Tigers' short-term focusBy Paul Daffey
Fri 24 Feb, 2012RICHMOND small forward Jake King says the Tigers have not addressed their tough opening to the home-and-away season and are unlikely to during the NAB Cup.
The Tigers play Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne, Geelong and West Coast in the opening five rounds.
King said the Tigers would continue to concentrate on pre-season training and NAB Cup games and save their focus for the Carlton match in round one until the eve of the game.
"It's one week at a time. We have no control over the draw," King said.
"Our focus will be to prepare our bodies as best we can and get our structures up and running for round one against Carlton — and hopefully put on a show then."
Richmond's pre-season under coach Damien Hardwick has included a focus on decision-making under pressure. The players were made to knuckle down during Friday's 90-minute session in searing heat.
"She wasn't easy," King said. "The boys need to challenge themselves mentally and physically, so why not do it on a 35-degree day?"
King said a five-minute patch had cost the Tigers the game in the opening match of the NAB Cup against North Melbourne last weekend, and added that they hadn't taken too much from their victory over Hawthorn in their second match of the triple-header.
"We still know we have a lot of work ahead of us," King said.
The Tigers players completed Friday's session before a number of fans who were wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the words "The Push-up King".
The t-shirts recognised King, who gained his nickname 'the Push-up King' after doing 303 push-ups during a training camp at Anglesea.
King was the day's main man because, after training had finished, the Tigers players and fans took part in a charity event in which they tried to set the world record for the most people doing push-ups at the same time.
About 400 took part in the push-up proceedings. All were required to do push-ups for a minute.
Film of the event will be sent to Guinness Book of Records representatives who will decide whether a world record has been set.
The event was held as a fundraiser for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. Alannah and Madeline were two girls were who killed during the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
The foundation aims to keep children safe from violence through its Better Buddies program.
Richmond's round-two NAB Cup match is against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium on March 4.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/129544/default.aspx
