Western Bulldogs leader Ed Richards is keen to get back to the action this Saturday, confirming he will return to the line-up against Fremantle.
Richards has been sidelined for the past fortnight after suffering a concussion against the Swans in Round 11 but will be a welcome boost to the Dogs’ on-ball brigade this weekend.
“Yeah I’m good to go, which is great after a little hiccup last week...I’ll be in this week,” the 24-year-old told Sportsday’s Gerard Healy and Kane Cornes.
“I did a number of testing throughout the 12-day period that you have to go through, and the testing suggested – according to my baseline – that I wasn’t quite up to the standard just yet which meant I had to miss the extra week.
“The move (to the midfield) has been great though. I’m loving it.
“Everyone seems to like you a bit more when you’re a midfielder I’ve found which is interesting, but I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Following Brisbane’s tag on captain Marcus Bontempelli last week, Richards said how they manage that – should a similar situation unfold against Fremantle – will come into consideration.
“Obviously credit to Brisbane really for what they were able to do. (Marcus Bontempelli) is obviously our most influential player when he’s up and going and can win games for us,” Richards said.
“I mean I guess it’s sort of on us to protect him a little bit better, but we’re going to come up against that every week – I mean you’d be silly not to try and nullify Bont’s performance each week – but we’re also going to (need) blokes to step up in different areas of the ground.
“We’re obviously missing a few through injury at the moment, but that’ll give opportunities for blokes to be able to step up and hopefully put the game on their back to get us over the line in some of the closer games.”
He also said his own experience of being tagged by Swan James Jordon a few weeks ago provided plenty of lessons.
“I guess a month ago nobody was really doing it but now in the last four weeks people have been back doing it,” Richards said.
“There’s been some good performances from people that have been doing it – James Jordon is obviously one who went to me against Sydney. I wasn’t on him in the first quarter, but he came to me in the second and yeah, it’s difficult.
“If you feel like you sort of isolate it a little bit, you can’t really get involved as much as you’d probably like.
“It was a bit of learning curve for me – I only sort of had him for the quarter, but I guess it’s (learning to) sacrifice your own game for the team’s benefit which can be difficult at times.”
The Bulldogs’ Round 14 team will be revealed at 6.20pm AEST tonight.
Our Bulldogs Blitz membership offer has been extended until the end of the week! This limited offer will grant those general admission access to three of the Bulldogs’ remaining four home matches at Marvel Stadium for just $33.
For more details, visit membership.westernbulldogs.com.au/sen.
