After beating the Cats at home they will think they can beat anyone. I have a feeling that the game will be a lot closer than the last few years, lets just hope we have a full side in this week against North so the boys can Gel before round 1

Ferals on TC don't think we can win

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Tigers by 208.

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dane's trolling again

Dane, you don't really think we can get that close? I am afraid you might have gotten complacent like the players after Robbo's article tipping us for the GF

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I read "Ferals on Punt Road End think" and immediately knew this was rubbish.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

"We have a ruckman, an emerging top class midfield, a gun full-forward, depth in defence - why should we fear Carlton??"

Look out. They have ruckman!

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"They're [REDACTED]'

Ha ha.

They would laugh if we said Mclean or Curnow would do a number on Cotchin and Martin.

Hampson needs a mullet to be noticed.

How did you know the Herald Sun is where I get all my opinions from?!

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dane's trolling again

As long as you also get your opinions from TC you'll be right.
Now me, at the same time as being concerned that the players are getting complacent I'm also worried that they arent coming out and confidently setting the GF as their season goal

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i take this as a good sign.

theyve had the same thought processes every pre season since the cousins game...

fwiw jamo never played the last time we played them either and i believe the margin was 103 points

Three times in a row avoiding Jamo. Jack Riewoldt is officially the luckiest FF in the comp.

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

They might beat us. Who knows. Rnd 1 can throw up some results that turn out to be for the rest of the season the exception rather than the rule.

Having said that, their optimism is an annual event and typical of sides who have been down the bottom for so long.

They assume that a slight improvement in personal will take them from at times barely competitive to Top 4.

Take Maric for example. He has had a good preseason, but last week he was up against Trent West and Orren Stephenson.

It similar to what a lot of us - me included - did in the mid 2000's when we picked up those discards from other clubs.

You shouldn't be comparing them to the players that they are replacing, but more about how they stack up against the best in the competition.

Sure Maric is better than most of the trash that have impersonated ruckman over the years at Punt Rd, but reality is he was discarded from Adelaide, because he couldn't get a game in front of a guy that is only there because he couldn't get a game for Carlton!

He is still miles behind Cox, Leunberger, Mumford, Sandilands, Goldstein etc etc.

"We have a gun full-forward" is like us assuming that we should have beaten anyone we came up against just because we had Fevola.

Deledio and Conca have missed a lot of the pre-season.

As for the midfield, supporters and media will get transfixed by Martin and Cotchin, and will ignore that after that - and maybe Foley - the likes of Jackson, Tuck, King, Edwards, Grigg aren't going to give to many sides nightmares.

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"They're [REDACTED]'

Grigg's kicking gave me nightmares when he was at Carlton.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

If they find a couple of key backmen who can stand up for a whole season, there's nothing to suggest they couldn't make 7th or 8th this year.

Martin is a jet who would walk into any team in the comp. Cotchin I think is a little bit like Scully - hyped up a little bit beyond actual production but nonetheless shows he has the tools. Riewoldt can do anything, Deledio and Newman are class. Conca looked like he'd taken another step in his game and Ellis looks liek he'll be something in a year or two. They've finally got a decent nucleus who can use it properly, and more to the point, won't shirk it. Martin seems to have that effect.

We should beat them handily, across the board we're a better team, with much better depth in the middle tier players.

However it's not inconceivable that if their 1st unit midfied gets on top of ours and if Jamo doesn't come up and Riewoldt collars Hendo they could have a night out. They are up and running, we are clearly not - Rd1 is the sort of time when weird things happen (Hello Adelaide vs Hawthorn last year).

That's the risk to be run when different preseason approaches meet early on.

I keep going on about it, but Tyrone Vickery will be a key to their prospects.

I always enjoy the pre-season optimism from Richmond supporters.

If they peg us down a bit, the margin won't be flattering to us, but we'll still win. Have them edged in every department, so it's pretty easy for us to fall over the line.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

I actually think they’ll win. It will be a necessary loss to snap us out of our pre-season lethargy. We should be right from there on

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C'mon Blueboys!