Richard Brown is no closer to finalising a new deal with Super 14 franchise Western Force as he prepares for a return to duty against the Queensland Reds on Friday night.

Brown returns from a three-game absence with a shoulder injury to a side which will feature six backs with Test experience.

Retaining the back-rower is high on the Force’s list of priorities, along with the signature of versatile teenage back James O’Connor, but Brown is still weighing up his options.

“I’m taking my time. I’m not concentrating on it too much,” Brown said.

“It’s not something I have to rush into and (the game) this week is my priority.

“For me it’s the football first, I suppose, and then it’s wherever I’m happiest. I play my best football when I’m happy and enjoying it. That’s what I’m looking for.

“There’s many, many things that contribute to it, I could sit here all day and list them to you. That’s why it’s taking so long to come up with an answer.”

Brown’s focus this is week is on his head-to-head clash with Leroy Houston as the Force’s finals hopes go on the line yet again.

The WA outfit could require as many as six wins from their final seven games to qualify for the top-four play-offs and have the benefit of the week’s rest going into the Reds clash.

“( Houston is) a good number eight and he’s been playing well. I think their back row with (Daniel) Braid and (Scott) Higginbotham, they’re a good back row and you always come against strong back rows in this competition,” Brown said
“I think (Australian derbies) are generally intense games. It could be a really tight game on the weekend, you’ve just got to expect that, it could be an ugly game. We don’t expect to take it easy.
O’Connor will line up at inside centre with coach John Mitchell favouring a system with two playmakers, O’Connor and incumbent fly-half Matt Giteau, in the inside backs.

“Our resources are a little bit better (this week). We’ve got Nick Cummins back, so obviously we can’t create a bit better mix. I’m a big believer in the double-ballplayer, so we’ve gone for that mix as a selection brief,” Mitchell said.

Cummins returns to the left wing after a short stint on the sidelines with hamstring trouble, while Sam Wykes joins the squad for the first time this year after overcoming a shoulder injury.
Wykes will start on the bench after completing a full 80 minutes for WA club side University last week.


PERTH
SHAYNE HOPE

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