Give Brown time: Johnson
11:15:15 AM Thu 16 February, 2006
Paul Gough
Exclusive to afl.com.au
Richmond skipper Kane Johnson has warned fans not to expect too much of his vice-captain this year, Nathan Brown.
Brown, on the comeback trail from that shocking broken leg sustained in round 10 last year, is expected to be ready for the start of the home and away season in late March.
But Johnson says it would be unrealistic to expect the talented forward to be his old self straight away.
The former Bulldog kicked 34 goals in the first ten rounds last year, including five in the last quarter against Collingwood in round eight, to ensure the Tigers made a flying start to the season under new coach Terry Wallace.
But after seven wins in the first ten rounds, the club struggled without Brown in winning only three of its last 12 games to miss the finals.
However Johnson said it would be asking too much to expect Brown to get back to his dominant early season form of last year in 2006.
"I think his best (form) will be in 2007," Johnson said of Brown.
"The determination of the guy, there is no doubt he will be out there for round one and he he's had some good (training) sessions but then there are some sessions where he looks proppy but that will happen for the first 12 months."
However Johnson said such was Brown's skill that he could still be a valuable player for the Tigers in 2006, even if not at his match-winning best.
"He is that skilful that he could end up doing anything, but if he can kick even 25-30 (goals for the season) he will take the pressure off (Kayne) Pettifer and (Andrew) Krakouer and he will still take the best opposition backman every week."
"So if we can get 25-30 goals out of him, out of a forward pocket this year we will be happy, but we are not looking for him to play only half the games, we are looking for him to play 20-22 rounds."
Johnson said Brown's sheer presence on the field would help Pettifer and Krakouer, who last year kicked 31 and 23 goals respectively to finish third and fourth on the Tigers' goalkicking list behind Matthew Richardson and Brown.
Pettifer, 24, and Krakouer, 23, are both heading into their sixth AFL seasons and Johnson said it was vital the pair continued to improve this year if the Tigers were to make the eight.
"They are the sort of players where we will get our improvement from," he said in also nominating 20-year-old key defender Jay Schulz.
"Our older blokes are playing at their peak but these younger blokes have to take a hold of the competition."
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