If it bleeds…
Something feels a little bit familiar about this week.
Here we are, about to run into a juggernaut who’ve strung together 20 straight at the MCG, late in the season. And probably not given much of a chance by most. You know where this is going…
Round 21, 2001. The Chris Grant game, the super-flood, whatever you want to call it. The underdogs roll the seemingly unbeatable Bombers.
Can we do it again? As the Beach Boys once sang (yes, the one on the Cadbury ad for the younger set), wouldn’t it be nice?
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Into the fury
In the for column, the Dogs have had a decent run against the Tigers in recent times.
In fact, a Luke Beveridge coached Bulldogs team has never lost to Richmond, and you’d have to go all the way back to 2013 when the Tiges last saluted, a 10-goal pantsing of the Dogs at Etihad Stadium.
The Dogs have also won four of five at the MCG for what it’s worth.
But all of that said, the premiership favourites will be out for blood as they gear up for another September run, and you’d expect Damien Hardwick will pick his team accordingly.
So, the challenge is set and our boys will be ready.
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Looks like a job for..
Who knows exactly where the magnets will be placed at 2:10 on Saturday, but one of the talking points during match committee this week will be what to do with Jack Riewoldt
The former Killers singer has reasonable history against the Dogs, kicking 25 goals in his last seven outings. But that’s not all, in a throwback to the glory days of the flying full forward, he torched the Suns for 10 a fortnight ago.
As he said on Fox Footy this week, he will also will have the Coleman in his sights, so he’ll be on. If Aaron Naughton is to finally snag a well-deserved Rising Star nomination…
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Derailing the Tiger train
As Bob Murphy wrote here, the Tigers v Dogs clashes are a little bit of a forgotten rivalry. We only need to cast out mind back to the Liberatore v Knights bout of 2001 when the Libba Snr earned himself a five week holiday for whacking the former Richmond skipper, and on top of that there’s also been a bit of movement between the clubs over the years as well.
On the back of that the boys on the Freedom in a Cage podcast have named the clash the Leon Cameron/Nathan Brown/Terry Wallace/Ben Harrison Cup.
But how much does a history, if it’s not recent, leak into a today’s game? Hard to say. But one thing that will need to be addressed is the Tiger defence. The Rance-Grimes set up is the second stingiest in the comp, so if the Dogs are going to derail the Richmond train, penetrating that wall will be at the top of the list.
Is it Saturday yet?
