By John Harrington

Richie Hogan has returned to training with Kilkenny after recovering from a broken bone in his hand, but team-mate TJ Reid says the 2014 Hurler of the Year is not guaranteed to win his place back in the team for the Leinster Final against Galway.

Kilkenny coped well without Hogan in the Leinster semi-final against Dublin as his replacement Jonjo Farrell scored 1-5 from play in a man of the match performance. So even though Hogan is one of the best hurlers in the country, Reid says it's not for certain he'll play in the provincial Final. 

"Well, he'll have to make the team, yeah? Six forwards hurled very well the last day so he'll have to fight for his place again but that's just the nature of Kilkenny," said Reid. "Just because we won so much, you can't be just brought back into the team.

"He'll have to be 100 per cent right before he's playing, anyway, but he'll be a major boost to the team. He's back training and might be back. It's still 50-50. He did break a bone in the hand that he holds the hurl with so there could be a lot of strength missing in the wrist, as well. If he's right, it would be great to have him. If not, we'll just have to soldier on without him.”

It has always been Brian Cody’s philosophy that in-form players hold onto their jersey regardless of who’s waiting in the wings. The competition between players in training has been one of the secrets to Kilkenny’s success under the current management, and Reid believes Hogan will be anxious to catch Cody’s eye between now and the Leinster Final.

"I'd say he'd be worried, of course, I think so,” said Reid. "Jonjo got his chance and performed very well. He'll more than likely be there again against Galway, but I'm not Brian Cody! Richie's training away, doing all the runs, doing all the physical work but he hasn't hurled - he's pucked around, alright. But it's still early days. Another week and a half.”

Complacency in the camp is something that Cody has never tolerated, and Reid revealed the Kilkenny manager likes to motivate his players by keeping them guessing about where they stand in his plans.

“There'd be A v B games in training and you mightn't always be on the A team,” said Reid. “You might be on the A team one night, and not on it the next. He mixes things up. You could be full-forward one night, centre-forward or half-forward the next. Definitely, if Richie was right, he'd be playing, of course, but he's not.

"If I got injured as well and was trying to come back into a team that was hurling well, you would be saying 'will I get back in?' Brian always says that if you're playing well, training well and performing on match day, you'll get your jersey. That's the way he is. He certainly doesn't bring lads in and disrupt the team either.”

Kilkenny’s ability to retain their hunger for success year on year despite sustained achievement is legendary by now. Reid is adamant that if they ever lose that competitive edge they’ll quickly be knocked from their perch by their rivals.

“Ah yeah, every team we play are hungry, they're driven to beat us,” he said. “They're rising their game an extra 10, 20 per cent. So any day we're not right, we'll be beaten, the Leinster final 2012 maybe we weren't right and Galway blew us away. At half-time we tried to change things and get ourselves psyched up but physically and mentally we weren't right for the game.

“You seen Clare this year in the league semi-final also this year, maybe our attitude wasn't fully right and Clare beat us off the field. Any day you go out with the wrong attitude or with the wrong thinking, thinking that we won't be beaten, that's the day you'll get caught. Our preparation is 100 per cent and our preparation is going well. So hopefully we can perform to our best on Sunday two weeks.”

Global nutrition company Herbalife, a leading provider of sports nutrition products to clubs and athletes around the world, yesterday announced a sponsorship deal with three time All-Star hurler TJ Reid. The multi-year deal will see Herbalife become Reid's nutrition and sports performance partner, providing the full range of Herbalife24 products to aid him with his demanding training regimes. For more details visit www.herbalife.ie.