Brown sits out
Bendigo Advertiser
February 8, 2008
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace’s self-confessed paranoia was the reason behind superstar Nathan Brown sitting out the Tigers’ intra-club match at Moama yesterday.
Brown was a notable omission from Richmond’s intra-club match at Jack Eddy Oval, but will play in the Tigers’ NAB Cup opener against St Kilda at the Telstra Dome next Friday night.
‘‘It was probably more my paranoia than anything else (as to why Brown didn’t play),’’ Wallace told The Advertiser after yesterday’s two-hour match.
‘‘With the circumstances of him over the past few years, I didn’t want to take any risks with him.
‘‘He will play next Friday night, so there’s no dramas with him, but it’s probably just the coach’s paranoia after a fairly average 18 months for him.
‘‘We assure our supporters he will be out there next Friday night, but it was just me as a coach thinking a game in the country versus a game at the Telstra Dome next week, so we will wait for the Telstra Dome.’’
Brown, a former Golden Square junior and Bendigo Pioneer, has been restricted to just 21 AFL games since breaking his leg in round 10 of the 2005 season.
Yesterday’s intra-club match was the final event of Richmond’s three-day community camp to Echuca and Moama and a massive crowd of about 2000 watched the Tigers go through their paces in the full-scale hit-out.
Among those to play well were Chris Newman, who provided plenty of dash off half-back and kicked a goal in the last quarter.
Key forward Cleve Hughes finished the match with four goals, three of which he kicked in the first term in a blistering start.
Rookie Clayton Collard was lively as a small forward and kicked three goals in the third term.
Brett Deledio showed in the third quarter why there is talk of him spending more time permanently in the forward line this season.
Deledio kicked three goals in the third term, including a superb left-foot snap from 40 m out that was one of the goals of the match.
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