Reports have been flying around in the media all morning, some have reported that Terry Wallace has quit and others have reported that he has been sacked. The Richmond Football Club has held a media conference at 12 noon on Tuesday May 19th, in order to address all the media speculation that has been circulating throughout the morning regarding Terry Wallace and the Tigers parting way.
The press conference was without the presence of Terry Wallace, funnily enough, even though he is the centre of this media speculation. Richmond’s general football manager Craig Cameron did all the speaking during the conference. He revealed that he met this morning with Richmond President Gary March, Coach Terry Wallace and Senior Players. He did not go into details of the mornings meeting by stated that despite media speculation the club ”hasn’t budged from its process” meaning the club is still reviewing whether Wallace will coach in 2010. As to rumours regarding his absence at this morning’s training session, the senior players called a meeting with their coach, which caused both the players and Wallace to miss training.
The Tigers entered into season 2009 with high hopes for their future, and with the inclusion of Ben Cousins their confidence was lifted. Now, 8 rounds in, Richmond have a win loss record of 1-7, with their only win against North Melbourne in round 5.
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. The Tigers, since Wallace’s appointment have won only 35 of 97 games.
This afternoon’s announcement informs us that Wallace will remain as coach and coach the Tigers in their annual Dreamtime match against Essendon this Saturday night.
His future does remain on edge however, with the Tigers still yet to make a decision on the clubs future coach, and whether Wallace will stay or go. If he does get let go by the Tigers, who will coach the Tigers for the remainder of the 2009 season? Rumours are that Coburg Tigers Coach and former Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne player Jade Rawlings will be in contention as well as fellow assistant coaches Brian Royal, David King and Craig McRae. To the anger of a Richmond supporter I have spoken to this morning, past captain Wayne Campbell might be in consideration for taking over the reins.
If the club does eventually make a decision of who will coach the Tigers in 2010 and it is not Terry Wallace, who will it be? Will they assign a assistant coach or will it be a more experienced coach?
There are seven senior coaches out of contract at the end of the 2009 Season: Dean Laidley (Kangaroos), Mick Malthouse (Collingwood), Rodney Eade (Western Bulldogs), Mark Williams (Port Adelaide), John Worsfold (West Coast), Mark Thompson (Geelong) and the person in question at the moment Terry Wallace (Richmond). To further add to the equation are the allegations by Eddie McGuire that Kevin Sheedy would be coach if they lost to Melbourne (they did lose but Wallace remained).
As a Collingwood supporter, as much as I would like Mick Malthouse to stay with the club, it does not seem that the Pies will want to hang on to him beyond this year, especially with Nathan Buckley waiting in the wings. He has served the club well in his 10 years. Collingwood came runners up in the Grand Final in consecutive years (2002-2003) defeated both times by the Brisbane Lions. Unfortunately the Pies were never able to win the Premiership Cup they so desire. From 2000-2008 Mick Malthouse has helped the Pies finish 15th 9th, 2nd, 2nd, 13th, 15th, 5th, 6th and 8th. His win-loss ratio in his 10 seasons has been 50%.
With this, I believe that Mick Malthouse may be an option for the Tigers, however Richmond has a long way to go and with so many great options. With Craig Cameron press statement mentioned that Terry Wallace will still be coaching Richmond, and they have not reviewed whether he will coach beyond this season.
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