Luke D'Anello

By Luke D'Anello
June 4th 2009 @ 1:29am

1
Like it? Cheer it. More cheers, higher up on page.
Loading ... Loading ...

ADVERTISEMENT
View The Roar's top AFL writers.
AFL Tipping now live on The Roar. Join now.

Wallace just didn’t have cattle to succeed

Richmond Coach Terry Wallace leaves the three quarter time huddle during the AFL Round 04 match between the Richmond Tigers and the Melbourne Demons at the MCG. Slattery Images

Richmond Coach Terry Wallace leaves the three quarter time huddle during the AFL Round 04 match between the Richmond Tigers and the Melbourne Demons at the MCG. Slattery Images

Terry Wallace will coach his final game for Richmond, ironically, against the Western Bulldogs this Friday night. Many say his career has been unsuccessful, reminding us of Wallace’s five-year stint at the Tigers where his winning percentage stands at 38 percent.

At the Western Bulldogs it was 53 percent. Overall, he has a 47 percent win-loss ratio.

Of the current coaches, Wallace has a better overall record than Matthew Knights, Brett Ratten, Mark Harvey and Dean Bailey.

But are statistics all that matter?

Tigers fans who have watched their team fumble their way through games shouldn’t lay all the blame on Wallace’s shoulders. Remember, he did steer the Dogs to four finals series in succession in his time at the Kennel.

Given the club’s history, it was a golden run.

We generally judge a coach on Premierships and their win-loss ratio. Wallace fails on both counts.

But how do we compare him to former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas?

Thomas was highly regarded, but his winning record just shades Wallace. Thomas has no flags to his name, either.

However, the team he was in charge of had the potential to go much further than the current Richmond team.

Wallace will probably never coach again. But his turbulent time at Richmond this season should not be all he is remembered for.

He is famous for introducing pre-game warm-ups on the ground, which has become commonplace today. He also allowed the cameras to go into uncharted territory to film The Year of the Dog in 1996.

Then there was the game in 2000 when he put the defensive “flood” on Essendon to end its 20-game winning run.

Now that Wallace is gone, there are a number of Tigers players who should follow at the end of the season.

Everyone believes Richmond should recruit the best kids, build from the bottom, and dispense of its half-dozen players over the age of 30.

But, you can’t clean-out everyone and simply have the attitude to “play the kids.” Otherwise the team will get belted more severely than it has this year.

Yes, Richmond’s recruiting record has been haphazard under Wallace. But the mess should not be blamed solely on him.

He exited in a dignified manner and while he may not have the best coaching record, if you haven’t got the cattle, you won’t go far.

Get Australia's best AFL opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!

Free Email updates:

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...

 

Crowd Says (3)

  •   Boo Cheers
    View Redb's Roar profile

    Redb said  | June 4th 2009 @ 11:43am | Report comment

    Wallace had the chance to trade or retire the cattle over 5 years, he has to accept the blame for his choices.

    Redb

  •   Boo Cheers
    View Pippinu's Roar profile

    Pippinu said  | June 4th 2009 @ 2:10pm | Report comment

    yeh – the evidence points to redb being correct on that point.

    For a club that was meant to be rebuilding – they took on a high percentage of rejects from other clubs.

  •   Boo Cheers

    Kick2kick said  | June 4th 2009 @ 2:45pm | Report comment

    Yeh do not think you can blame the lack of the cattle for his poor coaching. He had the choice of having Buddy along with many other current stars at the club and something like 80-90% of the current side is what he has brought into the club via trades or recruiting…

Have your Say

If you like this article, Subscribe! Subscribe to our daily email

Please be sure to enter your name and email before submitting this comment. Please also refer to our comments policy

 

Hot debate

What you're Roaring!

By signing up to the daily The Roar email you'll receive all the new articles and sports opinion that we put up on the website each day - delivered direct into your inbox. For free. We think it's the best way to receive our content.

Our emails contain the article along with the images - just like on the website.