Richmond coach Terry Wallace believes the shoddy state of the club's training base makes it difficult for the Tigers to adequately prepare for AFL games.

The gulf between the league's haves and have-nots will be highlighted this week when the Tigers train at their patched-up, misshapen and rock-hard Punt Road base for Sunday's game against Fremantle, who will prepare at the pristine Subiaco Oval.

The standard of Richmond's base was brought into question by AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, who labelled the club's training ground as "crap".

Wallace was careful on Tuesday not to blame poor facilities for his side's failings, particularly after a string of skill errors in last Sunday's defeat to Collingwood, but questioned whether an AFL club could share its training ground with a local cricket club.

The Tigers have trained only twice at Punt Road this year because Richmond Cricket Club won through to Melbourne's Premier League final, which meant the pitch area has only just been re-sewn.

Wallace said the uneven and hard surface had the potential to cause players harm, and was partly responsible for at least six stress-related injuries during the 2007 campaign.

The size and shape of the ground - its egg-shape means there is no pocket at the northern end - also made it difficult to replicate drills that would be used in matches, he said.

"What you practise here doesn't even transcend into playing at the MCG," he said.

"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 getting the ground redeveloped had been the main priority he had raised with the Tigers board since he was appointed coach in 2004.

Richmond will allocate $1 million of Victorian government funds to upgrading Punt Road oval within six months, including expanding the ground, while work is underway to develop a ground at Craigieburn, in Melbourne's north, for off-season training.

"I would rather not be sitting here commenting on it because people see you using it as an excuse, but clearly it's something the club needs to get right in the future," Wallace said of the ground concerns.

Skill errors aside, Richmond's more immediate problems focus on starting better in games, having been beaten out of the blocks by all three opponents this season before becoming more competitive in the second halves.

Wallace said he would consider changes to the Tigers' pre-game routine to avoid another early blitzing.

"The one thing you can't do is go to Perth and be six goals behind at quarter-time, because I haven't seen many sides come back from that scenario playing against West Coast or Fremantle," he said.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP