It’s time for people power to come to Richmond. The cheer squad, members and fans need to put their hands up to ensure Terry Wallace gets the same sort of fair go that kept Paul Roos in the job at the end of his successful 2002 stint as caretaker coach after Rodney Eade’s departure from the Swans.

Roos’s appointment cost Wallace the Swans job and sentenced him to a couple of years in the media wilderness until he took over at Punt Road in 2005.

Any fair-minded observer would have to agree that 2008 – year four of Wallace’s five-year plan – has been a successful one for the Tigers.

To get the side up the ladder from stone-cold motherless last to only half a game outside the top eight has been a terrific achievement by Wallace and his coaching staff.

It would have been even better, with finals football on the agenda this weekend, if the players had performed maybe 10 per cent better in three or four games they either lost or drew – but then, you can say that about just about any team that narrowly misses out on achieving a goal.

The pluses are there in abundance – Trent Cotchin, Mitch Morton, Jack Riewoldt and Will Thursfield, to name a few, have shown that they will be forces to be reckoned with in the next few years.

The strengthening of the side – through careful blending of outstanding young talent with experienced players who are finally seeing some reward for their efforts in the lean times – should have club officials reaching for the cheque book to re-sign Wallace for another two or three years after his contract expires at the end of next season.

But instead, the club president, Gary March (Gary who?), has gone on public record as saying the team’s effort this year is worthy of only a five out of 10 rating, and there are mutterings that the board could be trying to find a way to get a new coach a year early.

Fans would be entitled to think that, after all the upheaval of recent years, including the hamfisted handling of Danny Frawley’s departure, the people running Richmond would be sitting back with smiles on their faces and looking forward with much anticipation to the next few seasons – a premiership in, say, 2011 or 2012 would be a distinct possibility if this group keeps up its present trend.

Gun West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr as a recruit for 2009, if there was any substance to such a move, would reinforce this view, although West Coast are adamant Kerr will stay put for the final year of his contract, and if he did move he’d be wise to join former teammate Chris Judd at Carlton rather than chance his arm as a pawn in a president v coach power struggle.

Wallace has said he’ll never coach anywhere else, but who could blame him for revising that thinking if he doesn’t get the support he needs where he is?

It’s understandable that Wallace doesn’t want to go through the whole process of rebuilding a struggling team again, but he might consider overtures from the AFL and the new Gold Coast club to help out in some kind of overseeing role in the lead-up to the team’s introduction.

Barring Wallace being sacked, though, there won’t be too many jobs around in the next few years unless the new hierarchy at Melbourne suddenly decides Dean Bailey isn’t the man for the rebuilding job, which seems unlikely. Most other coaches’ jobs look secure for the foreseeable future.

West Coast, rebuilding under John Worsfold, will need to find another assistant after releasing Michael Voss to take over from Leigh Matthews, but that’s about all that will be available in the west – Mark Harvey will be given longer to turn Fremantle around.

So any other budding coaches will have to content themselves with looking forward at least another year, when Sydney and Collingwood are likely to be looking for replacements for Roos and Mick Malthouse.

I don’t think either of those two will stay on beyond the end of next season, and Malthouse could even give it away after this finals series, although the quality of his younger brigade should tempt him into one more year.

It’s possible there could be one more vacancy at the end of next year if Port Adelaide have another season as bad as this one, which could result in the club and Mark Williams parting company.

Meanwhile, we have some unexpected match-ups in this weekend’s finals games as a result of the turn-ups in round 22, in which Collingwood and North Melbourne were the biggest losers, followed by St Kilda.

The Saints have extended Robert Harvey’s career by a week, as they’ll get a second chance after losing to Geelong instead of going out first-up, but the belting they’ll cop will make them easy meat for the Crows or Magpies.

The Bulldogs should just beat Hawthorn, although it’s a real toss-up; and the home ground advantage should get Sydney and Adelaide over the line against North Melbourne and Collingwood.

Last week’s tips: 6 right, making 114/176 overall.

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