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Wallace demands Tigers' pride be stung by Griffen
By Chloe Saltau
The Age
April 5, 2006
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace believes his players' already-dented pride was wounded by Bulldog Ryan Griffen's assertion that they had given up during last Friday's 115-point loss.
As the club tries to pull itself together for this week's crucial clash with St Kilda, Wallace said he confronted his players about Griffen's remarks and, while they denied arguing among themselves, he hoped they had been stung by the criticism.
"I wasn't out there so I can't make comments on whether our blokes were arguing with each other. Of course I asked them the question and they didn't believe that was the case, but I wasn't out there so I'm not prepared to delve into his comments," said Wallace, after he put the team through a two-hour session.
"I think every player who plays this game has pride in their performance and when that pride is dented, whether that be by the scoreboard, by comments that are made publicly, whether they are media comments or comments by opposition players, I think that bites. That hurts every player. You haven't got any self-pride if that doesn't hurt you."
Greg Stafford and Trent Knobel both got through training yesterday but neither is certain to return from injury on Friday night. Nathan Brown completed part of the session after pulling up sore from his first "real" match since breaking his leg, but he is on track to play against the Saints, who have an intimidating recent record against the Tigers.
Wallace foreshadowed "two or three" changes to the side thoroughly embarrassed by the Bulldogs. After a Saturday morning post-mortem arranged by football director Greg Miller, Wallace said he expected greater commitment from the players who delivered the worst loss of his coaching career.
"What I expect from our blokes is what I expected from them in round one and I didn't get, and that's full-blooded, absolute committed effort for four quarters no matter what the scoreboard says," Wallace said.
"We don't step away from the fact that we didn't deliver that last Friday night. We need to deliver that. If that gets us a result, great. If that doesn't get us a result, we march on knowing that's the commitment that they gave us and we're closer to getting a result."
Asked whether players had given up, Wallace suggested they might have been affected subconsciously as the Bulldogs slammed on goal after goal.
"Do blokes ever give up? I don't know if anyone consciously ever says that's the case, but I've played in a grand final where by the end of the game I've come away and said, 'Did I put everything in the tank that I possibly could have, because the scoreboard on that given day (showed) your premiership aspirations going down the drain'," he said. "What happens in a round one game when it starts going like that is, there's six months of work and hope and build-up and all of a sudden … bang! It went down the drain. That shouldn't happen and it's not an excuse, it's just probably a fact."
He said supporters were within their rights to question the skills of the players whose untidy kicking was noticeable at Telstra Dome. "Everyone works so hard over such a long period of time, and then you're fielding comments like, 'Have you done any work on your kicking?' Well, of course we've worked on our kicking every day for six months. So that's the sort of thing that's disappointing. I don't blame anyone for asking because if I was watching I would have asked the same question."
By Chloe Saltau
The Age
April 5, 2006
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace believes his players' already-dented pride was wounded by Bulldog Ryan Griffen's assertion that they had given up during last Friday's 115-point loss.
As the club tries to pull itself together for this week's crucial clash with St Kilda, Wallace said he confronted his players about Griffen's remarks and, while they denied arguing among themselves, he hoped they had been stung by the criticism.
"I wasn't out there so I can't make comments on whether our blokes were arguing with each other. Of course I asked them the question and they didn't believe that was the case, but I wasn't out there so I'm not prepared to delve into his comments," said Wallace, after he put the team through a two-hour session.
"I think every player who plays this game has pride in their performance and when that pride is dented, whether that be by the scoreboard, by comments that are made publicly, whether they are media comments or comments by opposition players, I think that bites. That hurts every player. You haven't got any self-pride if that doesn't hurt you."
Greg Stafford and Trent Knobel both got through training yesterday but neither is certain to return from injury on Friday night. Nathan Brown completed part of the session after pulling up sore from his first "real" match since breaking his leg, but he is on track to play against the Saints, who have an intimidating recent record against the Tigers.
Wallace foreshadowed "two or three" changes to the side thoroughly embarrassed by the Bulldogs. After a Saturday morning post-mortem arranged by football director Greg Miller, Wallace said he expected greater commitment from the players who delivered the worst loss of his coaching career.
"What I expect from our blokes is what I expected from them in round one and I didn't get, and that's full-blooded, absolute committed effort for four quarters no matter what the scoreboard says," Wallace said.
"We don't step away from the fact that we didn't deliver that last Friday night. We need to deliver that. If that gets us a result, great. If that doesn't get us a result, we march on knowing that's the commitment that they gave us and we're closer to getting a result."
Asked whether players had given up, Wallace suggested they might have been affected subconsciously as the Bulldogs slammed on goal after goal.
"Do blokes ever give up? I don't know if anyone consciously ever says that's the case, but I've played in a grand final where by the end of the game I've come away and said, 'Did I put everything in the tank that I possibly could have, because the scoreboard on that given day (showed) your premiership aspirations going down the drain'," he said. "What happens in a round one game when it starts going like that is, there's six months of work and hope and build-up and all of a sudden … bang! It went down the drain. That shouldn't happen and it's not an excuse, it's just probably a fact."
He said supporters were within their rights to question the skills of the players whose untidy kicking was noticeable at Telstra Dome. "Everyone works so hard over such a long period of time, and then you're fielding comments like, 'Have you done any work on your kicking?' Well, of course we've worked on our kicking every day for six months. So that's the sort of thing that's disappointing. I don't blame anyone for asking because if I was watching I would have asked the same question."
