Tigers well-placed: Wallace
1:01:31 PM Fri 6 January, 2006
Jason Phelan
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond is not as advanced at this stage of its pre-season as at the same time last year, but is better placed to attack the coming season according to coach Terry Wallace.
That might seem like a contradiction, but right in the middle of his second pre-season at Punt Road, Wallace explains that the Tigers' program as a whole has matured and benefited from a year of stability.
"We're probably not as advanced as what we were at the same stage last year when we probably had a different type of program," Wallace said at training at Punt Road on Friday.
"When I say we're not as advanced, I mean as in if we had to play today we wouldn't be as prepared as we were last year - but we don't need to play today. Last year we got them up and going very early because I needed to find out what I had - so we got them into game mode earlier because that's a better assessment mode.
"I needed them that way and then we had to maintain that from Christmas time onwards, whereas this time we've probably had a lesser program that's more progressive and we've layered it a bit more than last year. It's given us more time from a learning perspective to spend more time with the guys individually more than being team-oriented.
"So I guess we're more advanced in certain areas - as individuals we've probably got more work into them - but from a game perspective we're not as advanced."
A season of promising development on the field has instilled a level of self-belief in the playing group that has allowed Wallace to take a longer-term approach to these pre-season preparations.
"For us it was more about confidence - getting them up and getting them going. We needed to win practice matches last year because we'd lost 14 in a row and we needed to show the guys they could win," he said.
"We were playing every game like there was no tomorrow whether it was in February or in May.
"We're in a completely different position now - this year I know what I've got and how I need to layer it whereas last year I had no idea what I had. It's a big difference."
Wallace agreed that such an intense pre-season program probably gave rise to the Tigers fast start to 2005, but admits it also was a factor in their late-season fade out.
"Most of our blokes had played 10 games by the time the season started so they were in stride at that stage," he said.
"But it might have been a case where there was a little bit of burnout towards the end of the season, and I would think our pre-season would be a part of the contributing factor why we burned out a little bit. But from where we'd come from, we had to take that risk."
A healthier group has also allowed Wallace to work with the bulk of his players this year.
"Last year we had a lot of soft tissue injuries in the lead-up to Christmas," he said.
"We had 12 or 15 blokes off the track because they were struggling to take the workload, whereas this year we've been able to keep virtually all the players on the track at all times."
And while Wallace is happy with where Richmond's pre-season is placed as a whole, he singled out Ray Hall, Kelvin Moore, Jay Schulz, Dean Limbach and new recruit Travis Casserly for special praise for their efforts on the track.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=241991
