Experimental Tigers set for Alice clash

[mightytiges]

Experimental Tigers set for Alice clash
abc.net.au
Thursday, February 24, 2005

Richmond coach Terry Wallace has signalled his intention to use the regional challenge match against Fremantle in Alice Springs on March 4 to experiment with his line-up.

Former Northern Territory players Joel Bowden and Richard Tambling are possibilities for the match.

Wallace said being eliminated from the AFL's preseason cup by Collingwood at the weekend gave the Tigers the chance use players in alternative positions.

"You work in the couple of weeks leading in to the first round of the Wizard Cup just trying to get a structure in place that can work for you to enable you to progress through the Wizard Cup," he said.

"But once that isn't the case, well there are a lot of guys that we wanted to trial in different positions and varying sorts of options for them."

Wallace also said he may refuse to allow his team play at Traeger Park in Alice Springs if the surface is too hard.

The AFL called off the regional challenge match between the Tigers and Fremantle earlier this month over concerns about the surface but reinstated it after a public outcry.

Adelaide Oval curator Les Burdett has been employed to prepare the ground for the match.

Wallace said he would make his own inspection of the ground before the match.

"We want to play," he said. "We want to put on as good a display as we possibly can for the people of Alice Springs who absolutely love their football.

"We want to be doing everything that we possibly can right, but in saying that we just have to have a safe workplace and we've got to make sure that that's the case."

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200502/s1309702.htm

[Ox]

Affirmation at last !!

Frawley would be like, "We're gunna check out the ground on the day and hopefully we'll have a good chance
to win a game of footy!"

[Puntroadroar]

I wonder what kind of experiment he has in mind?


CHB - Richo?

FF - Jackson?

who knows ...........

[mightytiges]

I wonder what kind of experiment he has in mind?\

Winning the match  lol

CHB - Richo?

Richo wouldn't be able to give away 2 50m penalties from there 

Trying Jackson at FF isn't a bad idea PRR. At 188cm/90kg he'd be a difficult match-up for the opposition. It'd also give him a free licence to play his natural game not having to worrying as much about his direct opponent. Wallace did play him there in the last quarter of the intra-club game on Moore.

[Fishfinger]

I've been wanting Joel Bowden to be tried at FF. Jackson is one I hadn't considered and I'm on the bus now.

Same height and weight as Bowden. Young enough to make FF his career position.

I hadn't noticed Jackson at FF in the intra-club match MT.   Nathan Brown coached his side, do you think he had the brainwave to play him there?

[mightytiges]

FF it must have been those sunnies Browny was wearing in the huddle lol. Jacko was probably at FF for a short while by default with the big boys having a rest in the last quarter. He was more standing around the goalsquare with Moore when the ball was in the middle. For some weird reason I didn't notice him involved in the play when the ball actually got into the forward line.

IMO Jackson will end up more in a midfield. Not quite tall enough to be a permanent FF. His pace for his size would provide headaches for the opposing coach.

[mightytiges]

Joel said Browny to captain this week in Alice with Richo the following week

Kane and Richo will have the week off.

[Puntroadroar]

anyone else having the week off?

like Deledio, Simmonds, Stafford, Roach, Hartigan, Gaspar, Knobel, Jackson... etc etc

I heard the ground up their was a disgrace a few weeks ago, I would hate to lose any more players long term because of the AFL's stupid idea to play games on unfit grounds

 

[mightytiges]

Here's a couple of articles on the Alice ground being canned then reinstated. I hope we give Simmonds a week off. Last thing we need is for him to do a knee on a dodgy centre pitch area when he's contracted for 5 years  .

----------------------

AFL cans Alice match
Sportal
26/1/05

The AFL has cancelled the Wizard Regional Challenge match scheduled to be played in Alice Springs on March 11.

The match was to have featured two knocked out teams from the 2005 Wizard Cup, following the success of the game between Collingwood and Port Adelaide last year.

AFL Broadcasting, Strategy and Major Projects general manager Ben Buckley said Traeger Park would not be ready for the match because of the Imparja Cricket Carnival that will be played at the venue from February 26 to 28.

"The cricket carnival has been a long-standing booking and the AFL's turf guidelines recommend a minimum two-weeks to enable the ground be safely ready for an AFL match," he said.

Buckley added that an alternative date couldn't be arranged because of a lack of suitable accommodation.

"We are not able to play the game over the weekend of March 11, which is the final week of the Wizard Regional Challenge, due to a lack of suitable accommodation for two full AFL club travelling parties in Alice Springs while a major conference is conducted."

http://www.sportal.com.au/football.asp?i=news&id=61664
--------------------

Footy back in the Alice
Sportal
7/2/05
   
The previously cancelled pre-season match to be played in Alice Springs is on again, after the AFL resolved ground safety concerns with the Traeger Park turf consultant and the local city council.

Subject to a final ground inspection, a Wizard Regional Challenge match will be played on Friday night, March 4.

The AFL enlisted the help of curator Les Burdett from the South Australian Cricket Association to help resolve the matter.

The 2005 match was initially called off because of the scheduling of a cricket carnival at the ground the weekend before the football match.

Under the AFL's turf guidelines, a minimum two-week break between matches on regional grounds is recommended when a turf cricket pitch has been used.

The league is committed to playing an annual practice match in Alice Springs until 2007, and last year 10,000 spectators attended Port Adelaide and Collingwood's pre-season hit-out.

Burdett worked with a turf consultant and the Alice Springs City Council before ruling that there should be no concerns regarding the safety of the ground despite the shortened break between events.

http://www.sportal.com.au/football.asp?i=news&id=62136

[WilliamPowell]

The AFL enlisted the help of curator Les Burdett from the South Australian Cricket Association to help resolve the matter.

Burdett worked with a turf consultant and the Alice Springs City Council before ruling that there should be no concerns regarding the safety of the ground despite the shortened break between events.

At least they are using one of, if not the best curator in the country in Les Burdett.

He's the dude in charge of the Adelaide Oval - which is always immaculate and yes they do play footy there as well

If anyone can get the ground right it's Les Burdett

[mightytiges]

Fremantle v Richmond, Alice Springs, 7.30pm CST

Richmond: Darren Gaspar, Andrew Raines, Mark Chaffey, Nathan Brown, Tom Roach, Greg Stafford, Joel Bowden, Trent Knobel, Dean Polo, Kayne Pettifer, Shane Morrison, Dean Limbach, Ray Hall, Shane Tuck, Danny Meyer, Daniel Jackson, Mark Coughlan, Adam Pattison, Andrew Krakouer, Alex Gilmour, Greg Tivendale, Brent Hartigan, Will Thursfield, Kyle Archibald, Luke McGuane, Andrew Kellaway, Kelvin Moore

In: Bowden, Stafford, Cogs, Pattison, Polo, Morrison, Limbach, Hall, Meyer, Thursfield, Moore
Out: Deledio, Simmonds, Cambo, Richo, Rodan (inj), Johnson, Hyde, Graham, Newman


Fremantle: Luke Webster, Ryley Dunn, Dion Woods, Brett Peake, Matthew Carr, Dylan Smith, Antoni Grover, Ryan Crowley, David Mundy, Justin Longmuir, Scott Thornton, Adam Campbell, Steven Dodd, Daniel Gilmore, Toby Stribling, Aaron Sandilands, Peter Bell, Andrew Siegert, Michael Johnson, Joe Krieger, Daniel Haines, Jack Juniper, Paul Duffield, Robert Haddrill, Roger Hayden, Michael Warren

http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=188117

[mightytiges]

Looks like Freo are resting a few names as well - no Haselby, Josh Carr, Pavlich, Polak or Medhurst.

I hope we don't risk Cogs 

[one-eyed]

Tigers take heat out of Alice trip
2:41:11 PM Wed 2 March, 2005
Tony Greenberg
richmondfc.com.au

Richmond will rest nine players from the Tiger team that takes on Fremantle in a practice match at Alice Springs this Friday night.

Kane Johnson, Matthew Richardson, Wayne Campbell, Troy Simmonds, Mark Graham, Chris Newman, Chris Hyde, Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling will not make the trip to central Australia for the night match.

“Because of the fact you’ve got extreme weather conditions that you’ve got to deal with, we spoke to Fremantle last week and asked them what they were going to do in terms of their squad for the match,” said Richmond’s coach Terry Wallace.

“It does get awkward in a situation like last weekend in Morwell when we went down with a full senior squad and Essendon had about half a squad. You don’t really get a contest, which is what the people there want to see.

“Everyone wants to see all the star players out there, but they also want to watch a good game of footy.

“What we’ve tried to do with Fremantle is pick a same-type squad, so at least the contest should be reasonable.”

Wallace explained that the Club’s top two draft picks, Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling, would miss the trip to Alice Springs, so that they can be freshened up for the start of the season proper at the end of the month.

“They won’t play due to the fact they have younger bodies and need a bit of a break after the pretty solid preparation that they’ve had,” Wallace said.

“But it’s really an opportunity to see all our other younger boys at the next level up.

“It will be interesting to see, for example, how someone like a Will Thursfield, who’s on our rookie list, handles playing at senior level. He’s going to get an opponent out there who’s of AFL quality, so will he be able to step up to the level, or not?

“That’s what Essendon would have found out about their young players last week in Morwell. Even though you might get belted, you actually see who can and can’t step up at this stage.

“It doesn’t mean a young player isn’t going to be ready in the future . . . just at this point they’re not ready.

“If you can uncover one or two players, well, the weekend’s been a bonus – and that’s what we’ll be looking for.”

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=188108

[cub]

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,12427114%255E19742,00.html

RICHMOND has been slapped with a nightmare weather forecast ahead of tomorrow's Alice Springs practice match against Fremantle.

Just when the Tigers thought their cursed pre-season could not get any worse, the weather bureau has tipped a scorching 41C for the Red Centre.

The bureau predicts the mercury to be hovering near 37C when the game kicks off at 7.30pm.

Already reeling from injuries to Jay Schulz and David Rodan in successive weeks, Tigers coach Terry Wallace will leave behind several stars.

Wallace, adamant he would have gone in almost full-strength if the game was in Melbourne, said the forecast had compromised the club's preparations.

"I'm quite comfortable playing interstate games and taking our blokes where we need to take them, but I'm not comfortable playing in 40 degree heat," Wallace said.

"We're just unlucky – three days later it's going to be 26 degrees there.

"Because we're playing in these conditions, we will play half our senior blokes for a half.

"I know the AFL's dilemma – they can't have any control over the fact it's 41 – but it's very difficult from our side of things when you're trying to get organised."

The Tigers have been given AFL permission to take two extra players, boosting their squad to 27 with a bench of nine.

The match will not be called off because the forecast is for dry heat. Under the AFL's extreme heat policy, humidity is the key factor.

"I tell you we'll be having a good study of the ground – we've lost two players in two weeks and we can't afford anything to go wrong this weekend," Wallace said.

Among the missing will be Matthew Richardson, Troy Simmonds, Kane Johnson, Wayne Campbell, Mark Graham, Chris Newman, Chris Hyde and draftees Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling.

Greg Stafford, Ray Hall and Mark Coughlan will make their first senior appearances of the pre-season.

Nathan Brown gets his chance to captain the side under Wallace's rotation of leadership responsibilities.
--------------------------

Gotta have rocks in thier head if they play in these conditions 

[mightytiges]

Too right CUB. Crazy stuff playing footy if it's going to be 37-41 degrees  .
You would think that recovery time needed afterwards would mean those who play in Alice would struggle to come up again for the following week's practice match against Brissy. Why risk stuffing up our preparation with only 3 and a bit weeks til round 1  ???