Harpoon
Team Captain
I'm going to type this out for those who don't get to read it. It's from this week's Footy Record with pretty boy Shane Crawford on the front cover!...
WHEN WORDS BACKFIRE
Coaches must set team goals that are achievable and realistic.
Peter Schwab, a former Hawthorn player and coach, is CEO of Football Victoria, he is an ex-teammate of Terry Wallace.
At the start of 2004, having bolstered the list with some experience, I genuinely believed we could play finals and with some luck...well who knows?
The club had taken a bold approach to marketing itself, and so I found myself at a pre-season function of some size and hype, with a sprinkling of media and corporate support present.
Just before my speech, I decided upon a course of action I would later come to regret. I would make a statement to those present to gauge their reaction. After the welcomes, I simply said: "Hawthorn will win the premiership in 2004," lol
The reaction was mixed: some people laughed, others just stared, some shuffled on the spot and lowered their heads. I could not see the players' reactions, as they were standing behind me. The media present knew they had their headline story. The statement would later come back to haunt me, as the defeats mounted.
So why did I say it? The answer was simple. I wanted to make a point. Winning a premiership was why we were in the competition. That's why we play. I did clarify my statement in those terms, but it was too late. The words were out there, and the headlines plastered on the back pages the next day.
What I did was flawed because of the pressure it inevitably placed on the team. It was flawed because I made a public statement about team goals without finalising with the players what we believed we could achieve. An idea on a whim, simply to make a point. It was regrettable.
Which leads me in a roundabout way to Terry Wallace, and his pre-season utterances about Richmond's chances or goals in 2007. I am not sure of Wallace's exact words - and whether it was just an answer to a question or a pre-planned comment - but he certainly hosed down expectations, suggesting the Tigers were in a "holding pattern" and would emerge in 2009 at the earliest.
Wallace is a smart media operator who understands the industry better than most. He has, until this year, enjoyed positive media coverage as a result of his strategy and ability to get the best from his players.
Wallace rarely says anything publicly he hasn't planned. This is not a criticism; in many ways it is a compliment, an acknowledgment of how well he operates.
But he got it wrong when he set the bar too low. Where I had gone way over the top in 2004, he undersold Richmond's chances to supporters, and, more importantly, to his players.
When you tell players they may not do much before 2008 and it won't be until 2011 that they will be pushing for a premiership, it allows them either an option to relax psychologically, or it deflates them. It can also potentially leave older players disenchanted, their chances of playing finals no longer considered a reality.
Experts will tell you goals need to be achievable and realistic, so maybe Wallace was being both. But I am not sure what his players believed.
After seven rounds, it appears Wallace was right about his team, and why it will take some time to get it where he wants it to be. But he also created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This has contradicted a fundamental of his coaching style. He has always been ultra positive and able to instill belief in his players. One solution is for Wallace to go back to his core strength, and start making his players believe again.
It will not be easy. Richmond has too many young players with young bodies in the team. Rebuilding is about playing youth, but it needs to be supported by experience. There has to be a balance.
The decision to let Darren Gaspar retire was perplexing. There may have been other reasons Gaspar left, but on the surface, he represented experience, something the Tigers desperately need.
All Wallace can do is keep faith in himself, his support staff, his planning, his players and the future. The losses will test him and the club. The journey will be tough.
I enjoyed reading this and thought it was an interesting, great article. Thoughts/comments?
Well, that's my morning! 3.5 hours on Big Footy! Enjoy the weekend and Go Tiges!
Harp
WHEN WORDS BACKFIRE
Coaches must set team goals that are achievable and realistic.
Peter Schwab, a former Hawthorn player and coach, is CEO of Football Victoria, he is an ex-teammate of Terry Wallace.
At the start of 2004, having bolstered the list with some experience, I genuinely believed we could play finals and with some luck...well who knows?
The club had taken a bold approach to marketing itself, and so I found myself at a pre-season function of some size and hype, with a sprinkling of media and corporate support present.
Just before my speech, I decided upon a course of action I would later come to regret. I would make a statement to those present to gauge their reaction. After the welcomes, I simply said: "Hawthorn will win the premiership in 2004," lol
The reaction was mixed: some people laughed, others just stared, some shuffled on the spot and lowered their heads. I could not see the players' reactions, as they were standing behind me. The media present knew they had their headline story. The statement would later come back to haunt me, as the defeats mounted.
So why did I say it? The answer was simple. I wanted to make a point. Winning a premiership was why we were in the competition. That's why we play. I did clarify my statement in those terms, but it was too late. The words were out there, and the headlines plastered on the back pages the next day.
What I did was flawed because of the pressure it inevitably placed on the team. It was flawed because I made a public statement about team goals without finalising with the players what we believed we could achieve. An idea on a whim, simply to make a point. It was regrettable.
Which leads me in a roundabout way to Terry Wallace, and his pre-season utterances about Richmond's chances or goals in 2007. I am not sure of Wallace's exact words - and whether it was just an answer to a question or a pre-planned comment - but he certainly hosed down expectations, suggesting the Tigers were in a "holding pattern" and would emerge in 2009 at the earliest.
Wallace is a smart media operator who understands the industry better than most. He has, until this year, enjoyed positive media coverage as a result of his strategy and ability to get the best from his players.
Wallace rarely says anything publicly he hasn't planned. This is not a criticism; in many ways it is a compliment, an acknowledgment of how well he operates.
But he got it wrong when he set the bar too low. Where I had gone way over the top in 2004, he undersold Richmond's chances to supporters, and, more importantly, to his players.
When you tell players they may not do much before 2008 and it won't be until 2011 that they will be pushing for a premiership, it allows them either an option to relax psychologically, or it deflates them. It can also potentially leave older players disenchanted, their chances of playing finals no longer considered a reality.
Experts will tell you goals need to be achievable and realistic, so maybe Wallace was being both. But I am not sure what his players believed.
After seven rounds, it appears Wallace was right about his team, and why it will take some time to get it where he wants it to be. But he also created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This has contradicted a fundamental of his coaching style. He has always been ultra positive and able to instill belief in his players. One solution is for Wallace to go back to his core strength, and start making his players believe again.
It will not be easy. Richmond has too many young players with young bodies in the team. Rebuilding is about playing youth, but it needs to be supported by experience. There has to be a balance.
The decision to let Darren Gaspar retire was perplexing. There may have been other reasons Gaspar left, but on the surface, he represented experience, something the Tigers desperately need.
All Wallace can do is keep faith in himself, his support staff, his planning, his players and the future. The losses will test him and the club. The journey will be tough.
I enjoyed reading this and thought it was an interesting, great article. Thoughts/comments?
Well, that's my morning! 3.5 hours on Big Footy! Enjoy the weekend and Go Tiges!
Harp
I was gonna try to catch up with you at the Cows game but didn't hear from ya. Maybe another time, my email addy is in that thread so drop us a line!
