Preview Round 2- Richmond v Collingwood @MCG, 7:20pm Thursday 30th March

[bananatigz]

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to one of the most hyped matches of 2017 between two traditional heavyweights that will see the winner take a big step in achieving another mediocre year of finishing 6th-12th. In the end at least we aren't minnows like the Doggies, so whose the real winner here Bevo??? '()

Last time we met

Richmond 14.8.92 d Collingwood 11.11.77

Richmond gave their fans something to cheer about with an exciting come from behind win in what was to prove a very disappointing year for the club. After quickly falling 4 goals behind in the opening quarter and sending most Richmond fans into a "I can't believe we are going to lose to Collingwood twice in a year" spiral of depression (and leaving others on this board licking their lips), Richmond actually rallied to fight their way back into the game and went on to kick the final 5 goals of the match to win an entertaining game by 15 points.

Start to 2017

Richmond got their season off to a positive start with a comfortable 43 point win over perennial campaigners Carlton, allowing all Tigers fans a quiet breath of relief after spending the entire week previous telling colleagues "We should win". A much quicker, direct and exciting game plan ala Dogs2016 (RIP Bob's Knee) has been understandably well received however is yet to have been properly tested as it is sure to be this week. Surprisingly survived the off season without any off field drama which is a pretty good effort considering Dusty is one of the worst people on the planet according to the Herald Sun. All in with a new game plan, fresh new faces around the club, brilliant new Puma gear (screw you Groupie it looks amazing) and a win round 1 Tigerland is a pretty happy place at the moment, until Thursday at least.

Collingwood started their season with a somewhat impressive start to the season against the reigning premiers. After getting jumped early on they fought their way back into the game ferociously and inaccurate goal-kicking lost them the chance to potentially hand out the first upset of 2017. Their game plan is quite clearly just stack the midfield to such an extent that everyone hopefully forgets we don't have a backline, which worked pretty well as they absolutely gave the doggies a bath in the middle. Pendles played the second best game of 2017 and was ably supported by Treloar, Adams, Sidebottom and Grundy. Unfortunately the Dogs are pretty flipping good ey and still found a way to win, their quick transition exposing the Collingwood backline multiple times and ultimately holding their nerve in the crucial moments. Poor old Bucks has been made to look a fool once again, with young Jordan De Goey doing his best Alan Didak impersonation whilst concocting possibly one of the worst cover stories ever heard, not to mention the fact that the real incident happened in the middle of a bar with no shortage of witnesses. All in all the Pies have a bit to prove going into round 2.

Team match-ups

Midfield
The midfield undoubtedly is where the key to this game lies and where Richmond need to hold their own if we are to win this game. Make no mistake, even though the Dogs got up on Friday night they were absolutely smashed in the middle all night and were just good enough around the ground to win anyway. I'm not sure Richmond is good enough to do the same and if we don't fair any better than the Dogs did in the middle we could be in trouble. Pendles reminded everyone he was a star and left thousands including myself wondering how we could be so stupid to not start with him in our Supercoach teams, and Treloar, Adams, Sidebottom and Grundy are an imposing supporting cast. That's not too say Richmond struggle through the middle with the likes of Dusty, Cotch, Prestia and new cult figure Nank the Tank more than capable of taking it up to the pies. Speaking of the great Nank, as promising as he was around the ground I thought he was pretty comfortably beaten in the Ruck by Kreuzer, and I'd actually like to see Hammer come in for Griff if he was fit and let Nank just roam up the ground getting involved at CHF. In any case it should be a good battle and one we need to hold our own in.

Richmond Forwards/Collingwood Backs
Our forward line versus their defence is certainly the area of the ground we can get on top of them and is what I'm sure would the catalyst of our win if the Yellow and Black are singing come 10:30pm. The doggies through their quick and bold ball movement were able to expose Collingwood's already frail backline multiple times leading to numerous simple scoring shots. Seeing as we seem to be employing a similar style of play this year and the success in round 1 of the Rioli/Butler/Castagna small forward line, it's not difficult to see what we will be trying to do. Outside Ben Reid who I believe is still being held together by sticky tape and Jeremy Howe who is actually quite good for some reason at HB, they really don't have a lot to write home about down there and Jack and our merry band of small campaigners down there should be feeling confident they can get on top.

Richmond backs/Collingwood forwards
The pies have similar concerns up forward, as you'd expect when you pour 70% of your salary cap into the midfield. Luckily for them our backline didn't look all that crash hot either on Thursday night. Alex Rance, arguably the greatest man alive, had an extremely rare bad night and some of our other defender's lack of accountability was exposed at times. Whilst Rance and Astbury should account for White and Moore (who is definitely in the Joe Daniher book of "Yeh nah, he really hasn't actually done a whole lot yet fellas") their smalls looked pretty dangerous, and supported by the likes of Pendles, Treloar and Sidebottom who love a snag, they looked capable of kicking a winning score, especially with Elliot rumoured to be coming in for this clash. We will need to tighten up a few things down back, which is partly why I'd be sending Vlas back down there this week, looked a lot more comfortable in the second half when he went down there a bit and gives us so much stability when he's there.

The Key Battles


VS

You often hear that the midfield is where the game is won or lost, but in this game especially where both side's strength absolute lie in their midfields it will be without a doubt the key to the match. If Collingwood are allowed to dominate the middle like they did on Friday night the Tigers will find it tough to win.



VS

Will De Goey get a new door handle? Does De Goey blame his dog for this mess? Does De Goey even have a dog? Tune in to Channel 9 this week for a 60 Minutes special where all these questions and more will be answered.

Team Changes

Richmond

Out: Hunt, Lloyd, McIntosh (all omit)
IN: Short, Lennon, Lambert

B: Grimes, Astbury, Conca
HB: Houli, Rance, B.Ellis
C: Caddy, Cotchin, Grigg
HF: Butler, Griffiths, Edwards
F: Castagna, Riewoldt, Rioli
R: Nankervis, Martin, Prestia
I: Vlastuin, Short, Lennon, Lambert


Collingwood:

Out: Varcoe (susp.), Cox (omit)
In: Broomhead, Aish

B: Maynard, Schade, Ramsey
HB: Howe, Reid, Smith
C: Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Hoskin-Elliot
HF: Phillips, White, Aish
F: Fasolo, Moore, Blair
R: Grundy, Treloar, Adams
I: Crisp, Broomhead, Mayne, Goldsack


Final word
In what shapes to be a massive game, regardless of how insignificant this game will probably be in the context of the season, bragging rights between to of the more obnoxious supporter bases in the league are at stake and needless to say that's a prize worth winning. I think this game will be pretty close, with both teams starting off their seasons with respectable performances and both knowing what they will need to do to beat the other. Collingwood need to repeat the midfield dominance they showed on Friday night, as I doubt Richmond will such an easy time as the Dogs in kicking 100 points without hardly winning a clearance. Richmond on the other hand need to stop this from happening, which they will feel they can do given their own midfield stocks, and then look to expose a fragile Collingwood backline with fast ball movement as the Dogs did. I think it will come down to what ever team executes their game plan better and it's not just a simple question of which team is better going into the game. Whilst the Pies midfield does worry me slightly, I'm not going to bloody tip them am I.

Richmond by 9 points.​

 

[Capitano_Cotch]

After watching Collingwood dominate the centre clearances last night, there is no doubt in my mind that Miles MUST come in if we are to stand a chance of breaking even in the middle.
Mind you, the dogs lack of a genuine ruck did not help this at all.
Cotchin, Martin, Prestia and Miles in the guts can compete very well with the Collingwood midfield, even though they have more pace than ours.

 

[Komrade_Tiger]

After watching Collingwood dominate the centre clearances last night, there is no doubt in my mind that Miles MUST come in if we are to stand a chance of breaking even in the middle.
Mind you, the dogs lack of a genuine ruck did not help this at all.
Cotchin, Martin, Prestia and Miles in the guts can compete very well with the Collingwood midfield, even though they have more pace than ours.

bulldogs are struggling to adapt without 3rd-man up, not as bad as being made out to be - clearance wise

 

[Komrade_Tiger]

0 chance Elliot plays,

played like 2 AFL games in 15 months or something, would be VERY underdone to throw him straight in at AFL level

 

[docko911]

Collingwood overpossesed the ball big time against WB, if we can continue to play our direct football style we should easily account for these try hard s.

 

[turtle27]

I really feel posters are underestimating the Pies, and overestimating us, off Round 1 performances. This has got all the hallmarks of a classic bigfooty moz, followed by monumental meltdown after we lose as the the opposition proved to be slightly better than us.

 

[Gosha]

Prepare your arseholes fellas

 

[parmy2balmey]

collingwood are dag shite

 

[joelsyt]

I really feel posters are underestimating the Pies, and overestimating us, off Round 1 performances. This has got all the hallmarks of a classic bigfooty moz, followed by monumental meltdown after we lose as the the opposition proved to be slightly better than us.

This is why I'm trying to prepare myself for a very possible loss. Collingwood are not a bad side...at the moment. Yeah they have some holes, but so do we.

 

[Lsta062]

I really feel posters are underestimating the Pies, and overestimating us, off Round 1 performances. This has got all the hallmarks of a classic bigfooty moz, followed by monumental meltdown after we lose as the the opposition proved to be slightly better than us.

I think we can beat them. If we can capitalise on their turnovers and get some goals from that source like we did against Carlton (11 goals from their turnovers on Thursday) then we can win. They comfortably beat Bulldogs in the midfield yet still ended up losing (they were getting smashed too at some stages).

Like a poster said on here, we need Miles in for this game.

 

[NaturalDisaster]

I really feel posters are underestimating the Pies, and overestimating us, off Round 1 performances. This has got all the hallmarks of a classic bigfooty moz, followed by monumental meltdown after we lose as the the opposition proved to be slightly better than us.

Pies a lot better than Carlton. A lot of people hold onto that loss from last year, but we've had the better of Collingwood in recent times. I'm confident we will win but could lose as easily too. Itll be a close contest.

 

[Royce Hafey]

I'm liking the OP's change of Floss for Hunt and Miles in the middle. We don't have to beat the Pies midfield - but we need to be more competitive than the Dogs. If we give it enough to supply our forward line we can score more points. Wasn't there a match where Swan and Beams both had 40+ possessions and the Pies got smashed by 50 points? Just get Dusty to bomb it 80 metres over their press and Rioli and co will do the rest.

 

[DustinsGuns]

Pies were very solid last night. Their kids are a fair bit better than ours imo. But their defence and tall forward stocks are a shambles.

Agree with others, Miles should come in but I don't think he will.

Will be a good game in front of another 70,000

 

[sante]

I really feel posters are underestimating the Pies, and overestimating us, off Round 1 performances. This has got all the hallmarks of a classic bigfooty moz, followed by monumental meltdown after we lose as the the opposition proved to be slightly better than us.

It's a 50/50 game like most will be every week. It's so typical for bigfooty posters to get ahead of themselves and underrate the opposition.

 

[Tigersfan35]

This game is crucial. If we want any chance of making the 8 we must have a good start to the year. I'm looking forward to a great game of footy...

 

[Tiger Toffee]

Outside of a few frontrunners in the pies midfield they are shit, they threw everything at the dogs, dominated clearances and disposals and still lost, in fact never looked like winning against an underdone opponent and a backline horribly exposed for the shitness it is.

We won comfortably without Rance, Lloyd, Jack, Caddy and Cotch to a degree having a major influence on proceedings.

Jack and Dusty to have a night out in the forward line.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Think our tall backs will take control. We've had the edge in the midfield the last 3 games too. I reckon 5 goal win

 

[THE_GUN]

Hunt must be Dropped, Miles was unlucky not to get selected in round 1

Something tells me we need Ivan Maric in this game both in the Ruck and as a 3rd tall option to stretch the pies defence, With
Edwards,Rioli,Castagna,Butler zipping around in the foward line Ivan's ability to either mark the ball or bring it to ground would be very very handy

 

[Rubber Hips]

Our ore season form and game against scum was so,I'd
Besides a few key players ( Treloar, Pendlebury ) reckon we'll have them covered.
Rance, Jack and Cotch will step up to join the rest of the team to put in a solid effort
I have no reason to think we will drop this game...especially after last year's last few seconds debacle...which sent our season into a tailspin.

Must win game...tigers by 16

 

[THE_GUN]

The Pies midfield run deeper than ours but we just need to beat them on the day

Martin , Caddy , Prestia , Cotchin , Grigg , Miles , Vlastuin will all need to play to the best of their ability

 

[Darth_Tiger]

Interesting selection dilemma. Another ruck/tall forward (Ivy) would be good but so would another mid (Miles). Hunt won't be dropped. Will do a stopping job in defence. Conca was good as was Ellis. MacIntosh and Lloyd possible outs. Think we will go in unchanged personally.


Sent from my brain using ESP

 

[THE_GUN]

Interesting selection dilemma. Another ruck/tall forward (Ivy) would be good but so would another mid (Miles). Hunt won't be dropped. Will do a stopping job in defence. Conca was good as was Ellis. MacIntosh and Lloyd possible outs. Think we will go in unchanged personally.


Sent from my brain using ESP

Who did Hunt stop last game ? Gibbs, murphy or Cripps ?

 

[Darth_Tiger]

Who did Hunt stop last game ? Gibbs, murphy or Cripps ?

Didn't know Gibbs, Murphy and Cripps were forwards.


Sent from my brain using ESP

 

[joelsyt]

Who did Hunt stop last game ? Gibbs, murphy or Cripps ?

Hunt should have been moved out of defence and onto Murphy in the third quarter.

 

[Azzleberry]

0 chance Elliot plays,

played like 2 AFL games in 15 months or something, would be VERY underdone to throw him straight in at AFL level

If that's the case, you'd expect the only change will be Aish in and Varcoe out.
On the back of that team, hunt is not required for another small forward lockdown (Elliot) but Miles will be needed for additional midfield and stoppage depth.