Richmond rules the media (all today's newspaper articles)

[one-eyed]

Fifty minutes of Tiger heaven
Mark Stevens | February 06, 2009

RICHMOND will not re-cast its plans for Ben Cousins, despite his successful return in an intraclub practice match yesterday.

The 30-year-old looked as primed as anyone, picking up 12 disposals in a half, but the Tigers will not rush him into the side for their February 15 NAB Cup opener.

Richmond assistant coach Brian Royal confirmed Cousins was a definite non-starter for the clash with Fremantle at Subiaco.

The closest Cousins will get to the action is a spot in the grandstand, with Richmond taking him back home to be guest of honour at a supporters' function.

"Round 1 of NAB Cup is certainly out, but we'll see what happens after that," Royal said.

"Our plan all along has been to have Ben playing Round 1 against Carlton and that hasn't changed.

"The process from now until then will be determined on how he pulls up today."

The recovering drug addict, making his first appearance since the 2007 qualifying final, played almost 50 minutes in front of 1500 fans at Gosch's Paddock.

Cousins lined up on a wing in a white guernsey in the "seconds" group. Rest assured, it will be the last time he is not in the club's best 22.

Manned up by Matthew White, Cousins showed signs of his Brownlow Medal-winning form in the second term, hitting the post with a left-foot snap.

After collecting six kicks and six handballs, he was whisked back to Punt Rd in a car as his teammates prepared for the second half.

He was rested for two minutes at the end of the first term, but showed no signs of lacking match practice.

"He certainly got his hands on the footy. I thought he adapted to the pace of the game reasonably well," Royal said.

"The thing with game plans is they're quite different from club to club and Ben's probably adapting to the speed of our game - and we probably play a little bit more through the corridor than West Coast."

As if watching Cousins go around wasn't enough to excite the Tigers faithful, February fever peaked when he hit Graham Polak on the chest with a perfect pass.

Polak also performed above expectations in his first match following a tram accident that almost killed him in June.

Wearing a helmet, he started slowly in the first half, before adjusting to the intensity after the long break.

"Today was a really important step in Graham's rehabilitation," Royal said.

"Graham's slowly increasing the amount of training he's doing and the intensity levels.

"What you've got to understand is Graham's had some fairly serious injuries and head injuries. His touch has got a long way to go.

"He gets very, very tired easily. He's still a long. long way off. We're not expecting anything, certainly in the first part of the season."

Polak had to be cleared to play yesterday by specialists at Epworth Hospital.

Another positive was the form of Andrew Raines, who dominated the game early.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25014439-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Early days but it's nice to see Benny back
Mike Sheahan | February 06, 2009

HE'S a likely type, the bloke Richmond gambled on in the pre-season draft with the No. 6 and final selection.

While he looked a little lost early against the slippery Matt White, he did enough to suggest he won't stay down with the "Possibles" much longer.

Nice to see you back, Benny.

Cousins didn't really slip himself in Richmond's intraclub practice match at Gosch's Paddock, yet he did more than enough to have supporters drooling.

The former West Coast champion played the bulk of both the first and second quarters before he was whisked off and driven back to Punt Rd.

Oddly, the club's modern-day hero, Matty Richardson, walked back with Troy Simmonds after both completed their duties by quarter-time.

Not sure the car was necessary, but maybe it was the thought of those wretched media types or crazed supporters descending upon him.

Whatever, surely it's time now to treat him as just another player.

He actually negotiated the trip over without incident, arriving in the company of skipper Chris Newman, Nathan Foley and Nathan Brown.

As unlikely as it sounds, the Brownlow medallist and premiership hero seemed a touch nervous in early play.

It was, though, his first appearance in Richmond colours, his first game since 2007.

For much of the first quarter, he resembled the keen youngster who runs round with his hand up, yet always seems to be in the wrong spot or is simply ignored.

Yet, a super kick to Dean Putt that resulted in a goal reminded us just how smooth he can be. He took a quantum leap in the second quarter, winning the ball at will.

Cuz wasn't quite the explosive, long-striding, relentless runner we knew at West Coast, but he is rising 31 (June 30) and it was February 5.

He had another gear.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, you can dismiss all the negative speculation about him and Round 1.

The Tigers were always going to pick him (it's their home game), yet there seemed to be doubt about him actually playing against Carlton (and Chris Judd) on March 26.

He played 40-odd minutes yesterday and has another 40-odd days to build on his fitness and timing, and strengthen his hamstrings.

He's a certainty to play, and aren't we pleased.

Imagine it, 90,000-plus at the 'G' for the opening game.

Cousins actually started to enjoy himself in the second quarter.

His confidence grew to the point where he picked out Graham Polak with a pass, as if to give him a kick.

He went a lot wider than the coaches would have liked, but Polly would have appreciated the gesture.

Yes, it was nice work.

Nice work all round, really.

Richo did enough to suggest he has another big year ahead with a sparkling first quarter, Mark Coughlan and Andrew Raines got a game under their belts, Nathan Foley, Jordan McMahon and Brett Deledio looked sharp, and a rookie named Robin Nahas alerted a few people to his talents.

He's a Port Melbourne boy, and Port is making a habit of throwing up blokes worth a risk.

Just an intraclub affair, mind you, but the footy's back. Cuz, too, we suspect.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25014440-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Tiger fans lap up Cousins, Coughlan and Polak show
Nick Sheridan | February 6, 2009

BEN Cousins likely to play against Carlton in round one; Graham Polak a chance to return in the second half of the season; Mark Coughlan fit and firing. (And another sponsor signed up.)

The 1500 Tiger faithful who turned out to watch an intra-club practice match at Gosch's Paddock yesterday morning had plenty to celebrate.

Assistant coach Brian Royal said he had never, in his 25 years in the game, seen such a large turn-out for a pre-season scratch match.

On any other day, the fact that Coughlan got through the game unscathed, after some two years out due to a horror run of knee and hamstring injuries, would have dominated discussion, but yesterday it was just another piece of good news to gladden the hearts of the increasingly optimistic Tiger army.

Polak played for about 40 of the game's 90 minutes, spread over both halves, and showed just how far along he is in his remarkable recovery from the life-threatening injuries that could easily have ended his career when he was hit by a tram in June last year.

While Royal insisted Polak was still a long way off returning to the AFL, yesterday's game marked a very significant step in Polak's rehabilitation.

Polak spent his time on the ground playing in the forward line, and showed some promising signs, contesting and taking some strong marks, at one stage crashing a pack and, in the second quarter, providing the highlight of the day when he was on the end of a silky pass from Cousins as the Brownlow medallist streamed through the centre of the ground.

But Royal was eager to temper expectations about Polak's return to football.

"What you've got to understand is Graham's had some fairly serious injuries, and head injuries — his touch has got a long way to go, he gets very, very tired easily," Royal said after the match.

"So it was important for him to play in a competitive situation … but he's still a long, long way off so we're not expecting anything, certainly in the first part of the season," he said.

Cousins, on the other hand, showed yesterday that he is not far off making his return to senior football after almost 18 months out of the game.

Cousins played for most of the first half, running on the wing, and collected at least a dozen touches before he was whisked away by club officials at half-time for a recovery session with teammates Nathan Brown and Troy Simmonds.

When he had the ball, Cousins showed strong signs of the class that made him one of the game's premier midfielders before he was suspended from the league for bringing the game into disrepute at the end of 2007.

Royal said the coaching staff were encouraged by Cousins' progress, and were hopeful he would be fit to line up for the Tigers in their round-one blockbuster against Carlton at the end of March.

"We were happy that Ben got through the first half. He was playing in our second side, and that was more for Ben to get back into the game, but we were really happy that he got through the two quarters that we'd planned (for him) to play," Royal said.

Coughlan played a solid role in the midfield for much of the game, while Andrew Raines showed that he had overcome the injury concerns that hobbled his 2008 season.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/tiger-fans-lap-up-show/2009/02/05/1233423406630.html

[one-eyed]

Tigers recruits on show
Greg Baum | February 6, 2009

THE ball fell to Ben Cousins in the middle of the incongruously lush oval at Gosch's Paddock. He gathered, arched his back in that familiar way and ran in a wide semi-circle. Now in space, he paused momentarily, then accelerated again, on a new course, straight towards goal.

Ahead, other players hastily rearranged themselves. "Watch the dish," urged a man in the crowd of around 1500, standing three-deep around the fence.

Cousins' "dish" (that is, pass) began wide, but curved as if on an unseen wind, unerringly onto the chest of the helmeted Graham Polak, leading hard into the forward pocket.

It would be gilding the lily to say that the crowd roared, but it certainly clapped appreciatively.

Cousins and Polak played together for Richmond yesterday. It was an irresistible turn of events since one was a drug addict out in the football cold three months ago and the other was — and still is — rehabilitating from head injuries after being wrong-footed by a tram last June.

But it was qualified by all these certainties: it was February 5, too early even for March champions; it was 27 degrees, too sultry for football; the Nylex clock that formed part of the backdrop said so.

Cousins played half a game, then was whisked away by car, his now customary blaze of secrecy. Polak played about 40 minutes. Matthew Richardson was long gone, back, bare-chested, across the scorched parkland to the Tigers' Punt Road HQ; one, dominant quarter was enough to clear his few cobwebs.

Instead of yellow and black, Cousins and Polak wore white, for theirs was the team of the possibles, playing the probables. Among their instant teammates was Jamie Craker, a 19-year-old who plays for Bundoora, and three of his teammates, roped in to make up the numbers because of a long-standing friendship between Richmond coach Terry Wallace and Bundoora coach Phil Maylin.

The crowd, some of whom brought their own seats, was eager, but a little confused. Barracking for a football team necessarily means barracking against one, too, and here, all were on the same side. But there was much else to engage them. "Who's 27?" "Who's 42?" "Is that the bloke from Port Melbourne?" It was him, Robin Nahas, and he was eye-catching, too. So was Alroy Gilligan. Both are rookies.

This is as it must be in the pre-season. For Cousins, Polak and all the players, yesterday was one more measured step along a long, exacting and exact road; to get ahead of themselves now would be to trip in mid-winter.

Cousins showed glimpses of his old, jaunty self yesterday and Polak was robustly competitive in a way that surprised even the Tigers. But neither will play in the pre-season competition, which begins this weekend. In that sense, yesterday was not so much a new chapter as the turning of another page.

For the fans, it is different. The tennis is finished, the cricket is finishing and football is coming out of its brief hibernation.

Autumn looked to have come early at Gosch's Paddock yesterday, as elsewhere in Melbourne; it was strewn with prematurely fallen leaves. But to the football fan, autumn is a metaphorical spring, when the new buds are out. There is a longing that will not be denied, a season that cannot come too soon, a premiership that cannot be won too soon.

And it has to be said that because of the recruiting of Cousins, but now incidental to anything he might or might not achieve on the football ground, Richmond is buzzing. Tigers assistant coach Brian Royal said yesterday's crowd was larger than any he can remember for an intra-club match in Melbourne in his 25 years in football.

It also made for a propriety rarely observed in an intra-club game. When young star Brett Delidio missed a snap shot, one lapse in an otherwise silky display, he exclaimed: "Far out!"

After marking Cousins' dishy pass yesterday, Polak also dished, to a player on the run who may or may not have been on Richmond's list, who, from my vantage point, was obscured by a tree and could not be identified on replay as there wasn't one, who hit the post from point-blank range.

It is February; there is far to go.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/tigers-recruits-on-show/2009/02/05/1233423406627.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Richmond's prize recruit Ben Cousins impresses in hit-out
Greg Denham | February 06, 2009 | The Australian

RICHMOND reiterated its stand against playing prize recruit Ben Cousins in the first round of the NAB Cup against Fremantle tomorrow week despite an encouraging first-up effort during an intra-club practice match at Gosch's Paddock in Melbourne yesterday.

Cousins, however, appears certain of playing in the quarter-finals against either Collingwood or West Coast on February 28 should the Tigers qualify.

The former West Coast captain drew a crowd of about 1500 to the inner-city suburban ground and played as a wingman for about 50 minutes, before returning to Richmond's Punt Road headquarters after half-time.

Playing against Matt White, who's played with 200 fewer games than Cousins, the 2005 Brownlow medallist had about a dozen possessions after a sluggish start.

In a practice match played at full tempo, Cousins, wearing his new No32 guernsey, appeared in need of the hit-out and will be better for the outing. His first efforts were very good, but he did not contest a centre bounce. It was the 30-year-old's first serious match practice since the 2007 qualifying final against Port Adelaide when he broke down with a hamstring tear.

In a defining second-quarter moment for Cousins and new teammate Graham Polak, who was hit by a tram and left in a critical condition last June, Cousins delivered him a perfect pass which Polak accepted.

Polak, who wore protective head gear, took a couple of marks from full-forward, but according to Richmond, is still a long way off being seriously considered for a return to the elite level.

Experienced Tigers assistant coach Brian Royal ruled out Cousins from the club's NAB Cup opener in Perth, but was satisfied with yesterday's effort.

"We were happy Ben got through the first half and he certainly got his hands on the footy," Royal said. "I thought he adapted to the pace of the game reasonably well."

Royal said Richmond's priority was to have Cousins up and running for round one of the premiership season, against Carlton at the MCG on March 26.

Tigers coach Terry Wallace told The Australian this week Cousins was on target for a NAB Cup match at the end of the month.

Cousins did not join the Tigers until after the pre-season draft in December, about two months after Richmond started its preparations for this season.

"Today is the most he has done from a footy point of view, and certainly the physicality of the game and the intensity, especially in these (hot) conditions, is something he hasn't been able to cope with in the last couple of months so we will need to see how he pulls up," Royal said.

"He was playing in probably our second side, and that was more for Ben to just get back into the game, but we were really happy that he got through the two quarters we'd planned to play.

"The thing with game plans, they're quite different from club to club, and Ben's probably adapting to the speed of our game. We probably play a little bit more through the corridor than West Coast, so it takes a little bit of time to adapt to that."

While Mark Coughlan's return to football yesterday from a wretched run of injuries in recent years -- multiple knee reconstructions and hamstring problems -- was ordinary, there was a lot to like about several old and new Tigers.

Veterans Nathan Brown and Matthew Richardson were brilliant, while Andrew Raines was very good in his first outing since round two last year when he dislocated a kneecap, followed by a series of associated soft-tissue problems.

Teenage ruckman Tyrone Vickery, a first-round selection in last year's national draft, was promising, indicating he will provide valuable support for No1 big man Troy Simmonds this year despite his inexperience.

Richmond yesterday signed a major sponsorship deal with Tabcorp betting arm Luxbet.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25013779-5012432,00.html

[Gracie]

"The thing with game plans, they're quite different from club to club, and Ben's probably adapting to the speed of our game. We probably play a little bit more through the corridor than West Coast, so it takes a little bit of time to adapt to that."

Say what ???? When did we start playing through the corridor more than any other team ????

[Ox]

in the middle of the incongruously lush oval

LMAO

[mightytiges]

"The thing with game plans, they're quite different from club to club, and Ben's probably adapting to the speed of our game. We probably play a little bit more through the corridor than West Coast, so it takes a little bit of time to adapt to that."

Say what ???? When did we start playing through the corridor more than any other team ????

We probably play more through the corridor than West Coast v.2008 when we flogged them by 77 points lol but yep not sure where Chocco pulled that one from  ???.