Richmond will be boosted by the return of skipper Trent Cotchin for their round-nine AFL clash with the Western Bulldogs but key defender David Astbury remains sidelined.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick told reporters on Tuesday that Cotchin has been passed fit to play his first game since round five when he suffered a hamstring injury.
Friday night’s 12-point loss to GWS was the first of four games in 16 days for the reigning premiers and fans shouldn’t expect Cotchin to feature in all three of the remaining matches in the gruelling run.
“With his history and ability to come back from hamstring injuries, it’s always one that’s going to be a little bit delicate,” Hardwick said of managing his captain.
“We’ll lean heavily on our strength and conditioning and medical staff to make the right call, and Trent himself.
“So he’ll play (on Wednesday night) and then we’ll assess it as we go along.
“We want to be a little bit open-minded but also very cautious given the importance of Trent.”
Astbury, who hasn’t featured since suffering a knee injury in round four, has had a setback in his recovery and is expected to miss another two matches.
“It was going along OK, but he had an incident, we’re not too sure what it was, but it’s put him back a little bit,” Hardwick said.
He confirmed Bachar Houli will fly to Queensland on Thursday and will serve a 14-day quarantine that will see him available to play against Gold Coast in round 12.
Shane Edwards is still in Melbourne awaiting the birth of his first child but the plan is for him and his family to follow Houli soon after he becomes a dad.
Hardwick revealed Sydney Stack would also come into a side struggling to make the most of its forward 50 entries.
The coach conceded the form of tall forwards Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch has been a concern.
“Jack and Tom would be the first to say that they can play a little bit better,” he said.
“We went through some vision with them to show them what they’re like at their best and when they’re probably not playing their best.
“So they’ve got a really good understanding of what that looks like.
“We’re expecting a better result from those two boys and our forward half execution this week.”
