Richmond set for historic Cairns AFL gameAndrew Piva
Monday, July 11, 2011
The Cairns PostAS much as winning, Richmond midfielder Daniel Jackson says this week's AFL match against the Gold Coast in Cairns is about bringing the Tigers' young playing list closer together.
The Tigers arrive in the Far North on Thursday for Saturday's historic showdown with the Suns at Cazalys.
The clash, which is a Richmond home match, is the first regular-season AFL fixture to be played in Cairns and has been locked in as an annual event until 2013.
Jackson, who is part of the Tigers’ leadership group, said the club would use the trip as a bonding exercise.
"We’re a good travelling group. We get on really well, everyone’s really good mates and it’s actually good to get away as a team for a couple of days," he said.
"Funnily enough, some teams don’t like travelling that further distance. But for us the further away it is, the earlier you have to go up, the more time you have to spend together, the more fun we have and it seems the better we play."
Despite the inexperience of their roster, the Tigers remain in contention for this season’s top eight.
Jackson, who is averaging more than 20 disposals in 2011, said the Tigers wanted to evolve into a side capable of making it deep into September.
"There’s probably been a few games this year we’ve let slip that’ve cost us being in the eight right now," he said.
"But we’re young and developing. Our main aim this year is to make sure we’ve got some continuous improvement and that we’re always moving forward.
"Once we have a bit of experience and maturity all the excuses go out the door and it’s going to be about cementing that position in the top eight."
A portion of the Tigers’ large southern fan base is set to travel to Cairns for the game and Jackson expects the black and gold army to make their voices heard.
"It’ll be interesting to see what the crowd distribution is, but I’m yet to go to a place where there haven’t been more Richmond supporters," he said.
"And if there wasn’t more of them, they were certainly the loudest and most passionate ones."
The Tigers will hold a public training session at Cazalys from 2.30pm-3.30pm on Friday.
Tigers and Suns players will then be involved in a free AFL super clinic from 3.30pm-5.30pm.
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/07/11/173355_local-sport-news.html