12:28:44 PM Mon 23 February, 2004
Paul Gough
afl.com.au
Richmond, already buoyed by its first round success over the Western Bulldogs, will welcome back star forward Matthew Richardson for Sunday’s Wizard Home Loans Cup quarter-final against St Kilda at the Telstra Dome.
The Tigers, who were humiliated in the first round of the pre-season competition last year by Melbourne, got their 2004 campaign off to a flying start with a 24 point win over the Bulldogs on Friday night.
And the win was even more significant considering it was achieved without four of the club’s best players in Richardson, skipper Wayne Campbell, Darren Gaspar and Joel Bowden.
But while Campbell, Gaspar and Bowden are unlikely to return for Sunday’s game – star forward Richardson appears certain to return.
“We will get ‘Richo’ back,” Richmond football operations manager Greg Hutchison told afl.com.au on Monday.
“He jarred his knee in an intra-club game last week and he had a bit of fluid on his knee but he will be right for this week.”
The return of Richardson – the Tigers’ leading goalkicker in eight of the past 10 years – will certainly give the Richmond attack a powerful look on Sunday.
In Richardson’s absence the Tigers unveiled a new-look forward line last Friday night with former Brisbane Lion Shane Morrison making a big impact in his Richmond debut at centre-half-forward while Ty Zantuck kicked three goals in a new forward role.
Hutchison said the Tigers were delighted with the first-up effort of Morrison, whose two goals early in the final term swung the game Richmond’s way.
Morrison managed just five games in five seasons with Brisbane as he found himself behind Jonathan Brown in the Lions’ pecking order but on his form Friday night he looks capable of holding down the key centre-half-forward position.
Hutchison said the Tigers were confident that Morrison and Richardson – who for so long has dominated the Richmond attack – would be able to be accommodated in the same forward line with Richardson likely to play closer to the goalsquare this season.
While Richardson is a certain starter on Sunday, Hutchison said Campbell was only 50/50 to play due to a sore calf while Gaspar (knee) and Bowden (groin) were likely to resume in the VFL with Coburg.
It will be Gaspar’s first match since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in the round 11 match against the Kangaroos last year but the dual All-Australian defender is only expected to play a half.
Paul Gough
afl.com.au
Richmond, already buoyed by its first round success over the Western Bulldogs, will welcome back star forward Matthew Richardson for Sunday’s Wizard Home Loans Cup quarter-final against St Kilda at the Telstra Dome.
The Tigers, who were humiliated in the first round of the pre-season competition last year by Melbourne, got their 2004 campaign off to a flying start with a 24 point win over the Bulldogs on Friday night.
And the win was even more significant considering it was achieved without four of the club’s best players in Richardson, skipper Wayne Campbell, Darren Gaspar and Joel Bowden.
But while Campbell, Gaspar and Bowden are unlikely to return for Sunday’s game – star forward Richardson appears certain to return.
“We will get ‘Richo’ back,” Richmond football operations manager Greg Hutchison told afl.com.au on Monday.
“He jarred his knee in an intra-club game last week and he had a bit of fluid on his knee but he will be right for this week.”
The return of Richardson – the Tigers’ leading goalkicker in eight of the past 10 years – will certainly give the Richmond attack a powerful look on Sunday.
In Richardson’s absence the Tigers unveiled a new-look forward line last Friday night with former Brisbane Lion Shane Morrison making a big impact in his Richmond debut at centre-half-forward while Ty Zantuck kicked three goals in a new forward role.
Hutchison said the Tigers were delighted with the first-up effort of Morrison, whose two goals early in the final term swung the game Richmond’s way.
Morrison managed just five games in five seasons with Brisbane as he found himself behind Jonathan Brown in the Lions’ pecking order but on his form Friday night he looks capable of holding down the key centre-half-forward position.
Hutchison said the Tigers were confident that Morrison and Richardson – who for so long has dominated the Richmond attack – would be able to be accommodated in the same forward line with Richardson likely to play closer to the goalsquare this season.
While Richardson is a certain starter on Sunday, Hutchison said Campbell was only 50/50 to play due to a sore calf while Gaspar (knee) and Bowden (groin) were likely to resume in the VFL with Coburg.
It will be Gaspar’s first match since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in the round 11 match against the Kangaroos last year but the dual All-Australian defender is only expected to play a half.
