Richmond development coach Xavier Clarke provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an insight into rising Tiger star Daniel Rioli’s progression on the comeback trail from the broken foot he suffered in last year’s Grand Final triumph.
His impressive rehabilitation work
“He started running after Christmas on his own, on the AlterG machine. He had a few complications in terms of a bit of soreness in that foot when he started running, so it pushed him back a week or so. But he’s been absolutely fantastic with his ‘rehab’. His body shape looks really good. He’s put on a bit of strength as well, which is great when you can do that when you’re in rehab and you’re not always running. He’s probably been running now for three months in total and full training for about at least four weeks. So he’s trained really hard over the past few months now.”
His return to the playing field
“He’s played two games now in the VFL. One (against Sandringham) was about 50 percent game time and on the weekend (v Coburg) probably about 70 percent. So just building up his game time in that sense . . .”
His performance last weekend
“Daniel’s never really been a big possession-getter for us, so these numbers are actually pretty pleasing (14 disposals in 70 percent game time v Coburg). He looked really dangerous around the ball, and with his elite pressure . . . his second and third efforts. He played a little bit of time in the midfield as well . . . try to get him around the ball a bit more and use some of his speed up and around the ground. So exciting times to come.”
His touch after a long lay-off
“It hasn’t affected him at all. He’s elite. Even on the weekend, the VFL had a 10.40am game, there was a bit of dew on the oval, and I think Daniel was probably our cleanest player. His touch has always been his biggest strength. It’s just about him getting enough conditioning now back into his legs to play at AFL level.”
His selection prospects for Saturday’s Dreamtime game
“He’s obviously a premiership player and he adds so much to our senior team. Obviously we’ve got to look at the balance of the senior team. And then Peter Burge (Richmond’s Physical Performance Manager) will put his case forward on Daniel’s rehab and how much running he’s done and his load. At the end of the day, ‘Dimma’ (coach Damien Hardwick) makes the final call, so we’ll leave that one to him. But I think Tigers fans will be pretty happy to see him back in the senior side.”
