Martin on the runBy Jennifer Witham
Fri 11 Nov, 2011RICHMOND midfielder Dustin Martin slashed a minute off his previous fastest time for a lap of Melbourne's Botanical Gardens' Tan circuit as the Tigers trained on Friday morning.
Coach Damien Hardwick hailed the form his players showed, with Martin recording just over 14 minutes for the 3.8km run.
Matt White came first, followed by delisted rookie Pat Contin, who is still training with the club.
To view the full photo gallery from the circuit, click here
"We've been really impressed with the way they've come back," Hardwick said.
"They've been really diligent in coming in to the club over summer, which is what we expected, and we're hoping to see the dividends over the course of the pre-season.
"We've set some pretty lofty ambitions for a lot of our guys and they've come back in reasonably good shape, which is great."
Defender Bachar Houli came third in the run, with Martin, Brett Deledio and Daniel Jackson finishing shortly afterwards.
New recruits Ivan Maric and Steven Morris, son of dual Richmond premiership player Kevin, also impressed with middle of the pack finishes.
"[Morris] is a competitive beast, we've seen that already in couple of sessions," Hardwick said.
"His competitive nature is going to be the thing that gets him to where he needs to go.
"We'd be disappointed if he didn't play some form of senior footy this year, and Ivan is another very competitive individual and that's what we're after.
"We've got to improve in a number of areas and that's one of them and why we got him across to our footy club."
A dozen players were absent from the run, including forward Jack Riewoldt, captain Chris Newman, defender Kel Moore and recent International Rules representative Jake King.
Read more and the full article at: http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/126035/default.aspx