Tarrant poised to face Roos - Herald Sun

[Dale61]

25 June 2002
By Bruce Matthews

COLLINGWOOD forward Chris Tarrant is making steady progress towards a remarkable recovery in time for Saturday night's game at Colonial Stadium.

It now seems likely the high-leaping goalkicker could throw off a hip injury to play against the Kangaroos.

Tarrant did everything except join in simulated match practice drills at Victoria Park yesterday and he will try to step up the workload during the main session tomorrow.

"As we said at the outset, he's a bit sore," Magpies football manager Neil Balme said yesterday.

"But the good news is there's no serious damage. So if he can come up, it settles downs and feels OK, he'll play."

"He still has to do that. We'll see how he goes on Wednesday. And that won't be the be-all and end-all either. He'll have to feel better, if not necessarily do all the work."

Tarrant's appearance at training yesterday was a welcome sign after the hip injury against Fremantle last Sunday week forced him to miss Collingwood's mid-season trip to the Northern Territory.

Instead of a break in tropical Darwin, the key Magpie flew back to Melbourne for a precautionary scan which showed no structural damage to his hip. Tarrant jogged laps with teammate Nick Davis yesterday before the fitness staff stepped up the tempo to test his recovery.

As the main group worked on contested drills for 45 minutes, Tarrant completed a series of 150m runs at three-quarter pace.

After twisting and turning around the goalposts at the railway end of the ground, the forward moved freely on several leads to mark at full stretch, although he didn't try to kick at full power.

Fellow forward Anthony Rocca limped noticeably as he jogged a couple of laps alone and he also must prove his fitness at training tomorrow.

Balme said the split round break had been timely for the players, who started preparations for the Roos at training last Friday


"Racetracks are for racing, roads are for getting there."

[Joel]

Good news re Tarrant! Hopefully Anthony is alright aswell

JDF

[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 26 June 2002).]