Terry Wallace
Encyclopedia
Terry Wallace is a former professional Australian rules football
player and coach.
As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn
where he played in three premierships as well as achieving All-Australian selection, and two Best and Fairests with the Footscray Football Club. Wallace currently resides in Melbourne, with his wife Keryn and his three sons; Brent, George and Cam.
As coach, he took the Western Bulldogs
from 15th in 1996 to 3rd when he featured in the documentary Year of the Dogs
a position in which the club held in 1997 and 1998 during which he was named coach of the All-Australian team. Wallace's coaching style is considered to be innovative and he is credited with having started the modern practice of sides warming up the side on the field before a match. However Wallace's coaching career at Richmond
between 2005 and 2009 was not so successful and he stepped down from coaching on 1 June 2009. His last game as coach of the Richmond Tigers was against the Western Bulldogs on 5 June. It was later announced that his successor as coach would be Jade Rawlings
.
, he was a member of Hawthorn's 1978 premiership side in what was his debut season. Nicknamed 'Plough' for his knack of crashing through packs, Wallace was Hawthorn's best and fairest winner in 1981 and 1983, the latter in another premiership year. He played in one further premiership side at Hawthorn in 1986. Often polling well in the Brownlow Medal counts, Wallace finished equal third in 1982 and equal sixth in 1983.
After a contractual dispute with Hawthorn, Wallace received a clearance to Richmond but struggled in his only season with the club, eventually ending the year prematurely with a back injury. He finished his playing career with four seasons at Footscray which yielded back to back Charles Sutton Medal
s in 1988 and 1989.
he took over as the Western Bulldogs coach following the sacking of incumbent coach Alan Joyce
. At the end of the 1996 season
they finished 15th. In the 1997 season Wallace quickly rebuilt the side, finishing third at the end of the season. In the first qualifying final they defeated Sydney
but then lost in the preliminary finals to Adelaide
. In 1998 the Bulldogs finished second at the end of the season. In the qualifying finals they defeated the West Coast Eagles
but lost in the preliminary finals to Adelaide for the second year in a row.
In the 1999 AFL season Wallace led the Bulldogs to fourth at the end of the season but in the qualifying finals they lost to West Coast
then in the semi finals they lost to the Brisbane Lions
. In the 2000 AFL season the Bulldogs finished seventh but in the elimination finals they were knocked out by the Brisbane Lions. During this season the Bulldogs were the only team to defeat Essendon as Wallace employed "keepings off" tactics. In the 2001 AFL season
the Bulldogs struggled and finished tenth and then kept struggling in the next season. Wallace resigned as Bulldogs coach at the end of the 2002 season with one match left to go, which Peter Rohde
coached and was eventually employed full-time.
Wallace was linked to the Sydney Swans
job in mid-2002 when Rodney Eade
was sacked following a narrow round 12 loss to Geelong
. It was rumoured that there was a verbal agreement that the Swans would appoint him as their senior coach for the 2003 season. But Wallace was not given the Swans job and it went to then-interim coach Paul Roos
, despite Wallace resigning as coach of the Bulldogs
with one match remaining in the season.
During the period that Wallace was not coach
ing he became a prominent media personality, with roles on the now defunct Fox Footy
channel and as a columnist in Melbourne
newspaper the Herald Sun
, which he still maintains.
for five seasons from 2005, replacing Danny Frawley
.
His first year at Richmond was unsuccessful as they finished twelfth at the end of the 2005 season despite spending most of the first half of the season in the top eight, mostly in the top four. A shocking moment occurred in Round 10, 2005, when the Tigers, who were 2nd behind the West Coast Eagles
leading into its match against at Etihad Stadium, lost forward Nathan G. Brown
(who had previously played under Wallace at the Western Bulldogs
) to a gruesome leg injury late in the match. His absence was felt in the second half of the season, with the Tigers tumbling out of the top eight altogether by seasons end.
The Tigers had a terrible start to 2006 and were written off early in the season with three straight crushing defeats, placing them at the bottom of the ladder. But Wallace then turned the team around, winning five out of the next seven games, including a win against the Adelaide Crows
, who were on top of the AFL
ladder at the time, but they did not make the finals, just missing out and finishing ninth at the end of the 2006 season.
The 2007 AFL Season
proved to be Wallace's worst at any club. Richmond won only three games to finish sixteenth (last) and winning the wooden spoon
. The Tigers lost the first five games of the season by less than 25 points and maintained leads in many of those games going into the final quarter. However in Round 6 the Tigers
were soundly defeated by the eventual premiers, Geelong
, at the Telstra Dome
by a record margin of 157 points. This subsequently led to the board and management formally apologizing to supporters at Wallace's "Tuesdays with Terry" press conference. Wallace was under serious pressure as he took the reins of a last placed (wooden spoon) side and coached them to another last place in the third year of his "five year plan".
The 2008 season was a vital year for Wallace in relation to his future at the club. Brett Deledio
said that the club had to make the top eight at all costs in order to repay the faith shown by supporters. The season was a big improvement with Richmond starting off with a win over Carlton in Round 1. But the team did not make the finals with Richmond finishing ninth at the end of the 2008 season with eleven wins, ten losses and one draw.
Mounting speculation and reports of a rift with Richmond president Gary March were reported at the conclusion of the home and away season, mainly due to conflicting assessments of the sides performance between coach and president. These issues were denied by the club and coach. The appointment of Kevin Sheedy to a marketing role at Richmond following Sheedy's resignation as Essendon coach also resulted in more pressure on Wallace to deliver the Tigers a much overdue finals appearance in 2009.
At the start of the 2009 season Wallace was still under pressure after Richmond's 83 point loss against Carlton in Round 1 and further losses to Geelong, the Western Bulldogs and cellar-dwellars Melbourne
. Despite controversial media reports describing Wallace as a 'dead man walking', he told a packed media conference after the Round 4 loss to Melbourne that he would not be resigning and would coach out the 2009 season at Richmond, the final year of his five year contract. A subsequent Richmond Football Club board meeting gave Wallace a reprieve until mid-season before deciding his fate. On 29 April 2009 Wallace confirmed that he would not be coaching at any extent in 2010 and announced that he would resign as Richmond coach on 1 June 2009 but would coach one more game. Public scrutiny aimed towards Wallace is a main factor contributing to his resignation.
Wallace's last game as coach of the Richmond Tigers resulted in a loss against the Western Bulldogs. Finals scores were Richmond 14.5 (89) and Western Bulldogs 24.13 (157). Ironically the majority of the senior players on this Western Bulldogs team saw their debut and early development under the coaching of Wallace while he was with the Bulldogs.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
player and coach.
As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
where he played in three premierships as well as achieving All-Australian selection, and two Best and Fairests with the Footscray Football Club. Wallace currently resides in Melbourne, with his wife Keryn and his three sons; Brent, George and Cam.
As coach, he took the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
from 15th in 1996 to 3rd when he featured in the documentary Year of the Dogs
Year of the Dogs
Year of the Dogs is a 1997 documentary detailing the 1996 season of the Footscray Football Club .Filmed during the turbulent 1996 season where they finished second-last in the Australian Football League, the documentary follows the club and two dedicated fans, Pat and Jenny Hogson...
a position in which the club held in 1997 and 1998 during which he was named coach of the All-Australian team. Wallace's coaching style is considered to be innovative and he is credited with having started the modern practice of sides warming up the side on the field before a match. However Wallace's coaching career at Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
between 2005 and 2009 was not so successful and he stepped down from coaching on 1 June 2009. His last game as coach of the Richmond Tigers was against the Western Bulldogs on 5 June. It was later announced that his successor as coach would be Jade Rawlings
Jade Rawlings
Jade Rawlings was the caretaker coach of the Richmond Tigers Football Club, and is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the AFL with the Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and the North Melbourne Football Clubs....
.
Playing career
Wallce was Hawthorn's centreman from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Recruited from VFA club CamberwellCamberwell Football Club
Camberwell Football Club was an Australian rules football club who were formed in 1896 and competed in the Victorian Football Association between 1926 and 1990. Nicknamed the Cobras, Camberwell wore dark blue, white and red club colours...
, he was a member of Hawthorn's 1978 premiership side in what was his debut season. Nicknamed 'Plough' for his knack of crashing through packs, Wallace was Hawthorn's best and fairest winner in 1981 and 1983, the latter in another premiership year. He played in one further premiership side at Hawthorn in 1986. Often polling well in the Brownlow Medal counts, Wallace finished equal third in 1982 and equal sixth in 1983.
After a contractual dispute with Hawthorn, Wallace received a clearance to Richmond but struggled in his only season with the club, eventually ending the year prematurely with a back injury. He finished his playing career with four seasons at Footscray which yielded back to back Charles Sutton Medal
Charles Sutton Medal
The Charles Sutton Medal is awarded to the player adjudged Best and Fairest for the Western Bulldogs. Scott West holds the record at the club, winning seven medals, followed by Gary Dempsey, with six...
s in 1988 and 1989.
Western Bulldogs
In the middle of the 1996 AFL season1996 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1996.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Lighting Premiership:...
he took over as the Western Bulldogs coach following the sacking of incumbent coach Alan Joyce
Alan Joyce
Alan Joyce is a former Australian rules footballer who after playing 49 games for Hawthorn became a premiership winning coach for the club. Originally from Glen Iris, Joyce played in the ruck for Hawthorn and gained life membership in 1996.In 1988 when incumbent coach Allan Jeans became ill due to...
. At the end of the 1996 season
1996 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1996.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Lighting Premiership:...
they finished 15th. In the 1997 season Wallace quickly rebuilt the side, finishing third at the end of the season. In the first qualifying final they defeated Sydney
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
but then lost in the preliminary finals to Adelaide
Adelaide Crows
The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia, playing in the Australian Football League ....
. In 1998 the Bulldogs finished second at the end of the season. In the qualifying finals they defeated the West Coast Eagles
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
but lost in the preliminary finals to Adelaide for the second year in a row.
In the 1999 AFL season Wallace led the Bulldogs to fourth at the end of the season but in the qualifying finals they lost to West Coast
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
then in the semi finals they lost to the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
. In the 2000 AFL season the Bulldogs finished seventh but in the elimination finals they were knocked out by the Brisbane Lions. During this season the Bulldogs were the only team to defeat Essendon as Wallace employed "keepings off" tactics. In the 2001 AFL season
2001 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2001.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:Port Adelaide defeated Brisbane Lions 17.9 to 3.8 in the Final....
the Bulldogs struggled and finished tenth and then kept struggling in the next season. Wallace resigned as Bulldogs coach at the end of the 2002 season with one match left to go, which Peter Rohde
Peter Rohde
Peter Rohde came from the Bendigo region and made his Victorian Football League debut for Carlton Football Club in 1985, transferring to Melbourne Football Club in 1988 and retiring in 1995...
coached and was eventually employed full-time.
Wallace was linked to the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
job in mid-2002 when Rodney Eade
Rodney Eade
Rodney "Rocket" Eade is a former Australian rules footballer and the former coach of the Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League...
was sacked following a narrow round 12 loss to Geelong
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
. It was rumoured that there was a verbal agreement that the Swans would appoint him as their senior coach for the 2003 season. But Wallace was not given the Swans job and it went to then-interim coach Paul Roos
Paul Roos (Australian rules footballer)
Paul Roos is a former Australian rules football player and coach in the VFL and Australian Football League.Playing the majority of his career with Fitzroy, Roos was one of the teams greats, captaining the side for a long time and was acknowledged as its best player for several seasons, being named...
, despite Wallace resigning as coach of the Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
with one match remaining in the season.
During the period that Wallace was not coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
ing he became a prominent media personality, with roles on the now defunct Fox Footy
Fox Footy
Fox Footy is an upcoming Australian Rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It will be owned by Premier Media Group, operated out of their Melbourne based studios and available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus...
channel and as a columnist in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
newspaper the Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
, which he still maintains.
Richmond
In August 2004 he was appointed the senior coach of RichmondRichmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
for five seasons from 2005, replacing Danny Frawley
Danny Frawley
Danny Frawley is a former Australian rules footballer and coach and a current football commentator with Fox Sports.He is the nephew of Collingwood player Des Tuddenham and the uncle of current Melbourne Football Club player James Frawley.- Football career :Recruited from Ballarat, after attending...
.
His first year at Richmond was unsuccessful as they finished twelfth at the end of the 2005 season despite spending most of the first half of the season in the top eight, mostly in the top four. A shocking moment occurred in Round 10, 2005, when the Tigers, who were 2nd behind the West Coast Eagles
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
leading into its match against at Etihad Stadium, lost forward Nathan G. Brown
Nathan G. Brown
Nathan Gordon Brown is a former Australian rules footballer for the Richmond and the Western Bulldogs in the AFL...
(who had previously played under Wallace at the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
) to a gruesome leg injury late in the match. His absence was felt in the second half of the season, with the Tigers tumbling out of the top eight altogether by seasons end.
The Tigers had a terrible start to 2006 and were written off early in the season with three straight crushing defeats, placing them at the bottom of the ladder. But Wallace then turned the team around, winning five out of the next seven games, including a win against the Adelaide Crows
Adelaide Crows
The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia, playing in the Australian Football League ....
, who were on top of the AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
ladder at the time, but they did not make the finals, just missing out and finishing ninth at the end of the 2006 season.
The 2007 AFL Season
2007 AFL season
The 2007 AFL Season was the 111th season of the Australian Football League, the highest-level professional Australian rules football league in Australia...
proved to be Wallace's worst at any club. Richmond won only three games to finish sixteenth (last) and winning the wooden spoon
Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
. The Tigers lost the first five games of the season by less than 25 points and maintained leads in many of those games going into the final quarter. However in Round 6 the Tigers
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
were soundly defeated by the eventual premiers, Geelong
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
, at the Telstra Dome
Telstra Dome
Docklands Stadium is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
by a record margin of 157 points. This subsequently led to the board and management formally apologizing to supporters at Wallace's "Tuesdays with Terry" press conference. Wallace was under serious pressure as he took the reins of a last placed (wooden spoon) side and coached them to another last place in the third year of his "five year plan".
The 2008 season was a vital year for Wallace in relation to his future at the club. Brett Deledio
Brett Deledio
Brett Deledio is an Australian rules football player currently playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League.-Early life/career:...
said that the club had to make the top eight at all costs in order to repay the faith shown by supporters. The season was a big improvement with Richmond starting off with a win over Carlton in Round 1. But the team did not make the finals with Richmond finishing ninth at the end of the 2008 season with eleven wins, ten losses and one draw.
Mounting speculation and reports of a rift with Richmond president Gary March were reported at the conclusion of the home and away season, mainly due to conflicting assessments of the sides performance between coach and president. These issues were denied by the club and coach. The appointment of Kevin Sheedy to a marketing role at Richmond following Sheedy's resignation as Essendon coach also resulted in more pressure on Wallace to deliver the Tigers a much overdue finals appearance in 2009.
At the start of the 2009 season Wallace was still under pressure after Richmond's 83 point loss against Carlton in Round 1 and further losses to Geelong, the Western Bulldogs and cellar-dwellars Melbourne
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
. Despite controversial media reports describing Wallace as a 'dead man walking', he told a packed media conference after the Round 4 loss to Melbourne that he would not be resigning and would coach out the 2009 season at Richmond, the final year of his five year contract. A subsequent Richmond Football Club board meeting gave Wallace a reprieve until mid-season before deciding his fate. On 29 April 2009 Wallace confirmed that he would not be coaching at any extent in 2010 and announced that he would resign as Richmond coach on 1 June 2009 but would coach one more game. Public scrutiny aimed towards Wallace is a main factor contributing to his resignation.
Wallace's last game as coach of the Richmond Tigers resulted in a loss against the Western Bulldogs. Finals scores were Richmond 14.5 (89) and Western Bulldogs 24.13 (157). Ironically the majority of the senior players on this Western Bulldogs team saw their debut and early development under the coaching of Wallace while he was with the Bulldogs.