Leg hot spot foils Brown
Mike Sheahan
Herald-Sun
March 30, 2007 12:00am
RICHMOND star Nathan Brown has a "hot spot" in the leg broken so graphically almost two years ago.
Coach Terry Wallace confirmed last night Brown would not take his place in the selected team for Sunday's Round 1 clash with Carlton at the MCG.
The forward will miss at least two games, perhaps more, after just 10 games in each of the past two seasons.
The hot spot, only 5cm below the break that derailed his career 22 months ago, was revealed in a scan yesterday.
It is a bitter blow for Brown, 29, and his club after indications he was on track to return to his stellar form of the first half of 2005.
Richmond had planned a media conference before training this afternoon to announce the development, but came clean last night after inquiries from the Herald Sun.
An hour after football operations manager Paul Armstrong denied the story, coach Terry Wallace called to apologise on Armstrong's behalf and confirm the story.
"He's not going to play," Wallace said.
"It's a stress reaction. If you keep going on it, they end up becoming a stress fracture.
"The good news is we caught it early and before it became a major issue.
"It's normally a 20-day injury and he's been off it for 10 days" Wallace said. "He's just got to keep resting it 'til the hot spot goes away. I guarantee it isn't a stress fracture and the original fracture has healed."
The concern, though, is yet another problem in his right leg. The alarm bells started ringing when Brown was seen limping out of Richmond's pre-season launch on Monday night.
He tried to train at the club's MCG session mid-week, but hobbled off the ground soon after jogging out.
Wallace said Brown was bitterly disappointed.
"His last game (the Mildura practice game against Collingwood) was his best game (this year)," Wallace said.
"He reckons he was playing as good a footy as he was prior to the injury."
Brown snapped his lower leg in a tangle with Melbourne's Matthew Whelan during the Round 10 game against Melbourne on May 27, 2005.
He had kicked 34 goals in 10 games and was at the pinnacle of his then nine-season career with the Western Bulldogs and Richmond.
Brown joins Troy Simmonds and Mark Coughlan on the sidelines for the opening of the new season.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21472388-11088,00.html
