AFL 2024: Ben Cousins visits Richmond training as Tom Lynch steps up fitness

Ben Cousins was a popular and surprise guest at Richmond on Wednesday, with the former Eagle and Tiger watching on as Tom Lynch stepped up his efforts to rebuild his fitness.

Brownlow medallist Ben Cousins was a popular surprise guest at Punt Road on Wednesday, to watch a number of Tigers continue their build in fitness.

The West Coast champion played 32 games with Richmond in 2009-10 and still has close links with the club, including returning assistant coach and former captain Chris Newman.

Ben Cousins says hello. Picture Richmond FC

And embraces Dustin Martin. Picture Richmond FC

Cousins hasn’t been a stranger to the Tigers and has popped in to check out training before.

He sat boundary-side along with agent Paul Connors and was warmly greeted by Dustin Martin, among other Tigers.

Big man Tom Lynch continued to work away nearby as he settles into running on grass after graduating from an Alter-G machine when the Tigers returned from the new-year break.

Good to see you, Cuz ☺️🤝 pic.twitter.com/9ivcBcL7Md

— Richmond FC 🐯 (@Richmond_FC) January 17, 2024

The star forward is still some way from joining drills but has made steady progress and has his eyes on playing in opening round on the Gold Coast.

Richmond’s physical performance manager Luke Meehan said Lynch was “going really, really well”.

“He’s had four sessions outside now. Things are progressing as we planned. It’s going to be a little bit of a slow build,” he said.

“Tom’s very impatient of course, and we all want to get Tom out there and into the footy drills as soon as possible, but we need to understand that he had a really long period off, he had eight months without running.

“He’s going to work his tail off to get back as soon as he can, but we need to be really smart and have Tom available for as long as possible this year.”

Livewire Shai Bolton has shown little sign of the ankle injury he copped late last year and has been moving well.

Meehan said Bolton was “looking fantastic”.

“”He hurt his ankle with a minute to go of the Port Adelaide game (Round 24) last year, with a minute to go of the season,” he said.

“The surgery was really successful, it went really well. He slowly worked into some training just before Christmas, and since we got back from the break, he’s pretty much been in everything.”

Winger Jack Ross continued to step up his recovery from toe surgery and promising defender Josh Gibcus’ recovery from hamstring woes remains on track.

Gibcus joined in for almost the entire session after not playing at all last year.