AUDIO: Chaplin on SEN
http://www.sen.com.au/audioplayer/Audio/Richmond-fullback-Troy-Chaplin/7865 Richmond big guns tipped to playBy Kim Hagdorn
Sports News First
8 May 2013 IMPORTANT Richmond defensive recruit Troy Chaplin predicts Tigers ruck dynamos Ivan Maric and Tyrone Vickery to be fit for a crucial clash with Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
Maric bravely hobbled through the Tigers 44-point drubbing from Geelong at the MCG on Saturday night with a nagging ankle problem, while Vickery didn’t finish the shootout after a heavy head clash and a nasty cut eye.
The aggressive Maric around congestion and Vickery in front of Tigers goal remain crucial components in any hopes to arrest a losing streak of three games against a vastly improved Power, who only went down in their first loss in six weeks to North Melbourne by 10 points in Hobart.
Chaplin, 27, confronts his old club Port for a first time since crossing to the Tigers through free agency rules last October after 140 senior games with Power.
He expects the two injured Tigers enforcers to be at his side in a bid to snatch a crucial fourth win of the season and retain a spot on the edge of the top eight.
“Yeah, I think they’ll both likely play," Chaplin told Melbourne sports specialist radio SEN.
“Obviously Ty took a head knock but he was feeling really good yesterday and he said he should be fine.
“Ivvy, after the game we probably thought we were going to lose him.
“But he had reacted really well to rehab and we’ve got training and I’m tipping he won’t do much and then he’ll train Thursday and he’ll no doubt come up for the game.
“So he’s probably better than 50-50 for the moment, which is good for us.”
Chaplin assessed that his adopted outfit have suffered severely in lapses of defensive disciplines in successive losses to Collingwood by 34 points, Fremantle in a heart-wrenching one-point defeat and then powerhouse Cats.
The Tigers launched their finals drive this season with successive wins staunch rival Carlton, St Kilda and Western Bulldogs.
An inspired Tigers led the Cats by 19 points some six minutes from half-time before Geelong hammered on four unanswered goals approaching the long break and then reigned supreme through the third term and retained control of the game.
Chaplin declared that the developing Tigers have contributed to their own downfall in losses.
“In Collingwood and Geelong (losses) it’s probably only been a quarter of football that has really cost us,” he said.
“It’s been our own mistakes that they have been able to score from.
“We’ve probably lacked a little bit in composure but I thought the guys were fantastic.
“It’s always hard to travel over there and win and apart from last minute and a half where we let ourselves down with some structures we haven’t been playing too bad a footy.
“We just need to continue to take the game on.
“We probably go back in our shell a little bit when it start to go against us.”
http://www.sportsnewsfirst.com.au/articles/2013/05/08/richmond-big-guns-tipped-to-play/
