Brown to sit it out again
5:55:21 PM Tue 2 May, 2006
Jennifer Witham
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond midfielder Nathan Brown is no chance to play against Essendon this week according to coach Terry Wallace.
Brown continues to recover from the badly broken leg he suffered last year and the club has set about putting the champion in cotton wool following continuing soreness plaguing his comeback.
Wallace said Brown was beginning to feel stronger after two weeks on the sidelines and would continue to slowly build up his workload in his bid to return to the game.
"Nathan hasn't reappeared on the track yet, I'm not sure what the medical and fitness staff have ready for him tomorrow," Wallace said on Tuesday.
"I would expect that either mid-week this week or late this week he will start to up the ante a little bit again on his training, whether that means he's out there tomorrow or later in the week, I'm not really sure at this stage.
"He is freeing up and feeling a lot better within himself, although still a very frustrated person, obviously."
Meanwhile, Wallace said skipper Kane Johnson was a '40/60' chance to lead the Bombers in the 'Dreamtime at the G' clash this Saturday night after the midfielder pulled up with hamstring soreness last week.
"He's probably 40/60 not to play at this stage. We haven't had our major training session for the week, we don't train until tomorrow but he didn't go through in the first training session for the week yesterday," Wallace said.
"That was very early in the week so he's definitely a chance of playing, there's no major damage there at all…but I'd say he's more unlikely than likely at this stage."
There is better news for Tigers fans as far as defenders Darren Gaspar and Ray Hall are concerned with Wallace expecting both of them to come through in time for round six.
Gaspar has been sidelined with the hamstring injury he sustained in round three while Hall injured his ankle last week but was cleared of any serious damage.
"(Gaspar) will train tomorrow and we're hoping that he'll be right for selection. If I was putting it in the same terms again, I would say he's a 50/50…if he gets through training then he's a good chance to play," Wallace said.
"Ray seems to be coming along OK, I'd be pretty disappointed if he wasn't OK. I think he'll have a lighter week, just to give the ankle every chance to recuperate as there is a bit of swelling there.
"It has come down considerably so I'd hope he'd play."
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