey regime had seen the club plunge $4 million into debt, there was not much money left for anything else. The president won his election but resigned a year later. Miller was sacked just over a year ago.

Richmond has ended the coaching careers of many men, good and bad. Asked his overriding emotion, Wallace replied: "Confusion."

Tigerland does that to people.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/friendly-fire-as-terry-quits/2009/06/01/1243708405711.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[Jackstar is back]

all very interesting.
Most players had a huge smile yesterday.
 

[WilliamPowell]

Well I can confirm that Mark Robinson finally got something right

Gary March was indeed on the red-eye back from Perth on Saturday/Sunday night 

Well done Robbo 

[Jackstar is back]

Well I can confirm that Mark Robinson finally got something right

Gary March was indeed on the red-eye back from Perth on Saturday/Sunday night 

Well done Robbo 

You werent sitting in 35B were you  ???????????????????????????

[Stripes]

Richmond's game plan was no plan at all
Jake Niall | June 2, 2009

TERRY Wallace failed, in large part, because he and Richmond did not deliver the game plan he promised in the area that was most crucial to his success: list management.

The Tigers let Brad Ottens walk to Geelong and received two first round draft picks, following the path employed by St Kilda when it lost Barry Hall to Sydney. Consequently, the Tigers entered the 2004 national draft — a day that would define the futures of Richmond and the club Wallace had spurned, Hawthorn — with picks 1, 4, 12, 16 and 20.

The story of how Hawthorn, which had picks 2 and 5, ended up with premiership pillars in Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin, compared to the pacy pair of Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling, has been recounted often in the tale of how two clubs went in different directions.

But the choices that Richmond subsequently made should not be discounted either. In order, the Tigers chose Danny Meyer (since delisted), Adam Pattison (minimal impact) and Dean Polo (foot soldier).

Five picks inside 20 in a defining draft yielded only one elite, A-grade performer — Deledio.

More recruiting miscues followed in 2005, after the Tigers had enjoyed a solid season, finishing 12th but winning 10 games. Their first two draft choices were spent on Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls (pick No. and Cleve Hughes (No. 24), players who appear destined for delisting at season's end.

Wallace had also picked up an unhealthy number of discards, starting with his first bob-each-way bet, Mark Graham, in 2004. He and Miller would bring in Trent Knobel, Patrick Bowden and Kent Kingsley.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/richmonds-game-plan-was-no-plan-at-all/2009/06/01/1243708402550.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

It hurts to say but our recruiting and injury blows have really hurt our list development over the years. Brown, Meyer and Polak cost high picks but never realised their potential at Tigerland due to injuries. This hurts but was not the clubs fault.    Perhaps, in hindsight, we should have kept the picks and used them for younger players, but this is just plain bad luck for mine.

The second group - including Paddy Bowden, Graham, Kinsley, Knobel and possibly (time will tell) Thomson and Hislop - were a error in judgement. They may have cost us low draft picks but they have cost us list depth at the very least.

I understand the stats say that only 30% of draftees play more than 20 games but we are lacking the quality in our list rather than the quanity. Only players such as Lids and Cotchin can fit into the quality bracket which is a slur on the club recruiters.

My only hope is that our list remains young and full of potential. I only hope that a new coach with a new game plan can motivate our average players into good players and our good into great. 

My hope remains that we can find more quality with this years draft.......

Stripes

[WilliamPowell]

You werent sitting in 35B were you  ???????????????????????????

Nope and neither was Gary 

[Francois Jackson]

Richmond's game plan was no plan at all
Jake Niall | June 2, 2009

TERRY Wallace failed, in large part, because he and Richmond did not deliver the game plan he promised in the area that was most crucial to his success: list management.

The Tigers let Brad Ottens walk to Geelong and received two first round draft picks, following the path employed by St Kilda when it lost Barry Hall to Sydney. Consequently, the Tigers entered the 2004 national draft — a day that would define the futures of Richmond and the club Wallace had spurned, Hawthorn — with picks 1, 4, 12, 16 and 20.

The story of how Hawthorn, which had picks 2 and 5, ended up with premiership pillars in Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin, compared to the pacy pair of Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling, has been recounted often in the tale of how two clubs went in different directions.

But the choices that Richmond subsequently made should not be discounted either. In order, the Tigers chose Danny Meyer (since delisted), Adam Pattison (minimal impact) and Dean Polo (foot soldier).

Five picks inside 20 in a defining draft yielded only one elite, A-grade performer — Deledio.

More recruiting miscues followed in 2005, after the Tigers had enjoyed a solid season, finishing 12th but winning 10 games. Their first two draft choices were spent on Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls (pick No. and Cleve Hughes (No. 24), players who appear destined for delisting at season's end.

Wallace had also picked up an unhealthy number of discards, starting with his first bob-each-way bet, Mark Graham, in 2004. He and Miller would bring in Trent Knobel, Patrick Bowden and Kent Kingsley.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/richmonds-game-plan-was-no-plan-at-all/2009/06/01/1243708402550.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

It hurts to say but our recruiting and injury blows have really hurt our list development over the years. Brown, Meyer and Polak cost high picks but never realised their potential at Tigerland due to injuries. This hurts but was not the clubs fault.    Perhaps, in hindsight, we should have kept the picks and used them for younger players, but this is just plain bad luck for mine.

The second group - including Paddy Bowden, Graham, Kinsley, Knobel and possibly (time will tell) Thomson and Hislop - were a error in judgement. They may have cost us low draft picks but they have cost us list depth at the very least.

I understand the stats say that only 30% of draftees play more than 20 games but we are lacking the quality in our list rather than the quanity. Only players such as Lids and Cotchin can fit into the quality bracket which is a slur on the club recruiters.

My only hope is that our list remains young and full of potential. I only hope that a new coach with a new game plan can motivate our average players into good players and our good into great. 

My hope remains that we can find more quality with this years draft.......

Stripes

your best post to date

100% correct