From The Armchair #3 - Eye Of The Tiger

By No32
Terry Wallace will be the first coach sacked in 2008!!

Quite plain and simply his “5 Year” plan is not visible, not effective and not working.

Hawthorn Football Club: The appointment of Alistair Clarkson was one which shocked the football world, and even more so the fact he went up against some seasoned coaches and favourite sons in Rodney Eade and Terry Wallace. Clarkson obviously made a fair impression to knock over these two war horses, and I think this appointment was considered by many as a stop gap between Leigh Matthews returning which is a line the media and old Hawk fans wanted to hold onto, but one which I don’t think was held by the then and current board.

Clarko and Pelchen have their “methodolody” and “ranking” system for the players when they came in, and from there they started to clean house, set down the rules which many players didn’t like and they (Clarko/Pelchen) were obliging in trading them away for picks. Nathan Thompson, Jon Hay the more notable and Hawthorn started immediately stockpiling picks and drafting players not for need but for “best player available”.

Richmond also had a similar opportunity as they were losing Brad Ottens, so they also offloaded him for some high picks in the 2004 AFL Draft, and landed Troy Simmonds for Aaron Fiora in a 3 way deal so right here you would think they are “UP”. To add more intrigue Richmond (Wallace), Hawthorn (Clarkson) and Bulldogs (Eade) were in that picking order for the 04’ draft..all three new coaches at their respective clubs and all three went for the Hawthorn job.

Lets take the Top 6 from that draft. 2004 AFL Draft

1. Brett Deledio – Richmond
2. Jarryd Roughhead – Hawthorn
3. Ryan Griffen – Western Bulldogs
4. Richard Tambling – Richmond
5. Lance Franklin – Hawthorn
6. Tom Williams – Western Bulldogs

(FWIW No.7 was Jordan Lewis – Hawthorn)

Drafting is not as hit and miss as it used to be, good players don’t fall through the net as often and the mix of drafting for now and future is a delicate balancing act. Even at the time Richmond showed that they were drafting for the now and not the future. They had no class in the middle of the ground, they had Richo at CHF, Gaspar and Bowden down back. Hawthorn wanted the best players they could get and WB needed more patch work than anything Richard Tambling has the unfortunate dis-pleasure of being selected over Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis, both the later fast approaching the status of “KEY” players for Hawthorn, Franklin obviously much closer to that as he (if the draft was done again) would be the consensus No.1 pick, he has “IT”, the X Factor that puts bums on seats.

The 2005 Draft is another where Hawthorn have uncovered some more the likes of Birchall, Bailey, Ellis and the projects in Dowler/Muston (or Beau-Repaires if together).. Richmond drafted Oakley-Nicholls, Hughes.

The 2006 Draft is another where Hawthorn may have struck gold again with Mitch Thorp at 6#, and those close to the Hawks know he is bursting with ability, confidence much like and some say more than Buddy Franklin. The other factor for Mitch is he is a hard trainer and the club have had to put the stops on him at times while he has come back from some injuries…he has played one game, but at the same time he has some very good players to try and get past to get into it. Richmond traded pick 8 away for Polak and Pick 13, and he was a find for Richmond as he was forced to play forward, back and ruck due to Richmond’s lack of depth and players with any form, deserving of an AFL game…time will tell on this draft as Richmond also selected Jack Reiwoldt (cuz of Nick), who also is touted to be a star forward in time

Back to what is really at hand, Terry Wallace and his 5 year plan. Before we proceed it must also not be forgotten who also has been pulling many of the drafting and player development strings at Richmond, Greg Miller. He of North Melbourne fame where his “recruiting” genius landed Carey, Longmire for nicks and the fact he helped put that side together. Even if 75% of this is correct he has played off this even during his time at Richmond for his controlling power over the football department, recruiting and development. So frankly I am going to put them together in the same fishbowl.

Miller and Wallace and quiet simply sent Richmond Football Club back 15 years? Why 15? Prior to Wallace, Miller oversaw the years they picked up Nathan Brown and it shows where their luck was, he has spent the last 3 years out of the game with a broken leg and consequential complications. The year prior they traded Pick 2, 18 and 32 for Kane Johnson for 12, 28 and 41 and they offloaded 28 for Justin Blumfield.. more broken bones!! History will say that Pick 2# which at the time was Pick4# before the Carlton Salary Cap Scandal…still it’s pick 4 and their reason “It wasn’t a deep draft”…and 2001 they traded their way out of what looks like a pretty super draft. Pick 17 for Greg Stafford and their next pick was 33 (David Rodan, now at Port)..players selected between 17-33 were Jason Gram, Matt Maguire, Mark Seaby, Steve Johnson, Steve Armstrong, LRT, and the Campbell Brown.

Sometimes you can put alot of drafting down to luck and timing, frankly if I was a Richmond supporter for the past 7 years they just have not got it right so there has to be something endemic about their drafting, development and overall list management under the guidance of Greg Miller and Terry Wallace. They have become the laughing stock of the AFL, which used to be reserved for St Kilda and Bulldogs and they quiet frankly are a shambles. Look at the sides that have been down the bottom and rebuilt, Hawthorn, St Kilda. Sides which have been in the middle, been to the top and rebuilt again in a short space of time, Port Adelaide, Brisbane, Collingwood. The key indicator is the fact that since 1982 Richmond have played in less than 8 (IIRC) final series shows the history/culture of the club needs and over-haul.

The one major issue with Richmond is they seem to make decisions if not directly but subconsciously to appease the support base which can be fickle, touchy and wild. Now that said you would be too if Essendon experienced the success (lack of) during the time Richmond has been irrelevant. Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen in 2008.

Terry Wallace is not the man to take Richmond to the promised land, it seems his 5 year plan went out the window 5 months into the job. He has show no strong direction and sticking to the task during his tenure which is a stark contract to Clarkson at Hawthorn who even through all the supporter backlash and calling for him to be removed bring Matthews home stuck to the plan, continues to stick to the plan and Hawthorn FC are reaping those rewards.
Greg Miller also must be removed, he has as much if not more to blame for the situation they find their drafting and list in right now. He has run his race and the oil from the North Melbourne rag no longer smells. The question now is, it’s great to remove them, but then what do you replace them with?

The first thing which comes to mind is Kevin Sheedy, the favorite son coming home. Question is, does he have the right stuff to do what needs to be done at Richmond and will his vision be clear or through rose coloured glasses as his last 4 years at Essendon appeared to be through the bottom of a nice Penfold Red!
His appointment would appease many fans and would buoy them, but is this what they really need and will this and can he change the culture at Punt Road? As much as Sheedy was a great coach, in fact one of the greatest my gut instincts tells me he has lost his mojo for grasp upon the modern game and maybe more so grasp upon the “Modern Player” and List requirements. If Sheedy was appointed the only position he could hold would be of Senior Coach, that’s it!! His control must be limited, as contradictory as that sounds to changing culture, Richmond also need to ensure they are doing what is best for them.

The second option is for going to the new breed, the untried which has been lead by Alistair Clarkson and the crew include Ross Lyon, Matthew Knights, Mark Harvey, Brett Ratten, Dean Bailey and some from around the same age bracket but with a couple more years under their belts in Worsfold, Roos and Williams.

It’s hard to say which way they should go, because frankly unless one can understand the “new breed” candidates it’s hard to make a judgement call.

The one thing they do need to do is go after the best recruiter, best list manager and player development people they can find. Guys with a plan, and a plan to stick to that plan through blood, hell and high water. If the fans want to burn the house down they need to done Fire suits, if they want to pull the place down, they need to be ready with trowels, bricks and mortar at their feet, if they want heads, they are ready with Snakes Alive and a knife to cut them off and hand them out..

Either way I do not have any answers, or really and definitive opinion. The only opinion I have is that Terry Wallace is not the coach many believe him to be and Greg Miller is not the administrator he is cracked up to be either. If they need to be martyr’s show them the door as myself as an external viewer cannot understand why they have been allowed to run the club into the ground after this long and frankly Gary March to make the statements he has made is a sign that the board themselves have also become tired of the backward moving tide.

Words from my wife’s mouth as she knows TW from his football playing days. Nice guy, good player, hasn’t done much in coaching..I think he might be too soft and friendly/matey with the players (like Frawley was), you need some prick in you to get the job done and I don’t think he has that. And his success at the Bulldogs was really from the fact they already had that mongrel/prick in them (Libba, Romero, Dimmatina, Southern…)

Thats a pretty good summary from my wife..Thanks Wifey xoxo

Posted 10 March 08 in News