Bartlett sees red over Ed Will Brodie
The Age
April 18, 2013 - 11:02AM Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett has used his SEN radio program to make a tongue-in-cheek attack on Fox Footy's plan to provide a pro-Collingwood commentary of Saturday's Magpies v Tigers blockbuster featuring Collingwood president Eddie McGuire.
Fans watching the eagerly awaited clash will have the choice of the usual call utilising impartial experts Anthony Hudson, Jason Dunstall, Brad Johnson and David King, or pushing the red button on their Fox remote control to gain access to a call led by McGuire and featuring 1990 Magpie premiership players Michael Christian, Tony Shaw and Peter Daicos. Cheer squad icon Joffa will be sought for comment from the stands.
The unique experiment is being promoted with the tag "Press red for Ed".
"Why can't we push yellow for a pro-Richmond call?" Bartlett said Thursday in mock protest. Suppressing laughter, he labelled the initiative "unfair" and an "absolute disgrace".
McGuire told Bartlett soon after that "it will be crickets when Richmond kicks a goal", but he later claimed that his biased commentary crew would deliver a professional service, "just from a Collingwood point of view".
He said if Tiger midfielder Trent Cotchin is wreaking havoc, he might concentrate more on Collingwood's defensive options rather than how well the gun midfielder was playing.
"If the Tigers are five goals up, the Collingwood people will be turning off and the Richmond people will be turning on," he said.
McGuire joked that if fans found listening difficult, they should compare it to listening to a call of a game involving South Australian or West Australian teams delivered by partisan locals.
Bartlett asked if the program was being aired on the Comedy Channel. He recalled the oft-repeated line from Tigers icon Jack Dyer – that he wouldn't watch black and white TV because it reminded him of Collingwood. He predicted a 40-point win for Richmond, with full-forward Jack Riewoldt booting 10 goals. "It's going to be a red-letter day for the Richmond Football Club," the former champion goal sneak and rover predicted.
The game between top-four regular Collingwood and unbeaten former superpower Richmond will attract more than 80,000 to the MCG on Saturday, and could draw the biggest crowd since Bartlett broke the league's games record in August 1983, when 81,966 turned up to see the Magpies prevail by 10 points.
Since 1983, Richmond has made the finals only six times, for two wins, the same result as Fitzroy, defunct since 1996.
Collingwood hasn't lost to Richmond since 2007, but the teams have only met once a year in that time.
The biggest crowd at the match-up in recent years was 78,638, in 2001, when the Tigers were on their way to a rare finals berth.
Excitement surrounding the rise of the rebuilt Richmond has reached fever pitch after they thrashed the Western Bulldogs to go to 3-0, their best start since they won their first seven matches in 1995.
Richmond CEO Brendan Gale told Bartlett that the game represents a "great test" for the Tigers, yet to beat a 2012 finalist this season.
"Hopefully he (McGuire) hasn't got much to talk about, especially in the second half.."
Gale said his team was maturing, and there was a "good environment" at Tigerland after so many disappointments in the last 30 years.
McGuire was undaunted by the growing Richmond juggernaut.
"As I said to Mick Molloy the other day, for Richmond it's the biggest game in 30 years, and for Collingwood, it's round four," McGuire joked.
If the Tigers win, such comments will add further passion to the hysteria building on the Richmond bandwagon.
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