AFL Round 1 Part 1
Graaab yooour
Coat and your rug
And your thermos and mug
Let it rain, let it shine
Though your team's far behind (sigh)
Still you never throw in the toowwelll
Because it's football season
And that's the reason
It's the time of the year that we loooooove!!!
In a complex, ambivalent way.
At the MCG:
Richmond 3.4 6.7 8.10 9.13.67
Carlton 8.4 13.5 18.9 23.12.150
What goes around, etc. Twelve months ago the hyped-up Bluies with their big-name recruit Chris Judd had their pants pulled down by the Tigers in round one. Here it was the Tiggers drowning in a tsunami of hype over Ben Cousins, enough to sell out the MCG (87,000 turned up) and have the game shown live on TV. And the Blues absolutely smashed them, tougher, harder in midfield and simply far too…competent. With accompanying gloating from Channel Ten's all-Carlton commentary team, it made you grate your teeth even more over the Bluesers' 2009 slogan - "They know we're coming". Well, some of 'em didn't. It's hard to imagine a worse start to the season for Richmond, who were simply awful in every aspect of the game. By the end Cousins had done a hamstring in what appeared to be the Worst Decision Ever. The Tiges had two new players for round one, Cousins and debutant Andrew Browne, a raw lump of 18-y-o ruckman from up the Murray. They had two noteworthy absentees, Kane Johnson with a knee injury and wunderkind midfielder Trent Cotchin, who might be missing for a while. Andrew Raines was back from a knee injury. The Bluies had five new players, necessitated by a few unavailable regulars. Just one, ex-Demon running man Chris Johnson, had prior AFL experience. There was also draftee Mitch Robinson, a tough half-forward from Lauderdale in Tasmania, plus a rookie-listed trio in ruckman Sam Jacobs, lithe Aboriginal forward Jefferey Garlett from Swan Districts and back-flanker Aaron Joseph from Glenorchy, another Tasmanian. Carton needed the new guys to replace absent Nick Stevens (suspended during the NAB Cup) and injured bunch Andrew Carrazzo, Andrew Walker, Shaun Grigg and Brad Fisher. None of the injuries are serious, as far as I know. Walker was an emergency here.
The AFL had been criticized for scheduling this game on a Thursday night, but it turned out to be a great decision from a marketing aspect, creating extraordinary focus. The Tiges were nervous and cracked almost instantly under some decent midfield and forward tackling pressure from the Bluesers. But the Tiges were also their own worst enemy, assisting ten of the Bluies' first-half goals through their own mistakes. Tigger Matty Richardson postered with the first shot of the season - I almost smashed the TV at this very early stage, with the 12 millionth media reference to Richo as "the Benjamin Button of football". Richo is several light-years more entertaining than that celluloid snooze-arama. Anyway, the Bluies were soon on the board as Tigger ruckman Troy 'Snake' Simmonds dropped a simple mark 20m from his own goal and, after some fierce Brendan Fevola tackling, Jarrad Waite snapped a major. A bit later Richmun's Brett Deledio stabbed a kick-in over Luke McGuane's head, and first-game Bloo Mitch Robinson swept up the ball and slotted from a tight angle. Exciting start to his career as the Bluies led by 11 points. The Toigs soon had a goal as Richard Hadley reciprocated with a clanger for Carton, stabbing a wayward pass to Cousins who passed to Jay Schulz, another pass to leading Mitch Morton and he converted. At the restart Bloo Kade Simpson clobbered Daniel Jackson, who was tagging Judd. Simpson was reported for rough play. The Tiges missed a couple of shots during their best spell, before Richardson climbed for a big grab and kicked high to the 'square, where roving Joel Bowden fired a handpass for Morton to snap truly. The Tiges led by 3 points. Bloo Bryce Gibbs, excellent, cleared the next centre-bounce, kicked badly but this time Tigger McGuane spilled an easy mark and Eddie Betts pounced to snap a major for the 'baggers. Hadley had a free at the restart and a 50m penalty against Nathan Foley not retreating on-the-mark, Hadley goaled and the Bluies led by 9 points. The Toigs pulled one back as Nathan Brown chipped a skilful pass for leading Richardson to grab and kick truly from 45m. The only useful thing Brown did all night. The Bluies kicked clear now, with Gibbs, Marc Murphy and Ryan Houlihan all very good. But it was great Bloo tackling pressure all over. Houlihan finessed smartly and got the ball to Chris Johnson, who chipped a kick for youngster Jeff Garlett to mark and convert. Fevola had his first shot at this point, a free-kick but Fev missed awfully and then flattened McGuane, conceding a 50m penalty. What a shock, eh? But soon enough Houlihan's smart roving and a well-weighted kick set up Matthew Kreuzer for a mark over McGuane and a goal, then sure enough Fevola slotted a much more difficult chance than his first one, a free-kick from the pocket. Gibbs had a free at the subsequent centre-bounce and he fed the ball wide to Waite, who was allowed to gallop forward unimpeded and drill it through from 50m. The Bluies led by exactly 5 goals at quarter-time.
And so it went. Tige Andrew Raines's poor clearing kick early in the second term was swept up by Judd, he curled a low kick into the goal-square where Fevola arrived to soccer-volley a major with his left boot. A minute later Waite, running off Richardson, roved Fev's contest to slot another six-pointer and the Bluesers led by 42 points, 7 goals. Richmun's Jack Riewoldt missed a set shot at this point, the Tiges' first score in about 20 minutes of playing time. Galvanized, they played alright for a little while. Cousins, who was going well, picked out two unopposed Tiger forwards who promptly spoiled each other, but a third, roving Schulz, managed to dribbly-kick a goal. Carton replied thanks to a terrific new rule, their junior Robinson was slung to the ground after disposal or something and this now warrants not just a free but a 50m penalty too, apparently. Robinson goaled. Richmun's Simmonds marked in the back pocket, bringing Bronx cheers from Tigger supporters. Poor old 'Snake' had the mother of all shockers in this game. The Tiges plugged away, Simmonds made a mess of things in defence but the Tiggers managed to clear and Simmonds marked at the other end, where he kicked a goal. Schulz missed poorly after marking a good pass from Matt White, but a minute later Brown affected a good spoil and it led to a major for Morton. The Tiges trailed by 28 points with 2 minutes remaining in the half, the Bluies seemed to want to run the clock down but ended up scoring two goals in that time. Great battling from Betts to win the ball on half-forward and some cool passes from Gibbs and Fevola set up a tap-through for Simon Wiggins, a minute later a Tige defender accidentally soccered on-the-full in his back-pocket following a marking contest and Judd hooked the resulting free for full points. Bloozers by 40 points at the long rest.
Shell-shock for the large contingent of Tiger fans then, but there was no relief. A mystery free-kick allowed Robinson, who'd dragged down Newman off-the-ball, to bag the first goal of the third term from inside the goal-square. I honestly have no idea what that was about. At the other end Riewoldt missed poorly again following a strong pack-mark, then a great baulk, run and shot from Richardson ended with the ball clipping the inside of the post. Richo, already wheeling away in celebration, couldn't believe his un-luck. The Tiges' lack of defensive pressure was disgraceful, evidenced when Bloo ruckman Cameron Cloke slapped a throw-in down and the ball sat on the ground for a second or two before Judd strolled by to collect it and bag a sausage roll. Then Wiggins sat under a high punt, went for it unopposed, dropped the mark, but had time to re-gather, do a 360 spin and kick a behind while Tiges stood about watching. Jeez. The game slowed now as early-season fatigue set in, for both sides. The Tiges managed a goal as the previously invisible Richard Tambling and Joel Bowden set up Morton for a good snap. Bloo Wiggins missed again following a terrific pack-mark - kicking isn't his strong suit - but then Betts slotted an easy major following a great spoil from defender Michael Jamison and rebound work from Heath Scotland to set him up. Soon Betts had another, courtesy a very good handpass from Murphy, and Carlton led by 59 points. Toiger Riewoldt finally kicked accurately following a mark on-the-lead - good set-up work from Richo and White there - but after several minutes of tired scrap Betts's third goal of the korter arrived, a classic bit of goal-square roving at the foot of a big pack. Bluies by 59 points at the last change. Why couldn't it be over then? Simmonds kicked a point early in the final term before a great bit of play from Blue Murphy, stealing the ball off Jackson's boot and slotting a terrific goal. A bit later Cousins ripped a hammy as he accelerated to evade a tackler - Cousins's influence had faded after half-time as he tired, and later TV images showed he had hamstring tightness at three-quarter-time. Why on earth he was sent back onto the ground in a game that was over is beyond all comprehension. Tambling booted a running goal for Richmun, then nothing happened for a while before Bloo Jordan Russell snapped a flukey goal from a throw-in, then another classy pass from Houlihan set up Betts for his fifth goal and a 70-point lead for Carlton. Wiggins was presented with an unmissable shot when his vice-like tackle forced Tige Jackson into a throw, Wiggins majored, then Murphy kicked a good one to make the Bloo lead 81 points. The Tiges' night got better as Raines limped off with knee trouble. After a coupla poor Bloo misses the siren sounded 27 minutes into the quarter. Not complaining.
The Bluies' midfield was excellent, led by a fully-fit Chris Judd (23 possessions, 2 goals) and very good Marc Murphy (28 handlings, 2 goals), Bryce Gibbs (30 disposals) was terrific. Jarrad Waite (16 handlings, 3 goals) ran off Richo to great effect early. Up forward Eddie Betts (15 touches, 4 marks, 5 goals) was a constant threat and Ryan Houlihan (29 disposals), first-gamer Mitch Robinson (13 touches, 3 goals) and Simon Wiggins (21 possies, 10 marks, 2 goals) were all handy - great defensive pressure was applied by all those, plus Brendan Fevola who only kicked 2 goals but probably assisted in another 3 - Fev came in with a heel injury and was clearly hampered by it. Hard to pick out better Tiges. Mitch Morton (15 touches, 8 marks, 4 goals) did okay in attack and Matty Richardson (25 disposals, 13 marks, a goal) worked hard around the ground, although his opponent had 3 goals in the first 35 minutes. Andrew Raines (23 possies) was okay. Nathan Foley (31 disposals) had good stats but didn't do much with the ball, Luke McGuane did alright on Fevola. "It was incredibly disappointing," said Tigger coach 'Plough' Wallace. "Our fans didn't want to see what they saw, I don't want to be sitting here trying to make excuses for what was a poor effort, the players don't want to be going through any of that as well. We had a couple of players who are in our very best players at the club . . . I think two blokes had something like 19 turnovers for the night, guys that you wouldn't expect it from." I'd venture one of 'em was Jordan McMahon and I DO expect a plethora of clangers from him. "It is one game, but you just can't sort of say it's one game and try to just push over the cracks. There are some things there that need to be addressed, and the playing group need to address them. Including Ben (Cousins), everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong." On and off the field. Bloo man Brett Ratten said "Our pressure and our tackling . . . to have 81 tackles and 20 inside 50 tackles is an outstanding effort from our group. Our challenge now will be to back that up week-in, week-out . . . What [the first-gamers] gave us was 100 per cent effort, 100 per cent of the time and you can't knock that from anyone. I think that's where we won the game because we got in first for the ball and those kids really helped us do that . . . the thing that maybe deflated Richmond in that Waite got on top of Richardson with hitting the scoreboard, and I think that really affected their group a little bit. Jarrad's done the job on him before and he sort of relishes that challenge and he delivered tonight."
Cheers, Tim.
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