Tigers promise not to burn out red-hot Richo
Jon Ralph and Braden Quartermaine| February 16, 2009 11:30pm
RICHMOND has promised evergreen champion Matthew Richardson it will not burn him out before the home-and-away season, despite his extraordinary feats on Sunday night.
Richardson, who turns 34 a week before the Tigers take on Carlton in Round 1, picked up where he left off last year with a sublime match-winning performance against Fremantle.
He racked up 157 Champion Data ranking points from 25 disposals (12 contested), kicked the late go-ahead goal, then took a match-saving mark deep in defence 30 seconds later.
But while many stars are rested early in the NAB Cup, Richardson played 85 per cent game time.
He played all of the first and last quarters, in total the most minutes of any Richmond midfielder and fifth most of any Tiger.
Aware they cannot let Richardson play every pre-season game like it is a Grand Final, the Tigers will ease his workload in coming weeks.
Next week's clash against Collingwood at Telstra Dome is expected to be Ben Cousins' debut for Richmond, but the Tigers will not be at full strength for every week of the pre-season.
Richardson could play limited minutes in that game or even be rested, as the Tigers try to peak for their Round 1 clash against Carlton.
Coach Terry Wallace said post-match the club would carefully monitor Richardson's workload.
"We went into the game with Troy Simmonds, Nathan Brown and Matthew Richardson only playing a quarter of a practice game, and Richo and Nathan in particular played 80-odd per cent," he said.
"We wanted to win the game, so were comfortable to do that, but it might be a balancing act on what they do the next couple of weeks."
Wallace says if anything, Richardson has improved his understanding of the wing/forward position he is now being asked to play.
"He's probably learnt more about the position," Wallace said.
"We threw him in over here in Round 4 last year and it was all of probably an hour between me and him sitting there saying, 'This is what I want you to do', and he came out and got best-on-ground.
"Now he's had a whole summer to work on what works for him and what doesn't work for him. So you would think that he would be better prepared for that position."
Former captain Kane Johnson, Jordan McMahon, Trent Cotchin (achilles) and Will Thursfield did not play on Sunday, with the Tigers to revolve their playing personnel in the NAB Cup.
"We'll probably make seven or eight changes. We had a few boys that were either just a week away or unlucky to miss out," said Wallace of the Collingwood clash.
"We want to give all those guys an opportunity to either get ready, and having a fortnight is a bit of an advantage, but we won't play all our players over the four weeks."
Despite well and truly hitting the middle 30s, Richardson has lost no pace or competitive spark.
Tied third with Gary Ablett behind only Adam Cooney and Simon Black in the Brownlow Medal last year, he is a juicy $67 in Brownlow betting.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/sport/afl/story/0,26547,25064742-5016212,00.html
