NAB Cup round 2: Tigers vs Pies

[one-eyed]

Preview: Collingwood v Richmond
afl.com.au
By Nathan Schmook Thu 26 February, 2009

PRE-SEASON FORM GUIDE
Collingwood: The Magpies are through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2006. Heavy losses to Adelaide (81 points) and North Melbourne (51) have sent them packing in the first round in recent years. However, this campaign was started in the best possible fashion – a strong Collingwood outfit smashed West Coast by 62 points at Subiaco Oval.

Richmond: The Tigers have also broken a recent NAB Cup drought, getting past the first round with a nail-biting three-point win over Fremantle at Subiaco. Losses to St Kilda (40 points), Geelong (43) and Hawthorn (10) have seen Richmond make a first-round exit the past three years.

PREPARATION
Collingwood: There's no doubt Collingwood was in great early-season shape against West Coast after three gruelling intra-club matches to kick off its campaign. Alan Didak and Heath Shaw should get the chance to back up their stunning returns in Perth, while Scott Pendlebury and Tarkyn Lockyer showed they are well and truly ready for the season proper.

Richmond: The Tigers probably got a better preparation than they bargained for when they travelled to Perth a fortnight ago. The victory brought out the best in Matthew Richardson, Nathan Foley and Brett Deledio – all top performers over the pre-season. And with Richardson up the ground, Jack Riewoldt and Nathan Brown made telling contributions on the scoreboard. High-profile recruit Ben Cousins was never going to play that game but he watched from the stands – adding to the build-up for this one.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Collingwood:
Leon Davis: Dangerous wherever he went against West Coast, Davis read the ruckmen's work better than anyone (seven clearances) and pushed forward for two goals.

Scott Pendlebury: It's hard to believe it's so early in the year when you watch this gun midfielder play football. Of his 31 possessions against West Coast, Pendlebury missed the target just twice in a supreme performance.

Nick Maxwell: The great bump debate isn't over, but Maxwell is free to captain the Pies after escaping a four-week ban. His physical approach is an integral part of his leadership and he won't be discouraged from playing that way against the Tigers.

Richmond:
Ben Cousins: It seems like the champion midfielder's every step has been watched since his time expired at West Coast. Finally football fans can watch the Brownlow Medallist doing what he does best on the football field.

Daniel Jackson: Flying under the radar thanks to some of his big-name midfield teammates, Jackson managed 29 possessions against Fremantle while keeping an eye on NAB AFL Rising Star Rhys Palmer.

Adam Thomson: Port Adelaide fans were disappointed to lose this former first-round draft pick, but greater opportunities led the inside midfielder to Tigerland. It will be interesting to see what he offers in this clash with Collingwood and beyond.

SUMMARY
Both sides have named strong squads and Jackson says the Tigers are set on hitting round one in good touch. They'll run out against the Pies without Trent Cotchin and Kayne Pettifer, while Collingwood is still missing Anthony Rocca (ankle) and Paul Medhurst (foot). Collingwood's pre-season form coupled with the health of its list suggests a semi-final appearance against either Essendon or the Brisbane Lions. However, expect the Tigers to push the Pies on emotion alone as Cousins resumes his career.

PREDICTION
Collingwood by 15 points

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/72565/default.aspx

[mat073]

So we are missing Kayne Pettifer.....oh no what will we do!!!!lol

[WA Tiger]

Well good luck Tiges, I won't be back on this site until tomorrow night as I will see the game at 9pm WST on Fox and will only catch the first half and tape the rest. Well thats what I am hoping, bet I watch it all though.

[Go Richo 12]

Pretty pleased with Ben's first half! Richo...what are you doing? I'm liking the look of Thompson and Vickery(As it should be for a young ruckman) still needs plenty of work. Pretty happy with first half...... i have a suggestion for the rules committee, lets ban the the flood in pre-season games. This is perhaps the most exciting build up ever to a pre season game and it is being ruined by a flood! (and some suspect skills)

[Ramps]

Tonight we werent flash but we had our opportunities in the 3rd quarter and we didnt take them. Adam Thomson will be good for us, Rance and Vickery will be long term players IMHO. Both had very good moments in the game. Its disappointing we lost but we tonight we found some new players and thats good.

Now why we lost, we lost because we turnover the footy and our disposal by hand and foot is below sides like collingwood, for me, its not our key mids that are the problem, nor the kpp, our problem is the flanker type players we have. They turnover the footy to much and it kills us. We also need to find a key forward. Key forwards and a couple of mids who can kick the footy (taking into account that Cotchin was missing) to play in flanker roles would help our cause. You cant really have all of Jackson, White, Edwards, Tambling etc etc in the same side. Anyway thats just my opinion.

[Francois Jackson]

Shocking game.

Same old Richmond with such poor disposal. WTF have we got the same problems every f.uckin year.

Tackle count someone??
Handball Count someone?

Tambling and Johnson might as well head down Commercial Road. They both got better chance of scoring down there.

Johnson 10 metres out................result straight into the man

Tambling.......Ooh my godness if this guy isn't the next Andrew Krackour(the player) then i am not here right now.

Not only is he a waste of space but he is not even in our best 30.

Bag bowden all you like but Bowden played a big part in 3 wins last year, Tambling is just a number just like Krackour was. Rubbish!!

The only reason why TW keeps playing him is to save face to the public about how terribly wrong he got this pick.

Vickery and Thompson good. The former will be some player i reckon.

Hislop rubbish

[Fwoy3]

Whats with the man crush every commentator has for Raines? Are we watching the same bloke? They showed highlights at half time but cut away before it reached its target each time...because he MISSED his target each time. Its all well and good to look flashy, but stuff me...HIT A TARGET!

Also, can we stop the handball to stationary targets? There are signs of improvement, and straight kicking would have helped, but there is still plenty of work to do before round 1.

[DallasCrane]

Adam Thomson will be good for us, Rance and Vickery will be long term players IMHO.

Agree Ramps.
You've been pushing Thompson since we traded for him and you can count me in now.
Vickery should get a few games this year.

Hislop I thought struggled, Raines got a lot of it, but did nothing with it. Raines has got an awful problem for an AFL footballer, he can't kick a drop punt on the run, his handballing is below par also, it drops short too often, I love his endeavor Raines but his poor disposal is selling his team mates down the river.

[Francois Jackson]

ooh yeah and dont get me started on Raines.

Ooh dear me if we are relying on fools like this to take us to the next level then we are in real strife

[DallasCrane]

Tambling.......Ooh my godness if this guy isn't the next Andrew Krackour(the player) then i am not here right now.

Bag bowden all you like but Bowden played a big part in 3 wins last year, Tambling is just a number just like Krackour was. Rubbish!!

I thought Tambling was in our best tonight. But then again I was at the game, sounds like you watched it on telly Daniel. His tackling was great, his workload is what earned him his 'cheap' stats, and he did more than his fair share of the hard work tonight, in fact when he got caught with it by Maxwell at CHB in the 3rd quarter, did people actually realise that 1) Tambling was on his 3rd or 4th effort for that passage of play and 2) He was outnumbered by about 5/1 and even after he trapped the ball in after a couple of efforts there was still no one there to help.

About Bowden, yes I thought at times tonight that we could have used his poise, but on second thoughts, would he have really helped us with our main problem tonight, which was overusing the ball and getting stuck on a HBF with it? Can Bowden help us with that or will he make the problem worse?
One things for sure our kicking needs to improve and he is one of the best at the club, so er what I think I'm saying is that he will be welcomed back with open arms into the side.

[Francois Jackson]

Tambling.......Ooh my godness if this guy isn't the next Andrew Krackour(the player) then i am not here right now.

Bag bowden all you like but Bowden played a big part in 3 wins last year, Tambling is just a number just like Krackour was. Rubbish!!

I thought Tambling was in our best tonight. But then again I was at the game, sounds like you watched it on telly Daniel. His tackling was great, his workload is what earned him his 'cheap' stats, and he did more than his fair share of the hard work tonight, in fact when he got caught with it by Maxwell at CHB in the 3rd quarter, did people actually realise that 1) Tambling was on his 3rd or 4th effort for that passage of play and 2) He was outnumbered by about 5/1 and even after he trapped the ball in after a couple of efforts there was still no one there to help.

About Bowden, yes I thought at times tonight that we could have used his poise, but on second thoughts, would he have really helped us with our main problem tonight, which was overusing the ball and getting stuck on a HBF with it? Can Bowden help us with that or will he make the problem worse?
One things for sure our kicking needs to improve and he is one of the best at the club, so er what I think I'm saying is that he will be welcomed back with open arms into the side.

To answer your question i haven't missed a game in 4 years in melbourne so yes i was at the game.

Tambling is a nothing player, never has been and never will be.He simply does not have the talent. 35 metres out and WTF is with him not having a shot.

It really is a disgrace how we can never lead the tackle count in any game we play. I blame the coaching stuff for that. A big emphasis should be placed on that in our defensive 50 but its not and teams just run out with ease.

[julzqld]

Yes I wondered why Tambling didn't go for the shot.  Lack of confidence there.

Too many handballs and not enough tackles.

Missed shots cost us as well.  Riewoldt needs to practise his kicking.  Too late to expect anything else from Richo.  Thought Vickery did well.    We were competitive till the last quarter.

Is it true Cousins got some knock to the head?  Didn't see it on the tv but they said they wanted to interview him after the game but couldn't because of the AFL ruling on head injuries.

[DallasCrane]

To answer your question i haven't missed a game in 4 years in melbourne so yes i was at the game.

Fair enough I just thought you would've seen his work off the ball if you were at the game.
Obviously he should have had that shot from 35, that was terrible.

[DallasCrane]

Can't agree with you about Nahas ramps, hasn't shown enough yet, nice centring ball in the first and showed nice dash a couple of times, but there are other smalls ahead of him IMO, even if they have got less 'tricks' in the bag.

[3rogerd]

had some mates over from WA for the match (new members), they reckon Ben looked a million $$, he just needs more match practice, not too concerned it is the mickey mouse cup.

impressed with Rance.