Their season record sits at 4-7-1 after Sunday's win over Melbourne, but it was a couple that got away earlier in the year that caused the Tigers to miss the grade.
"The two games that we were in a position to win – I think if we got the job done when we were three goals in front of the Bulldogs, and if we'd beaten St Kilda when we had two shots in the last minute of the game, I reckon we'd be in reasonable shape," Wallace said on Tuesday.
"Every season is really balanced off by winning your close games, and getting results in your close games.
"We've had a couple of opportunities to nail games this year, and haven't nailed them, and that's the difference between acceptable and not-quite-acceptable, to be frankly honest."
The Tigers have Port Adelaide, Carlton, West Coast, Essendon and the Lions coming up before August, and while Wallace noted that the coming weeks would define their season, he waved off suggestions that September action was imminent.
"Well, you've got to get those good couple of wins first. You don't get ahead of yourself in this competition, and one-in-a-row is not really a platform for anything at all, and that's the next challenge.
"We've got some games over the next few weeks that are going to be really important for the club.
"If we want to have any sort of say in having a strong, vibrant second half of the year, then probably the next month is really important to our footy club."
