Preview Rd 1 - Carlton vs. Richmond, 7:40PM, 24th March @ MCG - Preview Thread

[MartinFoleyCotch]

At the end of the day this match really comes down to the middle of the ground. If you guys dominate the midfield like previous games we willl only have a small number of inside 50's and the inexperiance of your backline won't come into play much. I am actually really suprised Tuck wasn't named considering it is going to be wet. Think his clearance work would have been invalueable tonight.

Hope to see the following matchups:

Judd v Jackson (hardest tag of his life)
Murphy v Foley
Gibbs v Martin
Simpson v Cotchin
Carazzo v Grigg
Scotland v Morton

Who will play a tagging role for Carlton tonight with Joseph out?

 

[Sin City]

Who will play a tagging role for Carlton tonight with Joseph out?

Carrazzo, otherwise we might just not use one.

 

[bluepride]

Judd v Jackson (hardest tag of his life)

Not the hardest tag of his life.

Would be a few before Jackson, with the hardest being.... umm forget his first name but Curnley from the Crows would always take Judd completley out of the game, was one of the only taggers who could.

 

[HARKER]

Not sure what you're saying here. .. Adelaide's Rundle Mall has some of the best scenery, of any central mall, in the country. .. Mostly because the town is dead and the only places to be (particularly in Summer) are the beach or the mall. ..

Rundle St. East goes O.K. but unless things have changed around the mall in the last year, it is one ugly place to hang around at.
Head west down Hindley and good luck.

 

[Sin City]

Rundle St. East goes O.K. but unless things have changed around the mall in the last year, it is one ugly place to hang around at.
Head west down Hindley and good luck.

Have a seat around Coffee Republic in the Launceston Mall, that place has the final say on ugly.

 

[Sin City]

Not the hardest tag of his life.

Would be a few before Jackson, with the hardest being.... umm forget his first name but Curnley from the Crows would always take Judd completley out of the game, was one of the only taggers who could.

Shirley?

 

[bluepride]

Hahahaha Sin, I knew I had the name wrong.

Was trying to rack my brain for the players name and just didnt come, and I was just looking at some old stats of Curnow so mustve combined the two names .

This is very embarrassing.

If MC says 'racist' im going to take to him with a blunt instrument.

 

[Claypigeon]

Not the hardest tag of his life.

Would be a few before Jackson, with the hardest being.... umm forget his first name but Curnley from the Crows would always take Judd completley out of the game, was one of the only taggers who could.

I think he meant it wouldd be the Richmond spuds hardest tag. .. as in Judd been hard to tag. ..

 

[bluepride]

Apart from Jackson they dont even have a place closley looking like a hard tag, so what a weird comment to make.

 

[Sin City]

Ratten knows there can be no excuses

But Ratten said the passion between two clubs that have met in six grand finals -- four of which Richmond won -- and 22 times in finals could not be wiped away by a couple of one-sided encounters.

"That's very unfair. The history between Carlton and Richmond goes back for years and grand finals. It's great to have two traditional Melbourne teams to kick the season off," he said.

And while the Blues' pre-season has been much better than Richmond's, he is not expecting another easy night.

"I expect them to come out snarling," he said.

"The emotion of round one, there's a lot of tension and everyone's been itching to go and it's going to be probably on at the first bounce.

"They'll be coming out right on the front foot, as will we."

Ratten knows there can be no excuses

 

[HARKER]

Some suggesting Robbo to be the sub.
Robbo would be one I'd want in the fray from the first bounce. I just can't see it happening.
Carrazzo looks most likely considering fitness.

Tuned into SEN right now, and Bartlett's banter is just beyond comical, and venturing into a sad territory.

 

[Sin City]

Sportal Preview

Season 2011 promises to be one of genuine expectation for Blues with the heat on coach Brett Ratten after Carlton's exits from week one of the finals in the past two years. This is the final year of Ratten's contract and the expectation is that he needs to deliver at least one finals win to extend his tenure past this season.
The word coming out of Visy Park is the Blues have got a bit of their swagger back. The challenge is for Carlton to back that up and be bonafide challengers for the top four. If they are to make those strides up the ladder it will be up to the likes of Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer and Russell to reach elite status.
We all know what Chris Judd delivers and there is little doubt he will do so yet again, but he's coming off a Brownlow winning year so the question needs to be ask, what extra can he produce.
Carlton will also need Lachie Henderson and Jarrad Waite to stand tall up forward this season, and taking on a Tigers line-up set to struggle yet again this season, is the perfect chance to open their seasons with a bag full of goals.

Sportal Preview

 

[The Goon]

Help required for a traveling dingleberry:
Will be in Woolongong tonight, does anyone know of a footy Pub in this very pro-league Town.
Also my Wife tells me it is not being played live in Sydney ( not even main event she says) well I say

Game is on ONE (Ten's digital sport channel) from 7.30. Not sure about an AFL pub though sorry.

 

[Aphrodite]

Some suggesting Robbo to be the sub.
Robbo would be one I'd want in the fray from the first bounce. I just can't see it happening.
Carrazzo looks most likely considering fitness.

Tuned into SEN right now, and Bartlett's banter is just beyond comical, and venturing into a sad territory.

Just about to throw my radio into Port Philip Bay.
He is so unbearable sometimes, especially when he talks about Carlton.

Says if it rains the game will be cancelled as Carlton hate playing in the wet.

Greg Denham is giving him a run as well disagreeing with everything KB says.

Has us finishing 9th & that we are no good.

Yep that is KB whenever we play his beloved Tigers or whenever he mentions Carlton.






Blues by 6+ goals.

 

[Erko Blue]

Game is on ONE (Ten's digital sport channel) from 7.30. Not sure about an AFL pub though sorry.

Thank you, was starting to panic when the girl told me it won't be live in NSW.
Cheers mate

 

[MartinFoleyCotch]

I think he meant it wouldd be the Richmond spuds hardest tag. .. as in Judd been hard to tag. ..

Correct...want him to produce his best tagging performance. Wouldn't mind if Judd got it 25 times but Jackson needs to limit the influence of those touches.

Last time I saw this done effectively from a Richmond perspective was when Kane Johnson kept Judd very ineffective and had it 28 times himself. Don't care if Jackson doesn't get the ball but I want to see him check Judd very closely.

 

[blue gunslinger]

Game is on ONE (Ten's digital sport channel) from 7.30. Not sure about an AFL pub though sorry.

just a reminder to keep an eye on wablues threads and facebook/twitter for where to see the game in Perth

 

[chaser1]

Far from our best side, very worried about the inexperience in our backline. Very suprised that Hendorson is not playing, i think this game could be very close . Tigers a lot to prove Carlton expected to win, and a lot to lose.

If we lose this could you imagine the pressure on Ratts, i say Carlton by 11 points with our midfiels getiing on top in the second half.

 

[The Goon]

Posted this on our board and thought some here may be interested.

Just did a quick comparison of the team you thrashed in round 20 last year and the one that will be playing tonight.

IN (2011):
Rance, McGuane, Conca, Cotchin, Vickery, Grigg, Helbig, Foley, Nahas, Batchelor, Houlie

OUT (2010):
Gourdis, Moore, Nason, Post, King, Cousins, Tuck, O’Reilly, Browne, Hicks, Collins

To me the only significant outs (based on how they were performing at that time of year) are King, Tuck and perhaps Moore. The significant ins are obviously Foley and Cotchin, and perhaps Grigg (of course that's up for debate). Although I'd like to see Tuck in and think it would have been good to have King available, it's nice we're replacing B graders with A graders (before anyone gets their knickers in a twist I'm not calling Grigg an A grader).

 

[Sin City]

Posted this on our board and thought some here may be interested.

Just did a quick comparison of the team you thrashed in round 20 last year and the one that will be playing tonight.

IN (2011):
Rance, McGuane, Conca, Cotchin, Vickery, Grigg, Helbig, Foley, Nahas, Batchelor, Houlie

OUT (2010):
Gourdis, Moore, Nason, Post, King, Cousins, Tuck, O’Reilly, Browne, Hicks, Collins

To me the only significant outs (based on how they were performing at that time of year) are King, Tuck and perhaps Moore. The significant ins are obviously Foley and Cotchin, and perhaps Grigg (of course that's up for debate). Although I'd like to see Tuck in and think it would have been good to have King available, it's nice we're replacing B graders with A graders (before anyone gets their knickers in a twist I'm not calling Grigg an A grader).

Cousins picked up 26 touches that day, he should definitely be classed a big out.

Ours should be

Ins: Duigan, Curnow, Laidler, Walker, Yarran, Thornton, White, Lucas

Outs: Bower, Davies, Ellard, Grigg, Hadley, Henderson, Jamison, Joseph.

 

[The Goon]

Cousins picked up 26 touches that day, he should definitely be classed a big out.

Ours should be

Ins: Duigan, Curnow, Laidler, Walker, Yarran, Thornton, White, Lucas

Outs: Bower, Davies, Ellard, Grigg, Hadley, Henderson, Jamison, Joseph.

Left Cuz out because I thought he looked flat and disinterested in the last 6 weeks. To me it looked like he was strolling to retirement, so while he picked up the possessions I didn't think he was terribly effective. Seeing as being thrashed by half time leads to excessive drinking for the rest of the game though , I'm happy to be corrected.

 

[Sin City]

Left Cuz out because I thought he looked flat and disinterested in the last 6 weeks. To me it looked like he was strolling to retirement, so while he picked up the possessions I didn't think he was terribly effective. Seeing as being thrashed by half time leads to excessive drinking for the rest of the game though , I'm happy to be corrected.

In the game between our two sides he looked to me the only Richmond mid who was willing to run. In the weeks leading up to it he had 27, 24, 25 and 26 touches, even if he was just a link man you'll still miss that. When he was injured in the last two weeks I agree he was very slow, but I thought he put in one of the best efforts by a Tigers player in the game against us.

 

[MartinFoleyCotch]

Cousins picked up 26 touches that day, he should definitely be classed a big out.

Ours should be

Ins: Duigan, Curnow, Laidler, Walker, Yarran, Thornton, White, Lucas

Outs: Bower, Davies, Ellard, Grigg, Hadley, Henderson, Jamison, Joseph.

Grigg out for you guys is a big loss...glad his not playing!

 

[Sin City]

glad his not playing!

It's hard to tell the difference most of the time

 

[The Goon]

In the game between our two sides he looked to me the only Richmond mid who was willing to run. In the weeks leading up to it he had 27, 24, 25 and 26 touches, even if he was just a link man you'll still miss that. When he was injured in the last two weeks I agree he was very slow, but I thought he put in one of the best efforts by a Tigers player in the game against us.

Could well be right. I really thought his effectiveness was dropping off (can't find the ED or 1% stats anywhere) and his tackling was definitely down (didn't even land 1 in the R20 game), so it was more all of those small things that make the difference between an adequate and a good player. You're definitely right about the running and link up play though, so could probably call it a big out on that alone. Be interesting to see if anyone can step up and provide that given the inexperience we're fielding.