Trent Cotchin won’t play NAB Challenge match against Port as he battles hamstring sorenessHerald-Sun
March 12, 2015 11:16AMRICHMOND won’t risk skipper Trent Cotchin, resting him from Saturday’s NAB Challenge game against Port Adelaide.
Cotchin, restricted by hamstring soreness, is set to have only a light run in the last pre-season warm-up game against North Melbourne on Saturday week.
“Trent won’t play. He’ll play some minutes in NAB three (third game). Obviously, Nathan (Foley) had an operation last week, but other than that we’ve got our players up and going which is a positive sign for our fitness department,’’ Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said.
“The fitness programs these days are elite, we don’t take any chances with players this time of the year. If you pushed the envelope, he (Cotchin) could possibly play this week. But from our point of view, it’s a risk management and we’ll make sure he plays some minutes in NAB three and he goes into round 1 primed.’’
Brett Deledio, also on a modified training program with achilles tendon soreness, will captain the team against the Power in Albury as the Tigers brought back a large group of other senior players, like Jack Riewoldt, Dustin Martin, Ivan Maric and Troy Chaplin.
“He (Deledio) will always be a management issue going forward. He will only train once or twice a week at various stages,’’ the coach said.
“From our point of view, he’s ready to go. He has been in good form over the course of the pre-season. He will be captain this week and we look forward to him playing.’’
Hardwick declared Riewoldt to be in the best ever condition for the 2015 AFL season.
“It’s the first time he hasn’t had any form of operation over the summer. He’s in as good a physical nick as I’ve seen him,’’ Hardwick said.
“I think he’s going to have an outstanding year. He’s moving freely, he’s destroying our defenders at the moment, we’ve just to make sure we deliver the ball to him properly.
“His body shape has significantly improved, we’re really excited what he’s going to do this year. We also know he’s going to contribute defensively, he’s No.1 or No.2 tackler inside 50 last year.’’
The Tigers will continue to experiment with tall forward targets, Ty Vickery, Ben Griffiths and Riewoldt, with the possibility of using them in the same team.
“The good thing is that all those players are different. Ben is athletic, he can get up the ground, Ty is probably a more a stay-at-home and Jack’s just an animal inside 50. So, we’re looking forward to seeing how that goes,’’ Hardwick said.
“We’ve got a number of guys who will roll through a number of roles to try to get some flexibility into our side. The way of the AFL now is that you have to have interchangeable parts and that’s something we’re implementing at the moment.’’
That tinkering will include hard nut defender Steven Morris in a forward role in a bid to duplicate the role left vacant by Jake King’s departure.
“Just his pressure. Jake King, as much as a pain in the a ... he was forward, he was an important player and we didn’t have him last year really. So we’re looking to bring back that role and we think Steve Morris will be a valuable contributor in that role,’’ Hardwick said.
Hardwick said the Tigers had only five post-season surgeries compared to 15 the previous summer and forgotten forward Chris Knights gets the opportunity to build on his promising first-up performance against the Bulldogs two weeks ago.
“He has been really impressive. He played well in the first NAB game and we had an intraclub on Friday and he kicked two or three goals,’’ the coach said.
“He has had a really good pre-season and he’s a player we haven’t really had for a year and a half. He can kick goals, he can sniff a turnover as good as I’ve seen and he has got a leg that can kick it 55m. All he needs is three or four touches.
“He’s an important player for us. We’ve just got to make sure we manage his workload and get him on the ground because he can really play.’’
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