Tigers seem settledGreg Denham
Senior Sports Writer
September 3, 2018The mystery surrounding the make-up of seven of the eight finalists could continue until game day of the four matches in an intriguing first week of the finals series.
The 2018 series starts on Thursday night at the MCG when Richmond meet Hawthorn, with personnel for the qualifying final far from established, with the exception of the minor premiers, who may make just one change. Teams for the Tigers-Hawks contest have to be named on Wednesday night, with final 22-man teams named the following night for the weekend’s three other games.
Premiership favourites Richmond, who are the most settled of all the remaining clubs, say they are highly unlikely to make a late change once they name their team 24 hours before the first centre bounce of the series. Officials of other clubs still involved have flagged late changes are possible because of fitness concerns.
Richmond general manager of football operations Neil Balme yesterday told The Australian it was against the Tigers’ policy to change advertised teams for the sake of it.
“I don’t think we’ve made a late change all year,” Balme said. “And I doubt whether there will be a late change this week. We’ve had two weeks to pick a team and we’ll be sitting down (with the) match committee on Tuesday.”
The Tigers appear certain to recall All Australian squad member Kane Lambert, who has missed the past two rounds, while Dan Butler, who has not played at the elite level since round 16, may struggle due to the five-day break. Both had minor ankle operations.
Lambert completed yesterday morning’s 55-minute training session at Punt Road, while Butler played the first half of a VFL final at Punt Road the previous night.
Sam Lloyd and Ryan Garthwaite did not play in the VFL but trained yesterday and are on standby should there be an unforeseen injury this week. Balme said Richmond would have their final lead-up training session on Wednesday.
Coach Damien Hardwick last week forecast some of his players not selected would have reason to be disappointed after the returns of Trent Cotchin, Dion Prestia and David Astbury.
“There’s going to be some players that are stiff, there’s no doubt about it, but that’s the nature of the game,” Hardwick said.
“We’ve got some players who are playing some really good footy at the lower level and guys that are hanging in there at the moment at AFL level. We’re really blessed to have a great deal of talent that could quite easily come in and play AFL footy at any given stage.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/afl-finals-teams-face-injury-calls-but-tigers-seem-settled/news-story/a821a2161e772a4a0e54b165740df183
