Brown to monitor comeback
The Australian
June 10, 2006
RICHMOND forward Nathan Brown has been given the green light to coach himself on his much-anticipated return today against the Kangaroos.
Brown hasn't played since the round three match against West Coast, battling soreness related to the horrific leg fracture sustained in round 10 last season.
He will make his second comeback against the Kangaroos at the MCG, with Brett Deledio and Andrew Krakouer also back from knee injuries to bolster the Tigers.
Brown sat out some of the contact drills at training yesterday, but assistant coach David King said he was ready to play.
"He's keen, he's desperate to play," King said.
"It's been a tragedy what's happened over the last 12 months but he's right to play. The day before the game he generally doesn't do the whole session but he's feeling fantastic, his body's right and we hope he has an impact on (today's) game."
King said the 28-year-old would mostly dictate his return to the Tigers forward line.
"There will be some sort of reduced scale in terms of minutes played but I think he'll dictate how many minutes he plays," King said.
"There'll be times when he goes up and plays high in the midfield and he'll probably play a little bit deep forward as well.
"It's whatever his body allows. It's up to him, he will let us know how he's going throughout the game."
Meanwhile, King said the return of the speedy trio, as well as the difficulty matching up against Kangaroos spearhead Nathan Thompson, was behind veteran defender Darren Gaspar's omission from the team.
He said it did not herald the beginning of the end for the former All-Australian, who has been sidelined recently with a hamstring injury.
"We've gone for pace. Darren probably got a game ahead of schedule last week. He's played one game in six weeks and we had a few out last week and he was rushed back in," King said.
"He's probably not at match fitness yet and playing full-back you need to be 100 per cent right and have everything going for you to hold down a player like Nathan Thompson, so we probably thought he wasn't there yet."
After falling to Fremantle last weekend, Richmond needs a win to keep in touch with the eight, while the Kangaroos came achingly close to a much-needed victory before being overrun by the Swans.
"It would be nice to keep things going. We've had a pretty good month of footy and if we can keep our form right we should go along way towards winning," said King, who played 241 games with the Kangaroos before joining the Tigers' coaching ranks in 2004.
"The Kangas are in pretty good form.
"They have played a lot of top sides in the last six weeks and they played well last Sunday and probably should have won, so we don't go in with any disrespect for the Kangas. They're a quality outfit."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19421239-36035,00.html
