It’s Redemption Round in the AFL and Richmond and Carlton have the most at stake
Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
March 24, 2014 6:20PM
IT’S Redemption Round — and Richmond is up against it more than any club.
North Melbourne will be playing for pride, ditto the Bulldogs, and Collingwood faces Sydney in Sydney, the loser of which will be heavily scrutinised, if that’s possible after the caning the Magpies took after succumbing to Fremantle in the season-opener.
Still, it’s Tigers v Blues on Thursday night and not only are both teams searching for redemption, the Tigers are doing it against a genuine bogey side.
The Blues have won 11 of the past 12 matches against their most hated foe.
That is more than a bogey: That is choking.
And hatred is not an embellishment.
Richmond hates Carlton and Carlton hates Richmond and that’s the way it is.
It’s not a matter of motivation for the Tigers, but their Round 21 match-up last year, which Carlton won by 10 points, cost them a top-four position.
They would’ve played Hawthorn in the first week of finals, a team they have beaten by 62 and 41 points in their past two meetings.
What-if is a game played by losers and the Tigers still kick themselves.
Statistics don’t really tell the story as to why and how the Tigers are Carlton’s lapdogs.
Tackling was an issue for half a decade, mainly because the Tigers thought it wasn’t an important aspect of the game. It has improved, but in the past three matches the Tigers have still lost the count 67-59, 81-65 and 49-40.
Not for the first time, it is tackle or weep for the yellow and black.
Those same three meetings have exposed the Tigers in finals quarters,
They are frightening collapses which points the finger at both players and coaching staff.
In Round 1 last year, the Tigers led by 42 points midway through the third quarter and hung on by four points, mainly because Carlton’s Chris Yarran missed two goals in the final quarter.
In Round 21 last year, The Tigers led by six goals at quarter-time, and the Blues kicked seven goals to four after half-time to win by 10 points.
In the elimination final, the Tigers led by six goals one stage and lost by 20 points, on the back of Chris Judd’s brilliance.
For lack of science and statistics, Carlton’s game plan reads like rope-a-dope.
Certainly, Blues coach Mick Malthouse has a trigger up his sleeve. If the margin is 30 points or below at three-quarter-time, the Tigers are gettable.
They’ll crack, he’ll say.
It is a ripper backdrop to what should be the genuine start to the 2014 season.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/its-redemption-round-in-the-afl-and-richmond-and-carlton-have-the-most-at-stake/story-e6frf33l-1226863617232?from=public_rss
