AFL Rd 1 2023 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Richmond

[Mav]

To suggest the Tigers will have to think a lot about Ed is a bit odd. The guy has played 11 seasons and he’s probably played on any of his likely opponents a number of times. Those players know what to expect. And the coaches know he’ll play as a stopper, whether in the midfield, F50 or D50. With Teague as an assistant coach, there won’t be any surprises. And in any event, coaches would be used to their team playing against a run-all-day tagger. It’s not as though you need to plan for it. The opposition will decide whether they run a hard tag or not. The only thing a coach can do to break the tag is take the tagged player off the field or send him to the F50 to see if the tagger follows. Coaches have given up on trying to send another midfielder to help out the tagged player. Unsurprisingly, that never worked.

Now, if Ed might have a non-tagging assignment, I’m all ears.