He's back, after a short break
By Emma Quayle
The Age
March 29, 2006
NATHAN Brown has lost half a season, but little ambition.
The Richmond forward has not played in a real game since the end of May, and doesn't expect his first match back to bring nine goals and Brownlow votes. But he doesn't want to waste time, either.
"I'd definitely like to kick nine or so," he said yesterday.
"But I think a respectable performance would be … I don't know, you can't put a number on it. But a 15-possession, three-goal game would be more than ample."
Brown is well aware that he will play the Western Bulldogs with a steel rod running through his right leg. He still gets a bit sore, and isn't ready to complete consecutive training sessions, but has split his training with pool, bike and rowing sessions, and feels fit.
He suspects he will feel more soreness for parts of Friday night, and that people might think he is still limping.
"When I'm moving flat-out, I sort of look better, but when I'm going half-pace or jogging, I've been told that you can notice a little bit of a limp there," Brown says.
"That's something I've acquired. But when you're going flat-out, I think your body takes over."
While Brown always has intended to be back, and for round one, others are more surprised by how quickly he has come back. After he broke his leg, his captain, Kane Johnson, heard of others who had not played again, and worried his teammate would join them.
"I think it was just after Christmas — I watched him out here one day and he was running and doing some sprints," Johnson said. "I actually got a bit nervous because, as he said, when he's jogging, he can look a little bit proppy.
"But over the last month, he's improved out of sight and I've got absolutely no worries now that he'll get back to his best at some stage. Whether it takes half a season or three games, whatever it takes, he'll get back there."
Brown's coach Terry Wallace had some concerns, too. Wallace didn't wonder whether the player he took into a finals series as a teenage Western Bulldog would get back but how borderline he would be for the opening game.
"I thought we were going to be in a very embarrassing scenario come this week, about whether we were going to play him or not play him," Wallace said. "Medically, they were going to say he was OK but whether he could play football and actually earn his spot in the side, I thought was going to be a problem.
"He's earned the right to play. No one's picking him for any other reason."
Brown wants to play every game this season, though the possibility of playing a few, then taking a week off, has been broached. He is more anxious about getting started than being nervous about what might happen.
More than anything, he wants to remember what it feels like to win again. "I want to get back to where I was as quickly as it's possible. Obviously, there's going to be some restrictions but I don't see any reason why I couldn't and I'd be disappointed if I don't," Brown said.
"I just want to get back to playing winning football games because it's a lonely world, football, when you're losing."
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/03/28/1143441149566.html
