Daniel Jackson bides his time to return to Richmond’s senior listGlenn McFarlane
Herald-Sun
August 20, 2014 5:33PMRICHMOND’S reigning best-and-fairest winner Daniel Jackson has put his hand up for a senior recall this week, but admits the club’s near clear slate with injuries might mean he has to wait for his chance.
As the Tigers chase an eighth successive win in the rundown to a possible finals berth that looked impossible two months ago, the health of the club’s list has been a key reason behind its revival in the second half of the season.
The Tigers have few players on the injury list at the moment, with injured defender David Astbury (knee) close to resuming. The luckless Chris Knights (quad) was injured in last week’s VFL clash.
Matt Thomas is recovering from a knee injury that kept him out of last week’s gritty win over Adelaide.
Jackson will either play in the seniors against St Kilda on Sunday or for the club’s VFL side after getting through without an issue last week.
“I would love to get myself back out there,” Jackson told the club’s website. “It has been a pretty frustrating year with inconsistency through injury.
“I got through a full game in the VFL (last week), I don’t know whether I quite did enough to get back in.
“It is a tough side to crack into at the moment. I’m patient and my body is feeling a lot better than it has all year.
“If I need to go around (in the VFL) again, there is another game at Punt Rd. this week that I will play in, but it would be great to work my way back into the side.”
The Tigers will have Reece Conca available for selection this week after his two-game suspension, while Ty Vickery will be eligible to play in the club’s crucial final round match with Sydney when his ban ends.
Jackson has only managed 10 games this season. An interrupted pre-season hurt his early preparation and then he suffered a hip injury that cost him two months.
He returned again in Round 16, but was injured a week later against Port Adelaide.
Jackson said the mood around Punt Rd. had improved significantly since the team’s streak started against St Kilda back in Round 15.
The other wins have come against Brisbane, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Greater Western Sydney, Essendon and Adelaide.
“(Winning) breeds confidence and that’s what we lacked at the start of the year,” Jackson said. “It has certainly been a great environment to be around.
“We’ve had to work hard to keep this winning streak rolling on, (but) we have another big task ahead of us on Sunday.”
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick believes the team is playing better football at the moment than it did during stages of last season.
“The thing that has been evident is that our players have grown in confidence and they will continue to do that as they win more games,” Hardwick said.
“We are starting to play a brand of football than is more like the brand of football we played last year. I think it is personally better.”
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