Let us play: Blues and Tigers keen to ‘get this show on the road’March 17, 2020
Ben Waterworth
FOX SPORTSBoth Richmond and Carlton have declared they’re both prepared and willing to kick-off the 2020 AFL season on Thursday night.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirmed on Monday that the scheduled 23-round season would be reduced to 17 games, with every team to play each other once.
The match-ups and venues for the first scheduled four rounds won’t change, allowing the league to adjust the fixture for remaining 13 rounds.
However McLachlan stopped short of guaranteeing that the Tigers and Blues would play on Thursday night.
But speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said he and his team were keen to play sooner rather than later.
“I think from my perspective and our team’s perspective, I’d love for it to go ahead. I know the situation and the broader role we have to play in that. But I think it’ll be great to get up and going and get the season started,” Hardwick told AFL 360.
“Our players have done a hell of a lot of work and we understand the reason and the broader risks to the greater community and the health and wellbeing of our players. But we’d love to play.
Hardwick later added: “The great thing about the AFL environment is our ability to accept. We understand the season is going to be compromised in some way, but what we do is we play our part and we’re prepared to put on the season and give it our best shot.
“We’ll do whatever we can to do our part and get this show on the road.”
Teague said he’d asked several Carlton players about the possibility of playing Thursday and “so far everyone was really keen to play”.
“You do a lot of pre-season and these guys have put a lot of work in, so they’ve been looking forward to this moment. My gut feeling is most of them are really keen to get out there and play this weekend,” Teague told AFL 360.
Teague said he didn’t believe his players feared running out onto the MCG Thursday night.
“I know there’s a lot of information going around at the moment. To be honest, I think the players are taking that in,” he said.
“The uncertainty and the fact it’s changing, there maybe some players that do have some doubts and some thoughts about it. But none of that has come forward in our groups — and we’ve given them the opportunity to speak up.
“We’re preparing to play Thursday night. If it changes it changes and whenever the next game is — if we do play Thursday — we’ll just need to make sure we’re ready. But everyone’s going to be in the same boat.”
If the two teams do play on Thursday night, Blues veteran Eddie Betts won’t be there due to a calf injury.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-richmond-v-carlton-round-1-mcg-damien-hardwick-david-teague-afl-360/news-story/3c5e5132bb1d4069ead2e0bfc5015383
