Coach in plea for patience
RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is warning fans not to expect the Tigers to bounce back to their best despite the return of some key players.
Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards and Kane Lambert will return from injury against St Kilda tomorrow at Marvel Stadium in Maddie’s Match, while Jayden Short is back in the mix for the first time since Round 3.
Their recovery could not have come soon enough with the Tigers dropping to ninth after three successive losses.
Richmond only has four players who have played every game and Hardwick cautioned yesterday it could take a little time for the renewed connections to jell.
“You look at the sides who are at the very, very top — they’ve had a great connection and a lot of their players have played together for a sustained period,” he said.
“We probably haven’t had that, we’ve been filling gaps along the way. The guys have hung tough, but it probably came to a tipping point in the last couple of weeks.
“Those guys coming back, they’re not going to solve the problem straight away.
“It’s all good to have names back, but the reality is on-field we need to make sure we connect heavily.”
Short has not played since suffering a serious elbow injury in Round 3 but Hardwick said the half-back flanker’s training form could not be ignored.
“We had some match practice and he was a standout for us so he’ll certainly put his hand up to play,” he said.
“Do we play him in the VFL? That’s a possibility, but it’s also possible he’ll play seniors because he’s such a valuable player for us.
“He also allows me to move some magnets around.
“The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come back together.”