Richmond must be respected: Pies
The Age
Saturday August 15, 2009
COLLINGWOOD is refusing to treat today's clash against Richmond as a fait accompli despite the battle being between third and 14th on the ladder.While the Magpies will be favourites after winning 10 of their past 11 games and setting up a top-four finish, coach Mick Malthouse said there was no guarantee today's game would be easy."We cannot dismiss the game against Richmond right in front of us; that is what we have got to put all of our focus into," Malthouse said yesterday."We are playing a side that has won two-and-a-half games out of the last four - it is not as if they are mugs. They are a side that's got a coach who no doubt enjoys being a senior coach who has instigated a game structure that is not necessarily in contrast to Terry [Wallace] but is certainly bordering on that, and we have to get used to his style."That's something that . . .we've got to be ready for." Richmond has won four of the past seven matches against Collingwood, with today's clash the first time the teams have met, outside the NAB Cup, since round three last year."That's a long time between drinks and personnel has changed, coaches have changed and structures have changed," Malthouse said. "I think we're far more mature than what we were then ... But they are the games that can creep up on you, as they have done with nearly every side at some stage through the year."He said that while today's game marked Magpie Leigh Brown's 200th, he was expecting the Tigers to want to send off veteran Joel Bowden with a win in his farewell match. "He's a player who's played 260-odd games so he's not going to fade away [after the first five minutes]," he said."He has been a wonderful servant to the football club and he will no doubt want to go out on a win so we've got to make sure that doesn't happen."Malthouse added that last weekend's shock results showed what could happen when teams dropped their guard."You'd have been a brave man to have selected the winners of last week prior to them happening," he said."They would have locked you away and put you in one of those jackets, I'd reckon."That's the nature sometimes of the game, that it can throw up those [results], and we don't want to be part of that."Ruckman Josh Fraser was "nearly ready to play" while forwards Anthony Rocca and Sean Rusling would both play in the VFL this weekend, he said.
© 2009 The Age
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