Cloud over Geelong with Riccardi out
27 May 2006 Herald Sun
Scott Gullan
GEELONG veteran Peter Riccardi is out of today's crucial clash with Richmond at Skilled Stadium.
Riccardi was ruled out last night because of a strained calf while there is speculation star forward Gary Ablett is also under a cloud.
Geelong high performance manager Steve Hocking confirmed Riccardi had not come up for the club's season-defining match against the Tigers.
But Hocking was confident Ablett would line up.
"He'll play," Hocking said.
Ablett suffered a knock to his knee during a marking contest on Wednesday night and immediately left the training track.
Only 15 Cats joined in light training yesterday with Ablett away from the main group and restricted to stationary skills.
Richmond officials are expecting at least one other change from Geelong with their suspicions heightened by a late change to the Cats' emergencies yesterday.
Young ruckman Mark Blake was replaced by forward Charlie Gardiner on the emergency list.
The Cats were last night still deciding whether pacy rover Mathew Stokes or midfielder Paul Koulouriotis will come in to replace Riccardi.
Another making his debut for the Cats today is new club doctor Chris Bradshaw who has returned to Australia after a two-year stint with English soccer club Fulham.
Bradshaw, who previously headed up Richmond's medical team, said he had learned a lot overseas which he hoped could help Geelong overcome a recent bad history of soft-tissue injuries.
"I now have some fairly firm ideas on how not to do stuff from a sports medicine point of view," Bradshaw said.
"With Richo (Matthew Richardson) at Richmond we found that if you keep him on the track he doesn't break down as much.
"You have to tread a fine line. At Richmond for a while there we probably went the wrong way and put too much emphasis on recovery and holding blokes back rather than running them a bit more.
"It's all about treading that fine line and treading it successfully, and Geelong seem to have a good handle on it."
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