Cousins to miss SCG clash, Richo in doubt
Richard Hinds | April 27, 2009
BEN COUSINS will make his return from a hamstring injury with Richmond's Victorian Football League affiliate Coburg rather than coming straight back into the team to play Sydney at the SCG on Sunday.
The Tigers are taking an ultra-cautious approach with the 30-year-old recruit, who suffered the injury late in his comeback match against Carlton in the opening round. Cousins had chronic hamstring injuries in the latter stages of his career with West Coast.
"Originally, he was going to play with Coburg this weekend but there was still a bit of tightness, and we're being careful with him so we put it back a week," Richmond's football operations manager Craig Cameron said.
"I'd say the strong likelihood is that he will play with Coburg next weekend."
The absence of the controversial Cousins, whose drug addiction and last-minute recruitment by the Tigers created intense media scrutiny, will rob next Sunday's match of some unusual box office appeal. Richmond could also be without mercurial forward/midfielder Matthew Richardson who suffered a buttock strain early in the Tigers' 36-point victory over North Melbourne on Saturday night.
Richardson, who limped from the ground with what originally appeared to be a hamstring strain, returned late in the game but looked badly inconvenienced, and coach Terry Wallace admitted the versatile big man had been used as a decoy.
"But with the nature of the game now, with them having [Brent] Harvey off, we knew if he could do a job for us by taking one of their guys to the goal square. That allowed us to keep our guys fresher because we had one more rotation than the opposition," Wallace said after the match.
"He had a glute strain high up in the buttocks. It wasn't a tear or anything like that."
Cameron said Richardson had yet to be assessed, but added: "He's always been a pretty resilient so you'd give him a chance [to play]."
If Richmond are without a couple of prominent names for what is a vital game for both clubs, they will also be relieved their drought-breaking victory over the Kangaroos will have lifted some of the enormous pressure and scrutiny that had engulfed the club - and, more particularly, the out-of-contract Wallace - since a disastrous round one defeat by Carlton.
If they are without Richardson, Cousins and Nathan Brown (groin), the Tigers will field an inexperienced line-up at the SCG but one that - for a week or two at least - has lifted a heavy weight from the club's shoulders.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/cousins-to-miss-scg-clash-richo-in-doubt/2009/04/26/1240684337798.html
