Former Richmond coach Terry Wallace's day off nailed bonusMark Stevens | July 23, 2009 11:57pm
TERRY Wallace's heart was telling him he could not coach to lose. His head was telling him it made no sense to coach to win.
Feeling uncomfortable and compromised as the tanking debate raged, he did neither.
Wallace earned a reputation as a sharp match-day tactician with a trick-bag full of moves.
Yet on a dark day at the MCG two years ago, he barely made any.
The former Richmond coach basically sat on his hands and watched the Round 22 match against St Kilda in 2007 unfold.
His magnetic board man normally had the toughest job at the club. This day, at the MCG, he had it easy.
Chris Hyde, a hard worker more than a game breaker, was given rare extra time to play in the midfield.
Other players were left in spots longer than usual.
Chris Newman, the Tigers' best player that day with 32 disposals, was on the bench when the game was up for grabs late.
Wallace, though, has clarified that strange twist, saying Newman was on the bench because of an interchange mix-up involving Shane Tuck.
The coach sat back in the box and Newman looked on from the bench as a dropped mark by Graham Polak and an untimely turnover or two cost the Tigers the game.
Richmond led by nine points 12 minutes into the final term when Kayne Pettifer kicked a behind.
But the Saints kicked the final three goals of the game, winning by 10 points.
It was the perfect result.
Wallace knew the club was far better off long term finishing last on the ladder.
A loss ensured the Tigers would finish last on 14 points and come under the 16-point threshold, guaranteeing the club Trent Cotchin and a priority pick after the first round of the draft.
Wallace said the Tigers knew Carlton would take Matthew Kreuzer with the No. 1 pick it would earn for winning four games or fewer two years running.
If the Tigers had beaten St Kilda, they would have handed pick No. 2 to Carlton and been forced to settle for pick No. 3.
Given Chris Judd was leaving West Coast, under that scenario the Blues would have surely given up pick No. 2 to the Eagles to land their man.
That would have given West Coast the option of taking Cotchin with No. 2, leaving the Tigers to miss out.
The other reward for losing was pick No. 18, the priority after the first round, which the Tigers used to take Alex Rance.
Both Cotchin and Rance look 10-year players.
In an interview 40 minutes before that game, Wallace conceded he felt compromised going into battle.
Looking back on his experience of being torn by the lure of a priority pick, Wallace told Channel 7 recently: "As a coach, it was a very tough day at the office.
"I just coached and let them play in the exactly the same positions they played in all day."
Given the rewards on offer, you can understand why.
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