Richmond’s Physical Performance Manager Peter Burge provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an update on the injury status of several members of the Tigers’ playing group.
Reece Conca, dislocated ankle
“He’s in a (moon) boot for two weeks . . . We’re pretty much treating it like a sprained ankle rehab. He comes out of the boot and then it’s about the swelling coming down, his ligaments, his stability, balance and things like that. . . So, really, it’s just about getting functionally moving once he is out of that boot and how long it takes for us to get him jogging, running, striding and changing direction . . . Timeline-wise, it’s very hard to say, but we’re fairly optimistic it will be before the end of the season, hopefully sooner. At the time it looked terrible, obviously. But Reece is super positive and he’s in good spirits. It’s a good situation out of something that could have been really, really bad.”
Anthony Miles, concussion
“’Milesy’ suffered a concussion . . . it was a pretty nasty incident. He was really sore and a bit groggy. The doc has already ruled him out of playing this weekend. So it’s really just recovery now for MIlesy. We’re going to give him a rest this week and get him up and going, hopefully, for the week after.”
Nathan Drummond, hamstring strain
“Last Thursday night at training, ‘Drummo’ was training really well at high intensity. He had a fast effort down the middle of the ground and he felt a little bit of awareness in the hamstring. So he’s got a little strain then and it’s in the same spot as his most recent hamstring strain, which is frustrating for him. But Drummo, while he was disappointed, is positive. He’s back running already at 70 percent, so we’re hoping he misses only a couple of weeks.”
Bachar Houli, groin injury
“Bachar’s at the stage now where he’s resuming training with the group. We’re aiming for him to play against GWS next week. He’s similar to Dion Prestia in the sense that could we have pushed a little harder for this week? Maybe, but we want to make sure these guys, who haven’t had their best pre-seasons, are set up well for the rest of the year and then beyond that, obviously. So we’re going to take another week with Bachar and make sure he can do everything that he needs to do – long kicking, agility . . . everything at absolutely 100 percent by the end of this week, get a full week of training next week, and hopefully he’s available for selection for GWS.”
Oleg Markov, knee injury
“Oleg had a medial ligament sprain in his knee. He’s now running close to flat out, changing direction. Similar to Bachar, we want to make sure that his knee is absolutely stable and that he can do all of the things he needs to do at 100 percent and then get a full week of training. So whether that means next week, or the week after, I’m not too sure at this stage. We’ll know more by the end of this week.”
Dion Prestia, comeback from calf injury
“He’s done a great job. His preparation and attitude towards it was very good. He’s pulled up really well from that game (v Sydney last Thursday night) . . .”
