Q. Will Ted Richards get more opportunities in the seniors after his outstanding performance in the backline last Saturday? (Dale Clarke)
A. There hasn’t been many opportunities to play Ted. It is quite a difficult forward-line to break into with the likes of James Hird, Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas down there. Ted has generally been playing as a forward-line player. But it just shows you how you can develop a player. Ted has played predominantly in the backline for Bendigo this season.
We sat Ted down and told him it is going to be pretty difficult to get into the forward-line with the likes of Hird, Lloyd and Lucas as the key targets. So we had to find another position for him. Lets just hope that his performance last week was not a one off and it is a sign of things to come.
Q. Why are we having so many hamstring injuries this year to senior players whose bodies should be at peak physical fitness. I would call this a very serious issue and one that is costing us dearly. (Cameron Girvan)
A. There is two parts to this question. The nature of each hamstring injury has been different. For example Scott Lucas has never done a hamstring in his life. So you have to look at each hamstring individually.
The other point I would like to make, if you look at the history of all clubs hamstring injuries are cyclical. Our history shows us that we have had very few hamstrings at all since 1999 when John Quinn came on board. It is a very common – it is the most prevalent injury in football. Maybe it is just a case of unfortunately our bad luck this season. There is no rhyme or reason with hamstring injuries.
We have gone through all of our records and circumstances and we have found that each case has been different – there is no common trend.
Q. Will the team be able to continue to play that or a similar game plan for the rest of the year? It was very, very exciting against Richmond. (Helen Scully)
A. Sometimes it is decided by the personnel available. The second half against Richmond was an additional bonus because we found ourselves with an ‘unusual structure.’ Sometimes you find out of a bit of adversity comes some positives such as the move of Ted Richards to centre half back and Adam McPhee to centre half forward.
It just shows you that all the plans in the world can’t take the place of good fortune. Although we are quite excited about the development of some of our younger players, the bottom line is that most sides win with their best and most experienced players available. At the moment we don’t have that, so we are looking for the continued bonus of finding one or two young players.
