Jabba73
Hall of Famer
Round One – Carlton vs Richmond
Thursday March 19th
7.25pm (AEDT) MCG
Thursday March 19th
7.25pm (AEDT) MCG
Versus
Always difficult to pick the first team of the year, especially when there is a new coaching staff, new game plan and a renewed interest in winning games instead of developing youth. Hard to fit them all in, here is a rough guess:
Us:
FB: Plowman Jones Marchbank
HB: Docherty Weitering Simpson
C: Walsh Cripps Williamson
R: Kreuzer Setterfield Curnow
HF: Martin Casboult McGovern
FF: Betts McKay Gibbons
IC: Murphy Silvagni Petrevski-Seton Cunningham
Emerg: Fisher Newman Dow Newnes Kennedy O’Brien
Some more mature bodies will be preferred over kids with talent for this game, could see Newnes and Newman getting a run. Fisher unlucky to miss so Silvagni can provide more structure while Casboult is in the ruck. Form through the rest of the practice games will help determine the final make up of the side. Plenty of real options at last.
Them:
FB: Grimes Astbury Broad
HB: Vlastuin Balta Houli
C: Bolton Cotchin Caddy
R: Soldo Prestia Martin
HF: Rioli Riewoldt Edwards
FF: Stack Lynch Castagna
IC: Pickett Graham Lambert Nankervis
Short or Baker could come in for either Soldo or Nankervis if they only play one ruckman. Pinched this side from a combination of the Tigers board round one guess-fest, I am sure someone will let me know if it is way off or I have forgotten someone important (other than Rance who is not available).
The game:
Should be a good first up test against the reigning Premiers. As with all teams that win the big dance, there are some stars and a handful of very useful role players.
The trick for a developing side like ours is to make the opposition hunt us, instead of the other way around. There seems to be a definite shift towards better ball movement across the ground and using senior bodies where needed. If we can get this right, we may just force a change of game plan from the Tigers.
Given we are unbeaten this season, we are not without a chance to rain on their parade. It will take a lot of things to go right and a good result will prime the boys for a very successful season.
How Tigers can win:
Elite pressure and ball movement across the ground. We need to avoid Grimes at all costs as he is the rock the defence is built on and their rebound run is very impressive and leads to high scoring. Martin can destroy sides in a few minutes and players like Castagna or Edwards usually have career games against us. Caddy and Prestia can be dangerous match ups and Reiwoldt and Lynch form one of the more dangerous big forward combinations in the league. They know their game plan and execute it until the other side runs out of answers, they are confident they can win from any position and this gets them over the line in close games.
How we can win:
The key for us is Kreuzer and Cripps winning a large percentage of stoppages and then our delivery to the forwards. Transition from defence and the last pass into forward 50 destroyed a lot of good work last season, hopefully it has been a focus over the last few months. Having players strong and fit enough to run both ways should take some pressure off a defence that managed to hold their own despite the ridiculous amount of challenges thrown at them last season. The return of Docherty (and Williamson) will be an enormous benefit, as will the extra preseason under Russell for all players on the list. The forward line has plenty of marking power and the return of Betts could create chaos and additional scoring chances.
Prediction: Blues by 3 points in a low scoring thriller 78-75.
Have at it, folks.
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