Brown on schedule for Round 1
27 October 2005 Herald Sun
Michael Stevens
RICHMOND is confident its marquee player Nathan Brown will be back playing by the opening round next year.
And the Tigers are leaving nothing to chance to help Brown's recovery from the broken tibia and fibula bones in his right leg.
Fitness coach Warren Koefed went to England to speak to Liverpool officials about a similar injury suffered by star striker Djibril Cisse.
And the club also spent $20,000 of its $100,000 winnings in a Coca Cola promotion on a special treadmill machine and harness that enabled Brown to start running with reduced weight on his legs.
Training with former Western Bulldogs teammate Scott West at Noosa, Brown, 27, yesterday said:
HE HAD been running outdoors for three weeks and his wasted leg had almost regained its normal shape.
HE WOULD have screws removed in two weeks, but would play with a 32cm rod in his leg next season.
HE WOULD be ready to resume playing football in six weeks -- December 10.
MOVEMENT in his toes was slowly returning to normal. Brown said he had spoken to Brisbane captain Michael Voss about whether to have the rod removed for fear of it being bent if a player fell across him.
"He (Voss) said he played a season with a rod in his leg and had no problems with it," Brown said. "He said it just gave him a bit of reassurance that it was quite strong and everything was going to go along nicely with a rod in there.
"Worrying about someone falling across me would be like worrying about sharks when you go swimming in the ocean."
Although practice matches don't start until February, Brown said he could play games from December 10.
"If I had to put a date on when I thought I'd be right to play a football game I'd say around six weeks from now," he said. "After
December 10, that gives me another 3 1/2 months to get everything right for Round 1.
"Obviously that's going to be a pretty good pre-season and a pretty good launching pad for me."
Brown said that while he did not have full feeling in his toes, the numbness was starting to disappear.
"The nerves take a long time to heal, but I'm assured everything will come back the way it was," he said.
"The body takes longer to repair nerves than it does a calf muscle or hamstring muscle, so I've just got to be patient.
"Obviously, I'm going to be in a little bit of discomfort when I start doing full football exercises, but the more I do the better I'm going to get and the better I'm going to be able to deal with it.
"And I'm really looking forward to Round 1 because I haven't played for a long time."
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