Eagles this week

[mightytiges]

Eagles lost to the Pies at the 'G then returned home and pumped Port by 117 points without Matera and with Judd doing stuff all really. 16 individual goalkickers to boot .

Their midfield had a field day. Cousins, Fletcher, Braun, Embley and Kerr raked up possessions at will. Mind you there was hardly any manning up by Port players.

Gardiner (injured?) and Stenglein (reported?) may or may not miss.

A huge challenge this week. Thankfully it's at the 'G.

I think our changes will be:

In: Stafford, Jackson, Hall (forgot about him)
Out: Brown (inj), Meyer (give him a full game at Coburg), Foley

The Richmond bashers and doomsayers in the media will be back in full cry if we drop this one. There's even a poll already on the AFL website about where we'll finish without Browny .

Do it for Browny Tiges and stick it up 'em! .

[WilliamPowell]

The biggest advantage we have is that it is at the MCG

I believe Stafford will be back this week.

Interesting to note that Jackson spent all of the final quarter for Coburg today playing out of the goal square. Prior to that he was mainly in the mid field

[Mopsy]

How did He go there WP

[WilliamPowell]

How did He go there WP

In the mid-field he was very good, although his disposal by foot missed targets - he wasn't alone here

From the goal square the poor kid probably thought he was Richo with the way the ball was delivered when he was on the lead

Delivery by the Burgers into the F50 today was average most of the time. Look he lead well, he is very quick off the mark but the ball wasn't coming in there well so it's hard to judge. I will give him a lot of credit for fighting very hard to keep the ball in the F50.

He did kick a nice goal on the run in the 3rd

[Mopsy]

Thanks for that!!

Small forwards are in the van at the moment. and he is very quick.

[letsgetiton!]

i just dont understand why they dont give meyer a fair go and to drop foley after he wasnt given much go would be a joke also, tivendale and chaffey are the ones who should make way

[cub]

I have been looking forward to this game for a while - I wasn't really confident going in against Melbourne and that proved correct. But I think we match up pretty well against the eagles - Obviously Browny has put a huge dent in that confidence but if TW can get the guys fired up to play accountable footy I really think we have a good show against the eagles, it was good to see them get up by 117 points yesterday so hopefully they may be a little lets say (sure of themselves) and if we are switched on a la Collingwood the last couple of weeks it may just bring a smile back to my face. still 

[om21]

This is going to sound dumb but I feel DeJaVu......

Going into the St.Kilda game I said we will not win, but Im confident we can knock off Port. Same thing here. I wrote off the Melbourne game (dont know why, just didnt think we could match it), beleiving that we should knock off West Coast. How much of a big loss is Browny? Dont know and frankly it shouldnt make that much of a difference for this week (will have more affect long-term). I think the return of Staffy will be a massive bonus and hopefully Pettifer can pull his finger out and return to some goal-kicking form.

I think we can match these boys at the G. If Tucky and Cogs are bang-crashing, we are a big show. If these guys and the rest arnt supporting in the midfield, we are going to struggle to win enough ball around the stoppages.

Should be interesting.

[WilliamPowell]

I think the return of Staffy will be a massive bonus

Couldn't agree more om21, Stafford back will straighten us up - which was missing terribly at times on Friday. Also means we have another target who doesn't move much from the square. What we need to work on is making sure our crumbers are lurking around Stafford - if he doesn't mark it he brings it ground.

The other thing we need to do is work much harder at keeping the ball in our F50 - we didn't do that on Friday and it cost us IMO

[om21]

The other thing we need to do is work much harder at keeping the ball in our F50 - we didn't do that on Friday and it cost us IMO

BING BING BING....the first three goals were from rebounds from our D50.....easily the most frustrating thing about friday night.

[mightytiges]

Well we won't have to worry about Gardiner and Stenglein. Two down; only 20 to go  .

i just dont understand why they dont give meyer a fair go and to drop foley after he wasnt given much go would be a joke also, tivendale and chaffey are the ones who should make way

Yeah I was probably a bit harsh to say Foley should be dropped. 8 possessions isn't setting the world on fire but it was his first game. It'll be a tough decision who to drop this week as Coburg's seniors have the bye. 

With Razor and Staff coming in this week Sarge might be in a bit of trouble holding his spot instead for team balance reasons.

Tivs is getting his hands on the footy. I can't see him getting dropped ahead of others who aren't despite his (in)ablility to hit targets under scrutiny.

[mightytiges]

I think the return of Staffy will be a massive bonus

Couldn't agree more om21, Stafford back will straighten us up - which was missing terribly at times on Friday. Also means we have another target who doesn't move much from the square.

Agree about Staff. He'll force a tall Eagle defender to man him up in the square while also allowing Richo and Simmonds to roam free. He's especially help Richo with not getting double and triple teamed.

[Tigertailz]

I have the same feeling OM21.

They are one team we do match up well with particularly in melbourne.

Can any one provide details of our record against the eagles at the "G"?Thanx

[mightytiges]

Can any one provide details of our record against the eagles at the "G"?Thanx

Overall: 11-15

It's 8-4 in our favour since 1995.

In Melb: 10-6

We've won the last 6. Last Eagles victory in R14 1996 at the 'G which along with the loss to the Bears at Princes Park (R18) ended up costing us a place in the finals that year  .

At the MCG: 6-4 

We've won the last 4. Last Eagles victory same as above.

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/teams/richmond/allgames_tm.html

[one-eyed]

A challenge against the best: Wallace
1:53:36 PM Fri 3 June, 2005
Andrew Wu
Sportal for afl.com.au

The loss of star forward Nathan Brown should have no bearing on how Richmond fares against ladder-leader West Coast at the MCG this Saturday, according to coach Terry Wallace.

Instead, Wallace said the absence of Brown - who will be out the rest of the season after breaking his leg against Melbourne last Friday night - would be a good test of his team's spirit and character.

"Really from our guy's perspective, I mean it ought to be a challenge to them about where they sit as individuals and as footballers themselves," Wallace said after training at Punt Road Oval on Friday morning.

"You wouldn't think that Browny not being in the goal square should affect the way that midfielders go after the footy, or you wouldn't think Browny not sitting in the goal square should make our defenders any less tight on their men. Each bloke's got a job to do and that's exactly what they've got to do."

The Tigers' chances of victory have received a boost with suspended midfielder Tyson Stenglein, injury-prone ruckman Michael Gardiner (knee) and exciting youngster Ashley Sampi all out of the Eagles' line-up.

But Wallace said his on-ball brigade still faced a 'real challenge' against what he described as the best midfield in the competition.

"Certainly they've got some really classy players out of their line-up, finishers and some very skilled players," he said.

"We're playing the best side in the country at this point of time. I don't think anyone would doubt what they've done so far this season."

Crack forward Matthew Richardson left the track just before the end of training after jarring his knee while practicing taking high marks but Wallace said his star forward would take his place in the side.

"I just spoke to him before he went off and he just jumped into the bag and jarred his knee, so he's fine," he said.

"He's had a sore knee for six weeks, so no problems at all."

The Tigers welcome back Ray Hall and Greg Stafford from suspension and injury respectively, and have recalled Rory Hilton for his first game since undergoing a knee reconstruction last season, as well as youngster Daniel Jackson.

http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=207088