AFL Rd 1 2023 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Richmond

[WASurfer]

Agreed EB and not sure they'll be able to throw Balta forward either if both Tarrant and Gibcus miss.

I think McGovern plays even without an ideal matchup....he plays more that intercept marking type anyway...but I remember those first couple of games last season and the feature was not only his intercept work but his precise field kicking outta the backline. If Docherty plays some midfield, McGovern a certainty IMO.

[DJC]

On the back of what I've read about the VFL practice match last night, wouldn't surprise if all of McGovern, Martin and Pittonet are in for next Thursday night.

I thought Pitto was underdone against the Swans and the extra game will be good for him, particularly as the reports say that he was imposing himself in the last quarter.

I reckon all three will play.

Richmond has eleven players out injured or just coming back from rehab.  I reckon they should sack their fitness staff 

[ElwoodBlues1]

Agreed EB and not sure they'll be able to throw Balta forward either if both Tarrant and Gibcus miss.

I think McGovern plays even without an ideal matchup....he plays more that intercept marking type anyway...but I remember those first couple of games last season and the feature was not only his intercept work but his precise field kicking outta the backline. If Docherty plays some midfield, McGovern a certainty IMO.

Surfie, Tigers will probably play Tylar Young who is a newbie KP defender and might be tempted to play Balta down forward at some stage. Id expect Docherty to play mainly down back this game given the opposition have more small forwards than most and we tend to struggle for smaller defenders. Tigers main chance of a win lies with probably three players imho and thats Lynch, Bolton and Martin and Id like my best lineup down back to quell that threat so I hope we dont get too experimental and move players like Docherty and McGovern up the ground looking to be overly offensive.

[Mav]

I’m sure the Tigers would be hoping that they can swing Balta forward at some stage, but surely that would only happen if Charlie and Harry have shockers or the Tigers see the game getting away from them and have to try something daring.

Grimes matches Charlie for height and weight but the fact is he’ll be 32 this year while Charlie is younger and rapidly improving. If the suggestions that Grimes might be aging out especially after his preseason was marred by a hamstring injury are true, Grimes will have his hands full. Spotting Harry 10cm, 14kg and 7 years makes it hard to see him taking Harry on regularly.

Balta might give away 12 cm to Harry but he matches him for bulk and is extremely athletic. No doubt Harry would prefer to see Balta up the other end. Tylar Young at 196cm is the tallest defender though he’s still 8cm short of Harry and he gives away 13 kg to him. To compete, he’ll need to rely on team defence, athleticism or defensive mastery. He’s hard to assess on the latter 2 criteria because he’s a mature age rookie pickup from Richmond VFL. He’s 24 but he didn’t start playing footy until 2019. Before that he played soccer and cricket. Maybe he is athletic, but could he have developed into a master defender in just 4 years (especially given he probably lost games in the middle of that due to Covid)? I call BS on that. He’d be up against one of the top key forwards in the AFL and I’m sure Harry will teach him a few lessons to help his development. He’d have his hands full with our 3rd tall, whether it be JSOS or TdK.

Of course, Tarrant may still get up and postpone Young’s debut but I’m sure Harry would enjoy that match up too, especially if Tarrant isn’t quite 100%.

[DJC]

Balta usually picks up Silvagni and followed him when he rucked last season.

[DJC]

Solid information that Motlop has tweaked his calf and will miss Round 1.

Who plays as small forwards; Owies, Honey, Durdin?

[cookie2]

Solid information that Motlop has tweaked his calf and will miss Round 1.

Who plays as small forwards; Owies, Honey, Durdin?

Bummer! Just drafted him to my fantasy team.

[Mav]

I’m sure that Balta on JSOS would be Richmond’s preferred match-up as enabling Balta to play as a rebounding defender or ball winning 2nd ruck would help them. But if Harry stays dangerous, their hands may be forced.

First, will we play Pittonet and TdK? If so, the option of playing Balta as 2nd ruck disappears. Yes, Balta could follow TdK into the ruck but that would mean Soldo would be underused. And if I were Hardwick, I’d prefer to try to monster TdK in the ruck with Soldo.

More importantly, playing Balta as a rebounding defender on our 3rd tall only works if Harry and Charlie are covered. Balta himself has been a bit of a project player up until last year and being on the 3rd tall forward was ideal. But he’s now either their best or 2nd best tall defender.

I just don’t see Tylar Young as a viable option for Charlie or Harry. I watched their preseason games and he did okay as a more traditional negative tall defender. If the ball is dropped onto his opponent’s head, he’s pretty good at using his body to edge his opponent out of position enough to bring the ball to ground. But he takes few marks, and he doesn’t have a big leap or great closing speed on the lead. The other problem is that he tends to rely on tractoring his opponent forward under the ball or grappling and it looks like the umpires will be hot on that at the start of the season. He did okay on McDonald and Brown but Gawn flogged him. Young is hardly a factor in working the ball out of D50 and pretty much stands around once the ball hits the ground. Both Harry and Charlie would embarrass him.

Richmond haven’t shown much team defence so far. I guess they could drop Nankervis or Soldo back to CHB to help out but that runs counter to the helter skelter approach that won them flags which relies on swarming forwards and there may be less speed in this team than in their premiership years.

[madbluboy]

Grimes is the one player Charlie struggled with last year.

[WASurfer]

DJC.....Owies and Durdin for me if Motlop is out.