By Mark Fuller
realfooty.theage.com.au
May 8, 2004
Richmond full-forward Matthew Richardson appeared to survive a training scare yesterday that had him clutching his troubled hamstring, but he remains no certainty to play against Sydney at the SCG tomorrow.
Richmond coach Danny Frawley said Richardson had to get through yesterday's hour-long session to prove his readiness to return from the hamstring strain that has kept him sidelined since round three. The Tiger star was smiling as he left the track after adding a brief goal-kicking session to a solid workout with the team.
But there was a moment early in the session that may play on the minds of coaching staff before the Swans clash.
While going through a routine drill of leading, marking and kicking, Richardson was forced to slide to take a low mark, and he tumbled as he struck the turf.
He cursed loudly as the ball spilled free, although it was unclear whether it was in frustration at dropping the mark or whether he had re-injured himself. There was immediate support for the latter theory, though, when Richardson walked a little gingerly to rejoin the drill, then stood briefly clutching the back of his left thigh.
Thereafter, he trained strongly, running freely and leaping and kicking without apparent hindrance.
Before the session, Frawley said Richardson was fully fit and the timing indicated he would be right to return, but the coach did not suggest his key forward was a certainty.
"He's been fully training now for a week and a half, so from that perspective he's done a hell of a lot of work," Frawley said.
"He'll be 29 days, normally hamstrings are three (weeks), so he was line-ball last week, but he's got another session to get through."
Frawley said the size of the SCG and the ineffectiveness of the Tigers' forward line late in last week's win over Hawthorn made Richardson's return an enticing prospect.
He was pleased, too, that the return of Greg Stafford after his three-week suspension would ease the load of Brad Ottens in the ruck.
The recently besieged coach said the mood at Punt Road had improved after the breakthrough win over the Hawks and with the impending return of the two big men. "Yes, but also one that we want to start to build on something, and that's super important," he said.
Still, he said the players had received a confidence boost.
"You can see in their training, they trained with a lot of intensity on Wednesday, they were pretty hard at it again, so we haven't changed too much from last week and nor should we," Frawley said.
"The challenge for us is to emulate our siege mentality (of) last week and build on that."
The Tigers go to Sydney having lost their past 12 interstate matches.
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