Tigers hope Vickery proves fitnessRoger Vaughan, AAP
Updated May 15, 2012Richmond are desperate for Ty Vickery to prove his fitness and help combat the in-form Essendon rucks in Saturday night's blockbuster.
The versatile ruck-forward missed last weekend's upset win over Sydney with a calf injury and he did running drills on Tuesday morning away from the main training session.
Coach Damien Hardwick said Bombers ruckman Tom Bellchambers was showing close to All-Australian form.
Bellchambers and Paddy Ryder have been outstanding for Essendon, who have a 6-1 record, and the Tigers want to bring back Vickery if possible to provide support for Ivan Maric.
Vickery has not been in peak form, but he could prove invaluable as back-up in the ruck on Saturday night.
"He's an important player to our structure, obviously with Bellchambers and Ryder, they're two formidable foes to come up against," Hardwick said.
"If Ty is available, he'll certainly play, so we just have to make sure we get him through the week and see how he goes.
"We're going to have our hands full this week.
"Bellchambers has been outstanding - there's a fair argument he's in All-Australian form at the moment."
The strong form of the two teams will mean a crowd of more than 80,000 for their annual Dreamtime At The 'G indigenous tribute match.
While Essendon will start as favourites, Saturday's impressive performance against the Swans saw Richmond's win-loss record improve to 3-4.
Hardwick said his young side had learnt plenty from the round-one loss to Carlton - another much-anticipated match at the MCG with a massive crowd.
"It's a long time ago, round one," Hardwick said.
"We probably didn't play the way we wanted to play that night, there's no doubt, and Carlton were very, very good in that area.
"But we've come a long way since then.
"Our boys learnt a lot from that game and our results have probably swung our way accordingly."
Hardwick is never a coach who embraces hype, but he noted that the passionate army of Tigers supporters could prove a big factor on Saturday night against their fierce rivals.
"It's going to be a great contest between the two armies of the sash," Hardwick said.
"There's no doubt that when we're kicking towards that Punt Rd end towards the end, it certainly gets our sails up.
"If we get as many supporters there as we can, it will be a formidable outfit to beat."
Captain Chris Newman will play his 200th game this weekend and Hardwick said he had been a big reason for Richmond's improvement this season.
Hardwick described him as a spiritual leader at Punt Rd and added that even before he took over as Richmond coach, he liked the way Newman played.
"His influence on this group and our leadership group ... has been paramount on the way we've hung in, we've hung tough," Hardwick said.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/afl/13687095/tigers-hope-vickery-proves-fitness/More from the AFL website....Richmond played only one ruckman, Ivan Maric, during the victory over the Swans.
Maric, who has plenty of endurance, played almost the entire match. He was relieved only briefly by Brad Miller, who generally plays as a lead-up forward.
The Swans' ruckmen, Mark Seaby and Jesse White, posed nothing like the problem that Essendon's in-form duo, Paddy Ryder and Tom Bellchambers, are likely to provide this weekend.
Ryder and Bellchambers were a huge factor in the Bombers' victory over West Coast, eclipsing the Eagles' combination of Dean Cox and Scott Lycett.
Vickery would serve as the back-up to Maric against the Bombers while also providing a vital tall target in attack.
If he fails to come up, the Tigers must decide whether to let Maric take on the Bombers almost single-handedly, or whether to include a back-up ruckman.
The obvious inclusion would be Angus Graham, but he'd be able to play only if he is found not guilty at the VFL tribunal from a kicking charge.
If Graham is suspended, the Tigers might consider the in-form Andrew Browne, but he too is facing the VFL tribunal.
Browne had almost 100 hit-outs playing with the Coburg Tigers' reserves a fortnight ago and was named among the best players for Coburg's senior team last weekend.
Derickx would be a like-for-like replacement for Vickery in that he plays as a tall forward who relieves in the ruck, but his form with Coburg is unlikely to merit selection.
Without Vickery in attack against the Swans, Richmond played key midfielders Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin out of the goalsquare at various times.
The tactic created a potent forward line, making the Swans' defence look to be on edge whenever either Cotchin or Martin threatened to take the ball, but it returned only one goal, to Martin.
Hardwick said the Tigers' selection considerations for the Essendon match would include a strong focus on combatting Ryder and Bellchambers.
"They're such formidable opponents," he said, adding that Bellchambers has been in All-Australian form.
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