Richmond star Brett Deledio has no doubt the Tigers have sufficient depth of talent to cover the loss of those players injured in last Saturday’s loss to the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.
Ricky Petterd (foot) and first-gamer Kane Lambert (shoulder) have been ruled out with long-term injuries, but Deledio believes there is no shortage of impressive potential replacements waiting in the wings.
Become a Richmond member for the 2015 season
Deledio, who missed the Bulldogs clash due to suspension, as well as a sore calf, was an interested observer at Richmond’s VFL practice match curtain-raiser against Footscray at the ME Bank Centre’s Punt Road Oval.
He named several Tiger players in line for a call-up for Saturday night’s Round 3 match against Brisbane at the Gabba.
“Chris Knights was really good. I’d be surprised if he was left out this week, not trying to pre-empt anything,” Deledio said on Richmond’s official podcast ‘Talking Tigers’.
“Matty McDonough also showed a bit clearance-wise and Dave Astbury was really good as well down back. He was rock-solid and took a lot of marks . . .”
And there was a new, young Tiger, who caught Deledio’s eye as well, although he’s probably not yet right in the frame for his AFL debut – strongly-built key forward Reece McKenzie, who was Richmond’s fifth and final pick in the 2014 National Draft.
“Big ‘Reecey’ McKenzie, he was impressive early,” Deledio said.
“He’s like a vacuum with the ball on the ground level . . . just sucked it up. And, he was quite strong in the air a couple of times.”
