Season opener: Richmond vs Carlton @ the MCG --- Round 1, 2023

[WilliamPowell]

We should have won.

I'll cool my jets over the Bolton show boating, so very costly. Will leave it there

It was a case of de javu with Carlton's last goal, another example of pathetic defence on the goal line just like last year's EF.

Think the Mansell selection was huge failure.

Some positives, thought it Grimes best game in a long time. Dusty was very switched on, Graham was great and Dan Rioli just brilliant.

Take the 2 points

[TigerLand]

My take. We were way better side. Round 4 onwards we thrash them. Add Walsh and it it close. 20+ inside 50s says it all.

Forward structure was a huge concern. No Cumberland was an error. Clarke as sub would have been dangerous with pace and skills.

Backline were massive. They were up against 2 Coleman medalist. Brilliant.

Taranto and Hopper were a big improvement to last Round 1 where they just walked out clearances.

Think we should have been up at half time and a big 3 qtr time should have had up 20 points up.

Take the 2 points sheets feels better when you come back.

[Andyy]

I'll take the draw. We looked rusty and wasteful all night.

Pressure good. Plenty of blokes showed up. Broadsword said it Mansell for Cumberland cost us this game IMO but oh well.

Nice seeing Cripps nullified a lot after HT. Taranto awesome. Hopper will get better. Graham looked unfit but great when he had gas. D Rioli is my current pick for BNF, him and Pickett keep getting better and better.

Lynch looks great in patches.

Mostly disappointed with Mansell and Nankervis.

[Tiger Khosh]

Vlastuin I thought was very poor too save from one awesome effort on the defensive wing.

[one-eyed]

Team Stats:

Disposals:    349 - 341 .... ( contested: 149 - 149 ; uncontested: 199 - 193 )
Efficiency%:   71 - 71
Kicks:          228 - 221
Handballs:   121 - 120
Turnovers:     79 - 75
Marks:          95 - 97 .... ( contested: 17 - 18 )
Tackles:        70 - 55
Clearances:   36 - 32 .... ( centre: 6 - 10 ; stoppages: 30 - 22 )
Inside 50s:    66 - 45 
In50 eff.%:    38 - 47 
In50 marks:   11 - 5
In50 tackles:  16 - 11
Hitouts:         44 - 26 .... ( Nankervis 37, Miller 5, Lynch 1, Riewoldt 1 ; De Koning 24, Silvagni 2 )
Bounces:         8 - 10
One %ers:     44 - 52
Frees:            19 - 25

Individual possies:

Taranto   32
D. Rioli   27
Martin    23
Prestia   23
Graham  20
Hopper   18
Bolton    18
McIntosh 17
Short     17
Baker     15
Nankervis 14
Broad      13
Grimes    12
Riewoldt  12
M.Rioli     11
Vlastuin   11
Lynch      10
Pickett     10 .... ( subbed off early Q4 )
Miller        9
Balta        8
Mansell    7
Ross        4 .... ( subbed on early Q4 )

https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4787

[eliminator]

Rioli was outstanding. Lynch will be better for the run. Agree with comments Cumberland should have played.

[Simonator]

I don’t think our forward pressure was bad tonight? We locked in our front half for longggggg periods. I’d bring Cumberland straight back in next week but that’s just me.

Agreed. Cumberland can play deep and he just has goal sense. You’d have to think we would have won with him. Dimma saying him and dusty play the same role but dusty seemed to play quite high up the ground for long periods ?

[pmac21]

The Mansell forward experiment should be scrapped immediately.  Cannot have a forward not looking to score.  That's ridiculous. 
Hugo or Clarke have to be the sub.  Ross gets plenty of it but not damaging with speed or foot skills.  He also muffed the spoil resulting in the Curnow goal. 
Good defensive game from both teams. 

[the claw]

I'll take the draw. We looked rusty and wasteful all night.

Pressure good. Plenty of blokes showed up. Broadsword said it Mansell for Cumberland cost us this game IMO but oh well.

Nice seeing Cripps nullified a lot after HT. Taranto awesome. Hopper will get better. Graham looked unfit but great when he had gas. D Rioli is my current pick for BNF, him and Pickett keep getting better and better.

Lynch looks great in patches.

Mostly disappointed with Mansell and Nankervis.

I thought Nankervis was good. Only area i would have liked him to be better was taking a few marks.

When the ball hit the ground he was huge imo, 11 tackles most by any tiger  and 5 clearances back this up. Prestia and Taranto had 5 clearances and the three lead all comers for us.. He had 37 hit outs and won that battle He had just the 14 disposals a bit down but 11 were contested.

[the claw]

Best 3 for me Taranto, Rioli and Nank. Special mention to Pickett though subbed off in the 4th quarter only had 51%tog and he was good early.

[Tigeritis™©®]

Vlastuin I thought was very poor too save from one awesome effort on the defensive wing.

Agree with this. One of the worst games I’ve seen him play. Was quiet and wasn’t intercepting as he normally does. Poor game from him.

And wasn’t able to get the fingertips on any of the blue snaps around goal. 2 of our goals were overturned from this simple act.

[one-eyed]

SUBTLE YET SHREWD TIGERS TWEAK THAT SPARKED BLITZ

The Tigers in the first half tried to move the footy at breakneck speed. In fact Fox Footy’s Jordan Lewis declared: “It even felt like Richmond were playing too quick for Richmond.”

But a subtle yet shrewd strategy tweak after half-time prompted a breathtaking Richmond blitz in the third term.

During their recent premiership era, Richmond’s forward handball game became its trademark. But early on Thursday night, the Tigers over-possessed the footy. This was personified in the second quarter, where Richmond had 47 handballs but just 10 inside 50s.

But the Tigers’ decision to drop down a gear in the third term paid big dividends. They only had 25 handballs for the term, which led to 5.4 from 20 inside 50s as the Tigers took the lead into three quarter-time.

“Richmond definitely kicked it more, but I just thought they took the foot off the pedal a little bit,” Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley told Fox Footy.

“They were prepared to give themselves an extra second or two with ball-in-hand, they found targets and they worked the ball up with a little bit more care and precision. Then they were able to execute going inside 50.”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/live-afl-2023-richmond-tigers-vs-carlton-blues-round-1-live-scores-updates-stats-video-stream-result-news-blog/news-story/066c687cc587dbaf03940469696e67eb

[one-eyed]

CARLTON STAR GOES ON THE RECORD WITH DISAPPOINTMENT AT MCG SURFACE

By Seb Mottram
SEN
19 March 2023

Carlton star Sam Docherty has put his concerns with the MCG surface on the record, admitting he was nervous to take to the home of footy on Thursday night.

Docherty is the first player to voice his disappointment.

“Slippery,” Docherty responded on 3AW when asked how he found the turf.

“Having been a person who’s done a couple of ACLs, I was extremely nervous pre-game when I walked out there and saw the differences in the turf from the stuff that’s been there for a while and the newly laid stuff.

“I was surprised there weren’t any injuries in our game. Watching last night (Geelong vs Collingwood) was probably what I expected to happen.”

“It’s a fairly significant difference between the two turfs. I think with the newly laid stuff it was quite hard but did move a bit when you moved over, the grass spat up a bit,” Docherty continued.

“When you got onto the old MCG turf, I think because they put so much water trying to get the new grass to sit in, that was really soft.

“It definitely presented some level of risk in my eyes, the MCG obviously took that punt, they would have known what they were doing by taking the Ed Sheeran concert.”

An independent turf report on the MCG’s surface found no issues in the leadup to Round 1.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/03/19/carlton-star-goes-on-the-record-with-disappointment-at-mcg-surface/

[one-eyed]

AFLPA statement:

“We have spoken to players from the eight competing teams from the weekend to understand any concerns about the surface. The feedback we received was varied, with some players noting that sections of the ground were slippery and inconsistent from other parts of the ground.

“We have provided this feedback to the AFL, who have committed to providing us with the report from this week’s inspection. We understand steps will be taken to continue to improve the condition and consistency of the ground.

“We’ll continue to monitor the state of all elite venues across the country and speak to our members as the season progresses.“

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-news-2023-mcg-turf-ed-sheeran-concert-players-slipping-over-injuries-latest/news-story/d05577de480fbcf74494a55aecc63e4e

[one-eyed]

Foxsports gave us a B-. Carlton were given a B+.

AFL Report Card

Catherine Healey, David Zita, Ben Cotton and Ben Waterworth
Fox Sports
March 20th, 2023

RICHMOND

The Tigers became the stoppage side we thought they would with the likes of Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper, but ultimately didn’t capitalise on their opportunities and were left wanting defensively for large periods of the match. It’s hard for anyone to feel either overly good or bad about a draw, so judgment may have to be reserved for at least another week, but it was a rusty start for Richmond, with plenty to work on. It’s probably a match the Tigers will feel they got away with given the Blues led by seven points late in the final term and had chances to ice the match.

In the votes

Tim Taranto led all comers for disposals and also had eight tackles, but Daniel Rioli was a standout as he continues to thrive at half back, finishing with five score involvements. Tom Lynch and Jacob Weitering had a great battle, with Lynch kicking 3.3, including the match-levelling goal in the final 30 seconds. Dion Prestia was steadfast in the middle as always.

Room for improvement

Disposal efficiency let the Tigers down at times, with Tim Taranto finishing with an efficiency of just over 56 per cent from his 32 disposals. Shai Bolton is his own worst enemy at times and made some bizarre decisions in front of goal that could’ve helped change the result in his side’s favour. Efficiency inside 50 was lacking despite the Tigers having 21 more than their opposition.

Grade

B-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HGZZJdr6zc