Tigers trying to rein in CousinsBEN COUSINS has settled so well at Richmond that coaching staff are keeping a close eye on him to stop him overdoing it at training.
Cousins arrived at the Tigers via the NAB AFL pre-season draft and has quickly slotted himself into the culture at Punt Rd.
Vice-captain Brett Deledio said the former Eagle was now just one of the familiar faces at the club.
“Benny’s coming along really well, and he’s fitting in really well,” Deledio said after training on Wednesday.
“He’s pretty much just one of the boys now, we’re having a chat to him in and out of the gym and that sort of stuff, so I can’t complain about how he’s fitted in.
“He’s on a modified program at the moment, and he’ll be on that for probably the next four weeks, so you won’t see him do everything with us, but from what he’s been doing with training, he does set a pretty high standard.”
Assistant coach Brian Royal said the club had to watch Cousins – who has always been one of the hardest trainers in the AFL – carefully to keep him from overdoing it on the track.
“Ben’s been fantastic, he’s done everything we’ve asked of him,” Royal said.
“He’s really keen and wants to do everything at 100 per cent, but we’re just mindful that because he’s missed a fair bit of footy over the last year-and-a-half, that we don’t rush him back and he gets an injury because of that.
“So I guess it’s just managing that and just pulling the reins on him because he’s so keen.
“He just wants to get back to where he was.”
Cousins has only played seven matches since kicking a couple of goals in West Coast’s third flag in 2006, and Royal said the 31-year-old was being treated even more carefully than other players his age.
“The program we’ve got him on is very modified and we’re assessing it day by day, because at times he’ll pull up a little bit sore so we’ll pull it back.
“But as I said, the difficult part is just controlling him, because he’s so eager, and you have to understand, everything he does is at 120 per cent, not just 50 or 60 per cent.
“He’s just got to understand that the age he is, and given the circumstances he’s been under, with not playing footy, that he’s just got to control the way he trains.”
With the NAB Cup almost on us, Royal said he wasn’t certain what part Cousins would play in Richmond’s campaign.
“I’m not too sure – we’re still probably four weeks away from that, so we’ve just got to look at his progress.
“Depending on how his body adapts to the training … but we’ll take no risks.”
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