Interesting observation about Luke Hodge, Mickstar.
Love to have Hodgey on-board.
I watched it on Fox.

Problem is that if you do Martial Arts and use those lessons to hurt someone, you're in trouble with the law let alone the AFL.

Cyril Rioli wouldnt let them off that easy.

A disappointing loss but the future looks good. Richmond were at full strength minus Houli and Cotchin who are both over 30 and well past their best.
We were within a goal with 6 minutes to play without Martin, Williams, Charlie, DeKoning and possibly McGovern, Newman or Marchbank.
If we get a chance to play them later in the year, we should fancy our chances.

It's up to the fitness coaches to pull their fingers out and our stoppage coaches to sort out our centre bounces.

It's up to the fitness coaches to pull their fingers out and our stoppage coaches to sort out our centre bounces.

Richmond had 3 or 4 additional players running through the midfield. Cripps and Walsh were well and truly cooked half way through the last quarter. We need additional midfield assistance otherwise we are going to struggle.

Richmond had 3 or 4 additional players running through the midfield. Cripps and Walsh were well and truly cooked half way through the last quarter. We need additional midfield assistance otherwise we are going to struggle.

They were gassed at the end of the 3rd and as you say in the last. They did the majority of lifting: contesting ball, tackling, running, linking.

Its obvious the midfield wax with Williams and Martin adds plenty of help in there.

I couldn't help but think that Fish and Dow playing in the centre square in the last 10 minutes were ball watching hoping the ball comes their way with Cripps contesting against 2 Tigers...then ball pushed to Shai on his own, who was not manned and away he went to win another of his 9 midfield clearances.

Point is, Williams and Martin will help, but Dow and Fish were not contesting to win the ball, and need to fix that up. If you're ball hungry you chase till you get it. At least one of them should be targeting the ball with Cripps and only one waits for the outside ball, with an eye to his opponent on the outside too, till at least the cavalry in Saad from HB, Setters or Newnes from the wing come in for outside ball.

Midfield set up really needs sorting regardless of the return of Williams and Martin. We need 6-8 winners playing in the centre bounce and another few for the midfield work around the ground.

If someone said we would be in 40 points we would have taken that

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Got some players to come back so still hope

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We’ll win more than we lose if we play like that every week . . . some encouraging signs tonight.

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Too many unforced errors.

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Still giving up those junk time goals

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So many issues and yet we weren’t that far off.

Not a bad result to be fair. No forward structure has killed us.

Take Lynch, Reiwoldt and Castagna our of Richmond and see how they go.

Plus our ruckman out in the first quarter.

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Our inability to cut sides up on the outs
ide kills us. Great with contested possession but on the outside, no good. Just doesn't allow us easy ball inside 50. Richmond's ability to waltz through the corridor and set up an easy goal was just about the complete difference.

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It's looking a little brighter now. It wasn't just showing a bit of fighting spirit, there was skill and composure too. If only we weren't carrying 5 or 6 players without skill or composure, we'd be good.

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This - and weighing up the players we had missing vs Richmond going down a gear later on. It's hard to gauge what comes out of this result.

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So a 24 pt loss given that we allowed Bitchmond so many easy goals wasn’t too bad at the end.

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Kept fighting the game out. Actually controlled more of the game than the opposition.

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We did pretty well against a full team of last years premiers.
Yes we still have work to do but we’ve grown.

The fact is it was always going to be a stretch with outs we had.
Imagine Richmond with no Riewoldt no Lynch and no Rioli.

If we get smashed with a full team that’s 100% fit then I’d worry.

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We were beaten by the current premiers by only 24 points.


Not so bad is it?

"Richmond was able to move the ball more effectively scoring 54-7 from defensive midfield chains"

Too often the ball was swept out of the forward line and went straight inside Richmond's forward 50.

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Really proud of our team's spirit, by no way discrased.

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We must kick the easy ones.

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The margin was not a true reflection of the game, we played better than them for at least half of it.

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Two really good quarters, two awful quarters. Plenty of good signs and plenty to work on.

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Good game. It felt more competitive than the scoreboard shows.

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Yes I was at the game and the number of times there were free players either on the opposite side or in the middle of the ground I lost count of.

Instead the ball was bombed long to a pack in the forward line which is something we have been doing for years with a singular lack of success. This played right into the tiges hands with their manical streaming downfield forward of the ball style of play.

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Fair bit to like. This year us about learning how to play 4 quarters and execute. Talent is there.

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The Mckay and Setterfield back to back misses halfway through the third really hurt

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Just home from the game. After one of the stinkiest first quarters I have seen, we had plenty of opportunities to put put ourselves in the game. We certainly didn’t drop our bundle. Lots to like from all the youngsters.

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lets hope the majority of this group get to string the next 8-10 games together because i think we'll see a massive spike in the 2nd half of the year if they do

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Loved the fight and spirit for the middle 2 quarters - I thought those missed shots hurt us.

We were dead exhausted that last qtr but we did keep hanging in. Bigger, stronger bodies ran then game out better.

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Obviously disappointed that these wankstains still have our number, but we sent a clear message to those nuff-nuff "experts" that have us pegged for the spoon.

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So , so impressed by most of our youngsters.

Very disappointed with many so called senior players.

First game of the season you would think you would be keen to play.

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Lots of great signs. Injuries catch up with you, especially against good teams. Ran out of legs.

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Pros:
We will win a lot of respect this season and some games as well.
We stuck to the system even though at the end the score blew out.

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Lots to like, but Tiges had a hell of a lot more inside fifties and scoring shots. Any vague chance we had was gone once Krooz got injured.

We just lack a little depth at the moment, with our list injuries cruel you, heading in the right direction though.

Should win next week

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They can hold their heads up.

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We lost yes, but I enjoyed the game. We're going to be better this season. Baring injury and bad form, I think we'll give a few sides some headaches this year. We move quick and yes we faded out in the end, but that's to be expected at this stage. We gave a reigning premiers a shake and that's a good sign. Blooded some kids and didn't get flogged. Go Blues!

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Overall there are signs of improvement

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We had some outstanding performers tonight but we had too many under performers.

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Well, I’m not going to beat up on anyone.
We are a young side finally playing offensive footy.
There’s going to be mistakes. We have to iron out the kinks to drive forward.
We cant expect some of these kids to stand up mature body’s.

Right now it’s about building a solid experienced list.

We challenged Richmond and for that I’m proud.
I haven’t been this happy with Carlton in a long time.
We are in no position to be challenging for finals yet we took it the Premiers.

It’s all about building this year.

Improving and finding our needs.

I think we’ll make the 8 next year

Richmond have been better than us (and the whole competition) for the last 4 years and are still better than us? If that’s the point, then I agree. I don’t like it, but it’s undeniable. It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the positives from Thursday’s game.

A disappointing loss but the future looks good. Richmond were at full strength minus Houli and Cotchin who are both over 30 and well past their best.
We were within a goal with 6 minutes to play without Martin, Williams, Charlie, DeKoning and possibly McGovern, Newman or Marchbank.
If we get a chance to play them later in the year, we should fancy our chances.

It's up to the fitness coaches to pull their fingers out and our stoppage coaches to sort out our centre bounces.

The point is the same thing happens every year, with the same things costing us and we supporters making the same excuses afterwards, all under faux pretence of improvement. The positives are always the same, as are the negatives.

The next few weeks will be far more revealing about whether we’re truly taking that next step, not another copy-paste honourable round 1 loss that is now an annual tradition.

Although you're taking it a step further Sydney, that's exactly what a WCE player did a couple of seasons back... Forget the hips, grab the arm... Worked very well..agree, some training required but... an easy adjustment...

Don't know why it's not being done across the whole comp??

Go Blues

I can't say it enough but our clearances - centre clearances need to be the focus moving forward.
Teague needs to ask the hard questions on both Kruezer and Barker. That was embarrassing and if they cannot fix it, then they need to be moved on - mid season if need be!!!

No more incompetence.

Yep, we win the hit outs AND lose the centre clearances 19 to 10

It was the difference