Richmond is still Richmond, but is Carlton still Carlton?If you ignore the fact that the MCG was empty for the first time and nobody had quite come to grips with that yet, this was basically your standard Richmond-Carlton season opener. The Blues enjoyed periods of ascendency that even threatened to become dominance, but the Tigers inevitably saw off any challenges by virtue of being the much-better football team.
No new Richmond information could be gleaned from this match. The Tigers are very good. Among the best in the league. They play their way and they play it well, and have forged an unshakable belief that makes them unflappable when the pressure is on.
But what of Carlton? The good moments in this game were probably better than in any previous iteration of the annual round one loss to Richmond. Optimism abounds in Jack Martin's lively debut, Sam Docherty's seamless return and Jacob Weitering's steady growth.
Still though, the Blues lost. They were uncompetitive for periods of the game. Key ruckman Matthew Kreuzer will miss most, if not all, of the season with a broken foot. Insufficient skills and a disconnect between midfield and forward line means the Blues can still comfortably win an inside 50 count but comfortably lose the game.
We need more time with Carlton, though its post-COVID fixture list doesn't exactly lend itself to patience.
As for Richmond? As you were.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-08/where-we-left-afl-2020-season-resumes-before-coronavirus/12314806
