No tank order for Rawlings
Greg Denham | June 08, 2009 | The Australian
INTERIM Richmond senior coach Jade Rawlings will not be instructed to tank matches for the rest of the season in order for the Tigers to get a national draft concession in November.
Rawlings, who on Saturday was appointed to take over from Terry Wallace for the remaining 11 games this season, will not be requested to compromise his new responsibilities, according to Richmond general manager of football operations Craig Cameron.
"There have not been and will not be any instructions not to win," Cameron said yesterday. "The tank is not on."
Richmond has won two of its first 11 matches this season and if it finishes the season with less than 20 premiership points it becomes eligible to have another national draft selection in between the first and second rounds.
"We'll play some developing blokes, but we also want to give our supporters hope for the rest of the season and in the future," Cameron said. "We want to win games while we're developing some of our younger players."
Richmond has used 35 players at senior level already this season, but under Rawlings, 31, it expects to blood several more players in the run home, including its first two national draft choices from last year, teenagers Tyrone Vickery and Jayden Post, and up to two more rookie-listed players.
Developing ruckman Vickery, the eighth overall choice last November, is likely to soon make his senior debut, possibly as a tall-forward option.
Other players who appear certain to get more opportunities include Shane Edwards and last year's pick-ups Adam Thomson (from Port Adelaide) and Tom Hislop (from Essendon) who are both contracted until the end of 2010.
It is also understood Rawlings will attempt to simplify Richmond's game plan and settle several players into more permanent positions, starting with last year's best-and-fairest winner Brett Deledio, who has been played in a variety of roles in the first half of the season.
The decision to appoint Rawlings, the Tigers' coach of their VFL affiliate club Coburg, ahead of its midfield coach and former captain Wayne Campbell, was made by Cameron, chief executive Steven Wright and club psychologist Jeff Bond, and was ratified by the Richmond board. Directors will meet tomorrow night to initiate a plan for the future, including the recommendation of the immediate formation of a sub-committee to oversee the appointment of a full-time coach.
Richmond favoured Rawlings because of his 18-month stint with Coburg, where he coached in his own right, and because it did not want to disrupt the work being done by its line coaches Campbell, David King (defenders) and Brian Royal, who oversees the club's forward structure.
Rawlings, who played 148 games with Hawthorn (116), the Western Bulldogs (29) and North Melbourne (three before retiring in 2006), will make his senior debut against West Coast on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
"The main thing I want to get out is that one season's gone and a new one's starting, and we really want to get some life into the second half of the year," Rawlings said.
"This place is a fantastic footy club, and I'm lucky to be part of it, I think the fundamentals are pretty good."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25602159-5012432,00.html
