So clearly you have all heard the rumors that Terry Wallace has one foot in the grave at the Richmond Football Club. But is there really trouble brewing in Tigerland? Here is what the writers from ContestedFooty think of Terry Wallace’s situation.
Christine Cladakis:
Four rounds into the year and there is already a coach’s career on the rocks. Terry Wallace has been the coach of Richmond since August 2004. He coached Richmond to 12th position on the ladder in his first year and since then they have two 9th positions (just missing out on finals) and a wooden spoon to their name. As a result of these performances and the Tigers start to 2009 his coaching future with Richmond is under scrutiny and that’s understandable.
After round four, the Tigers have yet to win a game, but in their first four games they have played 3 teams that according to TAB Sportsbet are amoungst the top 4 contenders for the flag. This isn’t to say they were beaten simply because the opposition was better, they lost because they were completely dominated and overwhelmed and perhaps because of the amount of pressure placed upon them. Their most recent loss was to last years wooden spooners Melbourne which has added pressure.
Vishan Jayasinghe:
4 years on and still in the same spot, A large amount of the Tigers better players are above 30 and we have seen limited improvement from there youngsters. I would be stating the obvious when I say that Terry Wallace is gone.
To me, the problem lies in Recruiting. The players picked whilst Greg Miller was the head recruiter during the important drafts of 2004/2005 when they picked up the likes of Tambling, Meyer, and Jarrad Oakley Nicholls when they had high draft picks seems to point to the reason why they have stagnated. It should be the natural improvement of those players, and the players from that draft that should be helping the club into the 8. Instead it’s the lack of presence in various ways by those players that have the Tigers stuck in no-mans land again.
Ben Fullerton:
The Tigers are 0-4 after round 4, but lets give them a break. Everyone seems to forget that they have played the Bulldogs, Geelong and Carlton in 3 of those rounds and all those teams are finals contenders. At least two of them are top 4 contenders. Yes the loss to Melbourne was horrible but it was largely the players fault I think. From all accounts (that’s right I did not see the match so am going on other people’s opinions here) Richmond played a horrible game of football. That is the players fault not the coach’s.
James Rose:
I’d expect one of two things to happen, either Wallace is going to see out the year or they are going to come up with some sort of transition program where he coaches with the help of the future coach of the club. I quite like the transition idea but it is dependent on all parties swallowing their pride, something I doubt will happen.
The Tigers will improve, they have had a tough draw and have the ability to break a couple games open if they can click back into gear (the level they were at towards the end of last year) they have been beaten by good sides and a Melbourne side that has come to play, for mine Fremantle have more concerns.
Luke Wieselmann:
Terry Wallace is in some deep do do. He needs the team to finish in the eight, and if they are not looking like doing that, that’s when Terry will be out the door. Whether Kevin Sheedy is even interested in coaching the Tigers is another matter, maybe he likes dressing up in tights and making trades in Supercoach for a living. Hey it sounds like a decent career to me. If they lose to North this weekend there could be bloodshed in Tigerland. But lets face it, it’s not all his fault, there isn’t that much evidence he is coaching badly, and considering he is under so much pressure and so much scrutiny, you would think well informed people would be yelling and screaming about his mistakes, but they aren’t, at least not yet.
Tags: Terry Wallace
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