Campbell out but Tigers close to best
By Martin Blake
May 31 2003
Wayne Campbell yesterday made a last-ditch bid to prove his fitness to lead Richmond into tonight's game against Sydney at the MCG, but the Tiger skipper will miss a week.
Campbell had a light run on the training track at Punt Road Oval yesterday morning but withdrew after a chat with coach Danny Frawley.
His place will be taken by one of the emergencies - Ray Hall, Kayne Pettifer or Craig Biddiscombe.
"He (Campbell) hasn't quite come up," said Frawley. "We wanted to wait and see how he was this morning. He's touch and go but we decided to give it another week."
Campbell resumed from a calf injury against West Coast in Perth last weekend but felt a twinge early in the game. He is expected to return to the side against the Kangaroos next Friday night.
Defender Darren Gaspar will skipper the side in Campbell's absence. "That's been a real positive of this place," said Frawley. "Someone has been able to step up and fill the breach."
The Tigers are close to putting their best team on the park, with ruckman Greg Stafford (knee) and midfielder Mark Coughlan (ankle) both resuming, the former to play against his previous team.
Ruck-forward Brad Ottens (knee) is in full training along with tagger Duncan Kellaway (leg), and recruit Justin Blumfield is only a fortnight away from resuming in the VFL.
The most interesting of these is Ottens, whom Frawley said was "debatable" about playing in the VFL. It is likely the All-Australian will be playing in some limited form by next weekend, and theoretically could be back in the main team inside a month.
"We're just mindful of the fact that we don't want to press the metal," said Frawley. "His rehabilitation has been sensational but we want to make sure he's 100 per cent. We want to get it right the first time with something like that."
Frawley said Kellaway was "not far away" from playing in the VFL. "It's been a long road for him but I'd say it'll be sooner rather than later. We should be getting towards a full list around the time of the bye."
The Tigers, well-beaten by the Eagles at Subiaco last weekend, confront the dreaded post-Perth virus this week, an ailment no team has been able to overcome this year.
But Frawley was dismissive of the fact yesterday. "It's irrelevant tomorrow once the ball goes up to start the game. Stats are stats. They're there to be broken. We haven't taken any notice of that whatsoever."
The Swans have injury concerns of their own, with Michael O'Loughlin ruled out for a third consecutive week with a calf strain and defender Jason Saddington, earmarked for the job on Matthew Richardson, in doubt with a quadriceps injury.
Coach Paul Roos, who replaced O'Loughlin with Ryan O'Keefe, said yesterday he was hopeful Saddington would come up and would leave the decision to be made by the player this morning.
By Martin Blake
May 31 2003
Wayne Campbell yesterday made a last-ditch bid to prove his fitness to lead Richmond into tonight's game against Sydney at the MCG, but the Tiger skipper will miss a week.
Campbell had a light run on the training track at Punt Road Oval yesterday morning but withdrew after a chat with coach Danny Frawley.
His place will be taken by one of the emergencies - Ray Hall, Kayne Pettifer or Craig Biddiscombe.
"He (Campbell) hasn't quite come up," said Frawley. "We wanted to wait and see how he was this morning. He's touch and go but we decided to give it another week."
Campbell resumed from a calf injury against West Coast in Perth last weekend but felt a twinge early in the game. He is expected to return to the side against the Kangaroos next Friday night.
Defender Darren Gaspar will skipper the side in Campbell's absence. "That's been a real positive of this place," said Frawley. "Someone has been able to step up and fill the breach."
The Tigers are close to putting their best team on the park, with ruckman Greg Stafford (knee) and midfielder Mark Coughlan (ankle) both resuming, the former to play against his previous team.
Ruck-forward Brad Ottens (knee) is in full training along with tagger Duncan Kellaway (leg), and recruit Justin Blumfield is only a fortnight away from resuming in the VFL.
The most interesting of these is Ottens, whom Frawley said was "debatable" about playing in the VFL. It is likely the All-Australian will be playing in some limited form by next weekend, and theoretically could be back in the main team inside a month.
"We're just mindful of the fact that we don't want to press the metal," said Frawley. "His rehabilitation has been sensational but we want to make sure he's 100 per cent. We want to get it right the first time with something like that."
Frawley said Kellaway was "not far away" from playing in the VFL. "It's been a long road for him but I'd say it'll be sooner rather than later. We should be getting towards a full list around the time of the bye."
The Tigers, well-beaten by the Eagles at Subiaco last weekend, confront the dreaded post-Perth virus this week, an ailment no team has been able to overcome this year.
But Frawley was dismissive of the fact yesterday. "It's irrelevant tomorrow once the ball goes up to start the game. Stats are stats. They're there to be broken. We haven't taken any notice of that whatsoever."
The Swans have injury concerns of their own, with Michael O'Loughlin ruled out for a third consecutive week with a calf strain and defender Jason Saddington, earmarked for the job on Matthew Richardson, in doubt with a quadriceps injury.
Coach Paul Roos, who replaced O'Loughlin with Ryan O'Keefe, said yesterday he was hopeful Saddington would come up and would leave the decision to be made by the player this morning.
