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How can Carlton stop Jumpin' Jack?Martin Blake
The Age
March 28, 2012
A COUPLE of weeks ago, after Carlton completed an eyebrow-raising 0-5 sweep of the pre-season, coach Brett Ratten faced the media in a corner of the Blues' rooms at Princes Park.
Was he worried? ''That depends on your philosophy on life, if the glass is half-full, or half-empty,'' he said.
Ratten is a glass-half-full kind of coach, as it happens, and generally in the public arena he talks positively about his team. You will not often hear him talk about defensive systems or structures. From a distance, it appears that he focuses on what he can control, that being his own team and its method.
Which brings us to the Jack Riewoldt problem. Carlton's season-opening match against Richmond has become a hugely dangerous assignment for a team widely tipped as a top-four lock, and Riewoldt is a big part of that.
Carlton has a match-up problem with Riewoldt now that so many defenders - cross off Michael Jamison, Jeremy Laidler, Nick Duigan - are absent through injury. Watch a video of the same match-up a year ago and it becomes blatantly apparent.
Riewoldt kicked six that night, and from limited opportunities. In the third quarter, when the Tigers surged to the lead, he kicked three. His opponents were White, Laidler and Bret Thornton, although instructively, Carlton still won by 20 points on the back of midfield domination.
In the round 15 match, Lachie Henderson played on him and Riewoldt kicked four; Carlton smashed Richmond to take its streak of wins over the Tigers to seven, stretching over four years.
This time around, Jamison would have been the obvious opponent.
With him injured, it will have to be Henderson, an enigmatic player who has spent time at both ends of the ground, but made progress last season.
Carlton's problem is broader than Riewoldt because the Tigers can post plenty of marking targets in their front half. Just add Ty Vickery and Brad Miller and stir. But it is the mercurial Tasmanian who presents the biggest danger. He has played against Carlton seven times for seven defeats, and you fancy he's had about enough of that feeling.
How to solve it? Back your match-ups to start with. Let's say Henderson for Riewoldt, Paul Bower for Miller and Thornton for Vickery.
But most of all - and this is where the half-full glass comes in - Carlton will be intent on winning more than its share of midfield ball, pushing it forward and keeping it there. In a sense, the greatest form of defence is attack, especially when your midfield includes Messrs Judd, Murphy, Simpson, Gibbs, Robinson, Carrazzo to name but six.
Richmond has a talented, young midfield but the group has never stepped up and beaten Carlton's brilliant group in recent years. In round one last year, the Tigers were eclipsed by 18 in clearances and coach Damien Hardwick was moved to challenge his midfield group after the game.
Chris Judd and Marc Murphy were dynamic in both clashes last year, and Eddie Betts and Jeff Garlett kicked a lot of goals. Tiger favourites Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin and, to a lesser extent, Trent Cotchin, were subdued.
You could debate for hours who are the most important players in football - the midfielders or forwards (the defenders hardly ever get a mention).
In this case, Richmond has the forwards to exploit a weakened Carlton side. But only if the Tigers see enough ball.
''I think that's the case most weeks,'' Ratten said. ''The team that can win that battle, the forward-of-centre percentages, the yardages are so critical in the game. We hope Judd and co are getting their hands on the ball and sending it our way.''
If he was so inclined, Ratten might have laid awake every night this week worrying about Jumpin' Jack Riewoldt. But, as he says, it depends how you look at it.
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