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one-eyed:
Mark's in the swim
Sunday Herald-Sun
January 06, 2008

MARK Coughlan expects to be ready for Richmond's season opener as he continues to recover from two knee reconstructions.

The Tigers' gun midfielder has not played for 18 months and admits he is starting to feel anxious.

He did a time trial on grass on Friday while his teammates ran the Tan and Saturday he completed the Lorne Pier to Pub 1.2km swim.

"The nerves are starting to come up a bit," Coughlan said. "It will be like playing my first game again.

"Each week is a big step for me and a big step in my confidence. I'm on track to be fully training in a month and I'm hoping to play a pre-season game or two which will then lead into the start of the season.

"Ideally, I'd love to play Round 1, but it's a week by week thing.

"I need to get a few games under my belt. I need to prove myself again.

"I've been out of footy for a while and I'll need a few games to get used to the pace of the game."

Coughlan's enforced break began in Round 12, 2006, when he snapped the anterior cruciate ligament against Hawthorn. Last February he had to have a second operation.

"I will have had 13 months before the start of the season which is more than enough for a knee reconstruction," Coughlan said.

"I'm slowly coming out of all the swimming and bike riding, and cross training-type things and getting more into footy stuff now.

"My preparation has been much better than it would have been coming back last year. I've had a lot of time to get over it."

Coughlan said he couldn't wait to join teammates such as Brett Deledio, Nathan Foley and recruit Trent Cotchin in the midfield group.

The best and fairest winner's return will be welcome news for coach Terry Wallace.

Last year the Tigers were without most of their leaders as Coughlan was joined on the sidelines by Nathan Brown - still recovering from his broken leg - and ruckman Troy Simmonds, who was diagnosed with a blood clot on the lung.

Brown and Simmonds are also back and training well.

But neither was up for the challenge of swimming in yesterday's hot conditions.

Coughlan was joined by Foley, Andrew Raines, Angus Graham, Will Thursfield and Danny Meyer.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23010963-23211,00.html

WilliamPowell:
IMHO, first and foremost he needs to play some footy. Whether that's just intra-club he needs to to play some contact footy. You can do all the rehab in the world but nothing will give him confidence like running around and actually getting "hit".

Personally, I would not consider him for our first round NAB Cup unless he plays some intra club stuff and I'd play him against Foley

Hellenic Tiger:
I hope he wears rubber thongs in the shower otherwise there may not be any intra club or NAB matches.
Seriously, Cogs is like a new recruit all the swimming weights and bike riding mean nothing when you'll get hit hard on the field. Its all in the head for Cogs. Hopefully mentally he is still strong and is not afraid to put his body on the line. I don't expect miracles but if his knee hold up we might start seeing some quality footy from him from about round 8 or 9 onwards.

torch:
i would play Coughlan in our intra-club matches ...

then play the last 3-2 practice/NAB Cup matches ...

we have 2 intra-club matches don't we ???

mightytiges:

--- Quote from: torch on January 07, 2008, 12:00:56 AM ---we have 2 intra-club matches don't we ???

--- End quote ---
We usually have that probables vs possibles intra-club match a week before our first NAB Cup game. It's probably only a month away too  :o.

I just hope Cogs can get through the year without any mishaps and as WP says get some footy back under his belt.

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