Brown's return eclipses young star's deal
Samantha Lane | June 20, 2007 | The Age
RICHMOND may have no wins, but it still has Terry Wallace and Nathan Brown. Which is a good thing because when the once separated, since reunited, couple sit side-by-side at a press conference, it invariably spells good news. Certainly, on such occasions, there never will be any shortage of goodwill between the talking heads.
Yesterday's episode of "Tuesdays with Terry", the club's weekly showcasing of the coach, was actually Tuesday with Terry, Nathan and Richard.
Richard Tambling was present because he'd just signed a new three-year deal, and Brown was called in to discuss his return to senior footy — something that will occur in two days after nearly 11 months of waiting for his broken leg to properly mend. On any other day in a winless season, the re-signing of a young Tiger talent, until the end of 2010, would have been drummed up as a big event. Cleve Hughes, Adam Pattison, Travis Casserly and Luke McGuane also made fresh commitments to the club over the mid-season break.
But yesterday, it was the promise of the Wallace-Brown combo that filled the Richmond boardroom. Terry was the man in the middle — it wouldn't be Tuesday without that — but Nathan, sitting just to the left of his coach, undoubtedly was the centre of attention.
"I don't have huge expectations of kicking bags of goals or anything, but just doing my job and making sure that we can get over the line," Brown said.
He would be used, he said, in "shorter spurts". "On and off, so I can get the most out of myself. I guess it'd be silly to play a full game."
In the corridors of Richmond's headquarters afterwards, someone in the know predicted Brown would play about 65 per cent of the match.
Did the clever forward have any doubts or extra nerves, given it was in a Richmond-Melbourne fixture — in round 10, 2005 — that the break occurred?
"No, not at all," Brown said. "It's just another football side. And obviously Matthew Whelan did it and I think he might come back in this week and I'll probably play on him.
"All the doctors are telling me that all the signs are pointing in the right direction and hopefully for a few more years yet I can play some good football … I think I can get back to where I was."
Proving that he has lost no sharpness off-field, Brown expertly plugged a club sponsor by mentioning that he would be trying out some new boots with extra padding.
After he played a couple of pre-season games over summer, the club announced he had a "hot spot" — essentially a stress reaction — in his damaged leg.
Brown said yesterday he'd been pain-free for a month. He has played two matches at reserves level and, apparently, was pushing for a run in the seniors a fortnight ago.
"What we clearly thought as a club was that with the problems Nathan had had, we'd be negligent … to bring him back out and then (possibly) have him break down again," Wallace said yesterday.
Was it reasonable to hope that the dual All-Australian could now be the difference between a narrow loss and a win?
"It's probably unreasonable at this stage," Wallace admitted. "Nathan playing at his best … is a matchwinner and turns games, but all we're wanting him to do is be a contributor in these early games.
"It may take him a few weeks to find his footing. I mean, he's almost going through another mini pre-season period, so expectations certainly … aren't too high."
http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/brown-returns-at-last/2007/06/19/1182019117489.html
