RICHMOND FLOATS CURNOW-ESQUE RETURN PLAN FOR STAR FORWARD TOM LYNCHJack Makeham
SEN
29 June 2023Richmond is aiming for star forward Tom Lynch to make his return late in the season, regardless of whether the club makes finals.
Lynch has played just four games in 2023, suffering a fractured right foot during the Tigers’ Round 4 clash against the Bulldogs.
His absence serves as a devastating blow for a Richmond squad who has their sights set on finals, and Tigers assistant David Teague admits that the club was hoping to have Lynch back by now.
“Ideally he’d be nearly pushing for selection about now,” he told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“That was the original plan, but the progress just hasn’t happened as quick.”
However, Teague stated that he wants Lynch to return as soon as he is able, even if the Tigers are no longer in the finals hunt.
“If we can impact in finals he’ll definitely put his hand up,” he said.
“The question will probably be more around if he can get back for a game or two and we can’t make finals, then what do you do.
“They’re football players, they love playing, so if we can get him a couple of games before the end of the year, I bet he’d probably love that.”
During his time as senior coach at Carlton, Teague employed a similar strategy with Blues star Charlie Curnow.
Curnow missed the entirety of 2020 and the majority of 2021 with a knee injury, however returned to play four games late in the ’21 season, despite the Blues being well out of finals contention.
“The psychology around it, (Curnow) played a couple of VFL games too, his form wasn’t quite there, he wasn’t quite back but we wanted him to know that his body was ready and capable of handling AFL,” Teague said.
“He competed, we know Charlie competes well, and he wasn’t at his best, but I think it gave him a lot of confidence to attack the pre-season and the following year he came out and won the Coleman.”
Lynch’s season is a far cry from his dominant 2022, in which he kicked 60 goals and finished behind Curnow in the Coleman Medal race.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/06/29/richmond-floats-curnow-esque-return-plan-for-star-forward-tom-lynch/