Richmond ruck Ivan Soldo forced to play the waiting gameDaniel Cherny
The Age
16 September 2019Ivan Soldo says he still doesn’t know whether he will play in the VFL or AFL this weekend.
The Richmond ruckman has played 12 games this season after an opportunity presented following an injury in round eight to Toby Nankervis.
Soldo was dropped ahead of round 21 when Nankervis returned to face Carlton, but the premiership big man pulled up sore following that game, again opening the door for Soldo.
Despite fellow talls Mabior Chol and Noah Balta playing plenty of AFL football this year, Soldo and Nankervis were chosen to team up for the qualifying final against the Brisbane Lions. Soldo had seven disposals and 25 hitouts while Nankervis had five disposals and 24 hitouts.
Chol impressed with nine disposals and two goals in Richmond’s VFL preliminary final win over Port Melbourne on Saturday.
Soldo said on Sunday that he remained uncertain about whether he would line up against Geelong in an AFL preliminary final on Friday night or be sent back to the VFL for the grand final.
“I’m not sure yet. We won’t really know until Wednesday, being a Friday game. You just never really know,” Soldo told The Age.
“That’s the life of a footy player. I’m just preparing to play either on Friday or Sunday.”
However Soldo said he felt like he had the support of senior coach Damien Hardwick.
“I think Dimma has faith in me, and the ruck duo, so it’s exciting because I think Toby’s a great player and I like playing beside him, and obviously AFL’s everyone’s dream and that’s where you want to be playing. Both teams are in a really good position so to be honest it doesn’t really matter where I play. I’m happy with team success at the moment.”
A promising junior basketballer, Soldo has played 20 AFL games since joining the Tigers as a Category B rookie in mid-2014.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-ruck-ivan-soldo-forced-to-play-the-waiting-game-20190915-p52rj6.html