Campbell pulls out of runningMichael Gleeson and Jake Niall | July 15, 2009
FORMER Richmond champion player and current assistant coach Wayne Campbell has pulled out of the running to be the Tigers' next senior coach, while the club has told Dean Laidley it wants to interview him for the role.
Campbell, a four-time Jack Dyer Medal winner and captain of the club for four years, was one of the favourites to get the job and was poached from the Bulldogs as a possible successor to Terry Wallace.
"I don't think I am completely ready so I don't think it would have been fair to Richmond for me to proceed," Campbell said.
"I think I am 80 per cent ready to coach so I think that is not the right thing for the Richmond Footy Club, or for me, to proceed because this is one of the more vital decisions the club will ever have.
"I want to help the club long-term and still want to be involved and I look forward to staying on and working with whoever is appointed. I know the quality of prospective coaches is very, very strong so whoever we get will be the right person to coach the club, I am sure of that."
Campbell said he recognised his decision to withdraw meant he may never get the opportunity to be the senior coach of the club, but he was comfortable with that.
"It was a difficult decision because of what Richmond means to me but my gut feeling was I was not ready so in that sense it was an easy decision," Campbell said.
"I wanted to go for it, I think I could have done the job well but I think you need to be able to do the job really, really well.
"It is an unbelievably hard and demanding job … I know you need to have a broad knowledge of a lot of things and there's a lot of different skills involved and there were a few things I wanted more experience of before I felt ready. I want to study (a management course) and travel and better prepare myself.
"I know it means I may never get the opportunity to do that job and that is fine. My ambition to coach Richmond is something that's probably gone now really and that is OK, because my loyalty is to Richmond.
"You feel like you have to do everything in a rush but I am only 36.
"I am not sure if 10 years as an assistant is better than five years but I think there are some things I just need to be in the job as an assistant for longer for. I just think it is a good time to take a breath and and say 'I am going to be in this for a long time, what is the rush'?"
Campbell is the second favourite son to withdraw from the Tigers coaching process in days after Kevin Sheedy pulled out at the weekend. Campbell's decision has none of the resentment that accompanied Sheedy's.
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