Raines told to sit out season
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen
6:04 PM Tue 19 August, 2008
ANDREW Raines has had so little footy this year that he's unable to qualify for the VFL finals with Coburg.
As a result, Richmond has told the young midfielder that 2008 is over, and it's time to get ready for 2009.
Raines, son of Tigers legend Geoff, played 22 games in each of 2006 and 2007, but this year managed just the first two rounds before injury struck.
Coach Terry Wallace said it was time to face reality in relation to 2008.
"We've basically just put him away for the year," Wallace said. "He just had ongoing problems since he had the dislocation of the knee.
"It took him quite a while to get over that, he started to get a few other related injuries on the same leg – hamstring and quaddie.
"He would be ready to play if we needed him to play and it was a final tomorrow
"From a fitness point-of-view he'd be OK to play, but he's de-conditioned because he hasn't been able to get the games into himself, so we thought it was in his best interests to almost start his pre-season early and let him work back into it.
"It's been a horror year for him – a lot of players go through it, and they just don't get a run and one thing turns into another and he's had that type of year. But what you do know is blokes come back harder and fitter and more determined the next time around.
"That's exactly what we're hoping will happen with Andrew."
Wallace said Raines was still a required player at Punt Rd.
"Unless you get continuity in your footy, it's such a difficult game to play, so he just hasn't had that from day one this season.
"He'll be a valuable player to get back next year."
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/6301/Default.aspx?newsId=65857
