Richardson confident but cautious
31 March 2006 Herald Sun
David Hastie
FIT, fearless and, most importantly for Tigers supporters, injury free. Champion Richmond forward Matthew Richardson said yesterday he felt confident heading into the Tigers' clash against the Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome tonight.
Richardson has kicked 20 goals, taken 37 marks and racked up an impressive 53 disposals in his past three games against the Bulldogs. But despite his stellar record against them, he was not getting ahead of himself.
"That counts for nothing," Richardson said.
"Every game's a new game and they're as hard as any other team once a new game starts. I certainly don't look at past records as something to gauge how you are going to go in the game."
The Tigers hit the track yesterday for a short, sharp, 30-minute hitout at Punt Rd.
Nathan Brown, who has fully recovered from a broken leg in Round 10 last year, is expected to play. Brown did not train with the main group, opting for a light skills session and goal kicking practice.
Richardson said he expected to line up against a Bulldogs side that would continue playing the brand of football that saw it knocking on the door of the eight last season.
"I'm obviously expecting them to come out like they did in the last half of last year," he said.
Patrick Bowden is expected to line up for the Tigers against his old club tonight.
"Patrick will be looking forward to it," Richardson said. "I'm pretty sure that he'll be out there. He'll be looking forward to playing against his old side."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,18660283%255E19742,00.html
