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Brown a chance for Blues clash
5:11:14 PM Tue 15 August, 2006
Paul Gough
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond's late push for an AFL finals berth could receive a huge boost this week with the return of star forward Nathan Brown for the clash against Carlton.
Brown has missed the past two weeks with a hamstring strain in what has been a difficult season for him as he has also endured complications with his broken leg from last season.
This has meant Brown has been restricted to just 10 senior appearances this year, managing just 11 goals - a far cry from last year when he kicked 34 goals in the first nine rounds before breaking his leg.
"He will train tomorrow (Wednesday) and he has got to get through the session and get himself fit enough to play on Sunday," Richmond coach Terry Wallace said.
"But certainly we always expected him back this week or next week depending on how the injury progressed."
Brown's possible return also comes at a time when his forward partner Matthew Richardson has finally regained form after an injury-interrupted year after helping himself to a season-best six goals in last week's 82 point demolition of Brisbane.
That huge victory kept alive the Tigers' slim finals hopes, but they need to win their remaining three matches and hope either Collingwood or more likely the Western Bulldogs lose their last three matches to sneak into the eight.
With the Tigers facing the two bottom teams in Carlton and Essendon in the next fortnight and the Bulldogs facing tough games against Adelaide and St Kilda, there is a chance both teams could be locked at 11-10 going into the final round of the season.
But Wallace says he is not even thinking about a finals appearance with three rounds remaining.
"It's a wonderful, fanciful thing for supporters to be able to go down that pathway, but not necessarily for coaches or players," he said on Tuesday.
"The game ebbs and flows in mysterious ways all the time, but all we can do - and we said this from day one - is we want to see our season advance on last season."
"That is where we are at and where that takes us we will accept at the end of the day."
The Tigers, who finished last with 14 straight losses in 2004, won 10 games in Wallace's first year in charge last year and, with nine wins this year and three games to go, have a good chance of finishing with an improved win/loss record in 2006.
But Wallace said given the difficulties the club has had this year compared to last year, even equalling last year's record of 10 wins and 12 losses would represent an improvement.
"As a group we felt we would have underachieved if we didn’t meet last year's criteria," he said.
"Some people would say that if you only equalled last year's record, have you made an advancement?
"But we believe with the draw we ended up getting (six interstate matches) which was really tough and then we had a pretty torrid run with injury (losing Mark Coughlan and Chris Newman to season-ending injuries as well as losing Brown, Richardson and defenders Darren Gaspar and Andrew Kellaway for extended periods) that if we finished around the same level as last season then we have made significant advancement.'
"And we have developed a lot of young boys as well this year."
That was reflected on Tuesday when Nathan Foley was awarded the round 19 NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, the Tigers' third nomination this year following on from Andrew Raines and Dean Polo.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=289592
5:11:14 PM Tue 15 August, 2006
Paul Gough
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond's late push for an AFL finals berth could receive a huge boost this week with the return of star forward Nathan Brown for the clash against Carlton.
Brown has missed the past two weeks with a hamstring strain in what has been a difficult season for him as he has also endured complications with his broken leg from last season.
This has meant Brown has been restricted to just 10 senior appearances this year, managing just 11 goals - a far cry from last year when he kicked 34 goals in the first nine rounds before breaking his leg.
"He will train tomorrow (Wednesday) and he has got to get through the session and get himself fit enough to play on Sunday," Richmond coach Terry Wallace said.
"But certainly we always expected him back this week or next week depending on how the injury progressed."
Brown's possible return also comes at a time when his forward partner Matthew Richardson has finally regained form after an injury-interrupted year after helping himself to a season-best six goals in last week's 82 point demolition of Brisbane.
That huge victory kept alive the Tigers' slim finals hopes, but they need to win their remaining three matches and hope either Collingwood or more likely the Western Bulldogs lose their last three matches to sneak into the eight.
With the Tigers facing the two bottom teams in Carlton and Essendon in the next fortnight and the Bulldogs facing tough games against Adelaide and St Kilda, there is a chance both teams could be locked at 11-10 going into the final round of the season.
But Wallace says he is not even thinking about a finals appearance with three rounds remaining.
"It's a wonderful, fanciful thing for supporters to be able to go down that pathway, but not necessarily for coaches or players," he said on Tuesday.
"The game ebbs and flows in mysterious ways all the time, but all we can do - and we said this from day one - is we want to see our season advance on last season."
"That is where we are at and where that takes us we will accept at the end of the day."
The Tigers, who finished last with 14 straight losses in 2004, won 10 games in Wallace's first year in charge last year and, with nine wins this year and three games to go, have a good chance of finishing with an improved win/loss record in 2006.
But Wallace said given the difficulties the club has had this year compared to last year, even equalling last year's record of 10 wins and 12 losses would represent an improvement.
"As a group we felt we would have underachieved if we didn’t meet last year's criteria," he said.
"Some people would say that if you only equalled last year's record, have you made an advancement?
"But we believe with the draw we ended up getting (six interstate matches) which was really tough and then we had a pretty torrid run with injury (losing Mark Coughlan and Chris Newman to season-ending injuries as well as losing Brown, Richardson and defenders Darren Gaspar and Andrew Kellaway for extended periods) that if we finished around the same level as last season then we have made significant advancement.'
"And we have developed a lot of young boys as well this year."
That was reflected on Tuesday when Nathan Foley was awarded the round 19 NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, the Tigers' third nomination this year following on from Andrew Raines and Dean Polo.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=289592
One makes a mistake they all make the mistake in my eyes 
