His side matched it with the highly-rated Western Bulldogs for a half but when push came to shove, the Tigers’ skills, decision-making and will to win vanished.
They led by two points at half time yet lost by a staggering 68.
It was all so familiar for the Richmond faithful.
He’s a good guy, Plough, and you sensed he tried hard to enjoy his last hurrah as a senior coach on Friday night.
Family and friends were there to hear him answer questions at the president’s dinner in the Limelight Room.
And a massive line of a couple of hundred women sang the brilliant Richmond theme song before the match.
The Richmond banner also paid homage to his efforts: “Tiger Terry Wallace. Thanks mate, goodbye and good luck”.
The cheer squad knew it wasn’t all Terry’s fault.
While Wallace said he didn’t quite ride every bump and blue on Friday night like he had done during the rest of his time at Punt Road, clearly he was exasperated by the continual sloppy mistakes.
A whopping 17.8 conceded from turnovers is enough to drive any coach barmy.
Those error-riddled patches of football have become the hallmark of too many modern Richmond sides.
Wallace will walk away knowing he did his best but history will consign him to be just the latest in a line of men unable to turn around the massive battling bus at Tigerland.
Hopefully the next man will have better luck.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
