EASY TIGER

Richmond embraces long build-up to preliminary final

RICHMOND says playing just one game in 26 days leading into a preliminary final holds few fears.

Tigers football manager Neil Balme said yesterday the club would hold a training run on Saturday that would include match simulation.

Fitness staff will study players’ GPS data to ensure some will be eased through the next fortnight and others pushed hard to compensate for the lack of a game.

Balme said Richmond’s frenzied tackling pressure in the qualifying final against Geelong after the postRound 23 bye was a promising sign for the preliminary final.

In Round 13, after a mid-season bye, the Tigers jumped Sydney early at the MCG before being overrun in the final minutes.

The Tigers will play one game — Friday’s qualifying final win — between August 27’s Round 23 win against St Kilda and the September 23 preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney or West Coast.

The AFL and MCG are yet to finalise the exact number of tickets available to supporters for that game, but as many as 80,000 Tigers fans could attend.

That prelim will be a twilight clash starting at between 4pm to 5.10pm to allow the interstate opponent to fly home that night.

Richmond chief executive

Brendon Gale urged fans to buy tickets as soon as possible next week to ensure another yellow and black avalanche. Gale said: “We want as many fans there as possible.”

GWS would have only a few thousand travelling fans and Eagles fans would have already travelled twice before a preliminary final.

Tigers captain Trent Cotchin said the supporters were amazing at the qualifying final, a Geelong “home’’ game.

“It was incredible. Even from the outside we came out first with big cheers and Geelong came out and, geez, the booing was loud,’’ he said. “I couldn’t believe the amount of support we had there.”

Balme said there were no fresh injuries from the big win.

“We will have a decent session, a bit of competitive work in there. There is a bit of both sides in having a bye. The good is you don’t have to play and suffer the effects of a game, but the bad is you are used to playing. We missed last week and seemed to be pretty good,” he said.