Williams back as Dogs start to shape up

[southerncross]

Williams back as Dogs start to shape up (http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2007/03/24/1174597959941.html)


HIGHLY rated Bulldog Tom Williams returned to competitive football yesterday after missing two seasons with a fractured foot bone, while Luke Darcy and Robert Murphy continued to impress in their recoveries from knee injuries.
Williams, taken at No. 6 in the 2004 draft, played just under half a game for Werribee's reserves side in a VFL practice match at Whitten Oval against Coburg yesterday.
"(He played) OK. He played mainly centre half-back … (and) he got through unscathed," Werribee reserves coach Steven Kretiuk said.
"He got a couple of kicks and a couple of marks, which will give him a fair bit of confidence, but just to see him out on the park is fantastic for not only us (at) Werribee, but for the Bulldogs, as well.
"He showed a couple of years ago before he got injured that he can certainly play footy. And for his height he is a very mobile sort of player.

"He'll be an important player for the Bulldogs for the future."
Darcy and Murphy made positive contributions to Werribee's victory over Coburg, while Ryan Griffen, Peter Street and Brian Harris also came through uninjured.

[southerncross]

This is good to hear. Finally Williams is back on the park and hopefully we can see him move to the Werribee senior side in the coming weeks. Who knows but a few games later in the season in the senior side might be a possibility.

Not sure that with Griffen playing yesterday is a good sign or not. Is his injury a bit more niggling than we first thought?
Darcy getting through quarters again is a ripping good sign though and it's good news about Street and Murphy.

[alwaysadog]

Speak very quietly about Tom, don't want to upset the footy gods who he has obviously and unwittingly offended.

Don't want to celebrate till he's got half a dozen full games under his belt, same goes for Darcy. To early to say the plans coming together but it looks as if promising progress has been made.

[Raw Toast]

This is good to hear. Finally Williams is back on the park and hopefully we can see him move to the Werribee senior side in the coming weeks. Who knows but a few games later in the season in the senior side might be a possibility.

Not sure that with Griffen playing yesterday is a good sign or not. Is his injury a bit more niggling than we first thought?
Darcy getting through quarters again is a ripping good sign though and it's good news about Street and Murphy.

I thought Griffen playing probably that his injury put him a bit back and we wanted to keep building his fitness - it does seem like he is being primed for a mid-field role.

I was interested to note that Cooney didn't play yesterday? Maybe it was more important to rest him than to work on his fitness.

I suspect that these two decisions are related and that part of the transition of Griffen into the midfield will be to reduce Cooney's work-load for the first half of the season. Ackermanis will also help in this. Griffen probably would have spent more time in the middle this season anyway, but it seems like we'll also be working to avoid the situation of last year where a sore Cooney had to soldier on rather than being rested.

[GVGjr]

I thought Griffen playing probably that his injury put him a bit back and we wanted to keep building his fitness - it does seem like he is being primed for a mid-field role.

I was interested to note that Cooney didn't play yesterday? Maybe it was more important to rest him than to work on his fitness.

I suspect that these two decisions are related and that part of the transition of Griffen into the midfield will be to reduce Cooney's work-load for the first half of the season. Ackermanis will also help in this. Griffen probably would have spent more time in the middle this season anyway, but it seems like we'll also be working to avoid the situation of last year where a sore Cooney had to soldier on rather than being rested.

I would have thought that Cooney might have benefited by playing a half but lets hope the OP is not going to hamper his season that much.
It all seems to be coming together on the injury front which bodes well for getting the season off to a a good start.

[kennel master]

Speak very quietly about Tom, don't want to upset the footy gods who he has obviously and unwittingly offended.

Don't want to celebrate till he's got half a dozen full games under his belt, same goes for Darcy. To early to say the plans coming together but it looks as if promising progress has been made.

My feelings exactly.
I am so excited about Darcy coming back and even more excited about Williams playing footy again.
But I've got all fingers crossed and my lucky rabbits foot out. Please football gods- be kind.
If they can string 5-10 solid games together, confidence will rise and then we will see what's what!!

[Topdog]

It's great to hear that he is back but really we need to make sure that he is right before we start getting excited. I think Darcy and Murphy will be fine.

[BulldogBelle]

Good to see that Williams is finally right to play it has been a long time coming, I just want to see him play a couple of games so I can truly appreciate what he can do - I have read so much about how good he is, I just want to see it for myself.