Cousins likely to return to Richmond midfield despite limping off in VFL
Cameron Noakes | May 4, 2009
BEN Cousins is expected to return to Richmond's midfield for its clash against the Brisbane Lions this weekend, despite limping off the ground while playing for Coburg Tigers in the VFL on Saturday.
Coburg has a bye coming up and Cousins made enough of a contribution to expect an immediate return to the Richmond line-up.
Coburg coach Jade Rawlings played down the fact that Cousins' legs were covered in ice-packs after the game, suggesting it was normal for a 30-year-old veteran with soft-tissue concerns.
Rawlings said Cousins, who had 25 disposals in the loss to the Casey Scorpions, was closely monitored during the game but left a favourable impression on his teammates.
"One of the conditioning guys at Richmond was sitting in the coach's box to tell me how many minutes Ben and Trent (Cotchin) had played," Rawlings told radio 3AW.
"That was measured pretty closely and, yeah, and they were both good when they were asked to come off."
Rawlings said all his players told him that Cousins was terrific in his approach to the game.
"All I could see was … at every break (he was) encouraging all our players. For what he's done and where he's come from, to get what I got out of him I couldn't have been more pleased."
The Coburg coach said Cotchin also was not far away from selection, suggesting a virus had made him a little sluggish.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/cousins-likely-to-return-to-richmond-midfield/2009/05/03/1241289039828.html
