Richmond v All-Stars clash brought forwardrichmondfc.com.au
By Mark Magugan
3:35 PM Thu 03 Feb, 2011FRIDAY night's match between Richmond and the Indigenous All-Stars in Alice Springs has been moved forward two hours in an attempt to avoid forecast wild weather in the region.
The game, which has already been relocated from Darwin due to heavy rain, was thrown into doubt with Cyclone Yasi, which devastated areas of far north Queensland in the early hours of Thursday, expected to bring strong winds and heavy rainfall to Alice Springs over the next few days.
However a statement released by the AFL confirmed that the match would go ahead at the earlier time of 5.30pm CST.
"The AFL, in consultation with the Northern Territory Government, reviewed the expected weather forecast for tomorrow’s match, and determined that the match would still proceed," the statement said.
"It was decided the start time should be brought forward to enable the match to finish by early evening."
Earlier on Thursday, the Indigenous All-Stars had cancelled their flights into Alice Springs while awaiting word from the AFL, and the Tigers, who are due to fly out on Friday, had also put their plans on hold.
With doubt surrounding the game, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said player safety was paramount, but both sides were keen for the match to go ahead.
"From our point of view we're still really keen to play," Hardwick said from Punt Road Oval this morning.
"I know the indigenous squad are as well, so hopefully some solution will come forward.
They're expecting 100km winds, lightning strikes, so a severe weather warning has come out for Friday night.
"I think during the game they're expecting the cyclone or storm to roll through, which is disappointing.
"It got moved from Darwin to Alice and we're just hoping we can get some kind of game going."
The Tigers plan to field a youthful and inexperienced squad against a line-up of speedy and talented indigenous players and Hardwick hoped some of his youngsters players would take this opportunity to prove their worth for round-one selection.
"[We'll] play the bottom end of our list to give them some experience. The majority of our list [for the All-Stars game] has played under 10 games, so it's a really good opportunity for them to prepare like an AFL game," Hardwick said.
"They might not get the opportunity this year to play [senior football] but we'd like to give them this opportunity to see how they handle [themselves]."
Broadcast times remain unchanged, with the match to be televised nationally on ABC1 at 8.30pm. Live streaming will be available via afl.com.au from 5pm CST (6.30pm AEDT).
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