Wallace was responding to comments from Demetriou that the facilities at Punt Road were ‘crap’.
“It’s been awkward. It’s been difficult. We’ve really been in a situation where we’ve been nomadic. I know there’s other clubs in the competition that have been that way. We’re not using that as an excuse. Clearly it’s something the club has to get right in the future,” Wallace said.
“Andrew’s been very supportive with relation to trying to help us. We’ve only had two sessions this year on this ground (Punt Rd). We’ve had a few problems.”
Wallace also had concerns about the size of the Tigers’ home base, which he said was not comparable to the grounds used for AFL matches.
“Getting the ball from between half forward flank and wing position on this ground, you are hitting the fat side of the ground quite comfortably. You do the same thing at the MCG and it’s not even making the middle of the ground,” he said.
“What you practice here doesn’t necessarily transcend into playing at the MCG. That’s a concern ... the structure of the ground, there’s no pocket on the Punt Rd side so it’s difficult to formulate things that you want to put in place when the ground conditions are completely different to what you’re playing on.”
Wallace said he hoped the club could reach a compromise with the Richmond Cricket Club, which is based at Punt Road over the summer months.
“I went through that when I was at the Bulldogs and the cricket club got a fantastic facility for themselves at the Merv Hughes Oval, so it was win-win for both,” he said.
“Their history has to be taken absolutely into account.”
Wallace said he did not want to be seen to be making excuses for the Tigers’ poor form over recent seasons but did say inadequate training services had had an effect on the team.
“I thought last year we got between six and eight stress-related injuries from training on inferior grounds, that being here and elsewhere. It ruined our season last year, we had to balance it out a bit.”
