Matthew Richardon back scare
30 January 2007 Herald-Sun
Rebecca Williams
RICHMOND suffered a pre-season fright yesterday after spearhead Matthew Richardson was forced to pull out of training with back spasms.
The 31-year-old veteran lasted less than 10 minutes into team drills at Gosch's Paddock before he left his teammates to receive treatment.
He spent the rest of the session stretching, doing run-throughs and watching match practice from the sidelines.
Tigers coach Terry Wallace said Richardson had suffered back spasms and hamstring tightness.
But he said the club was just being cautious with its star forward. "He was just a bit tight," Wallace said.
"Rather than take risks at this stage of the year when you are not in any hurry, you don't want to push it if there's a sign there.
"He just had some back spasms into the hamstrings.
"If there had been any problems, we would have sent him back (to the club), but he just floated around and helped us do some scoring.
"I would expect him to be back on the track next session."
Wallace said Richardson, entering his 15th AFL season, had been setting an impressive standard on the training track so far this pre-season.
"He's been good, he's been in the top 10 of our NAB Cup (selection system)," he said.
"My first year here he had a really solid pre-season, then he had a lot of interruption last year just with operations in the off-season.
"He has had the full pre-season again this year, so we have no issue with him having one afternoon a bit light."
In other training news, Wallace expected recruit Ken Kingsley, who suffered a hamstring twinge last week, to be back to full training by the end of the week.
Wallace said Chris Newman, who broke his leg in Round 13 last year, was on track for a Round 1 return.
He said midfielder Mark Coughlan, on the comeback from a knee reconstruction, would also be considered if he continued to make progress in training.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21138992%255E20322,00.html
