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Pre-season NAB Cup footy continues tonight at AAMI Stadium as the Adelaide Crows and Carlton lock horns. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 8.40pm AEDT.
We saw completely different fortunes with these two sides last weekend.
Carlton stormed away from Fremantle and shot to the top of the NAB Cup table, while Adelaide got trounced by Geelong at Simonds Stadium despite fielding a good line-up.
But as we all know, we’re still a couple of weeks away from the real stuff getting underway. So for the clubs it’s still all about trial and error, as well as getting game time into their players.
With Mick Malthouse at the helm, it’s not hard to expect the hype is growing out at Carlton.
The Blues are so far undefeated through the NAB Cup with Levi Casboult, Jeff Garlett and Zach Tuohy playing strong, while Sam Rowe has been the feel-good story of the pre-season after his battle with testicular cancer and is now playing some decent footy.
Their percentage is so strong (185.45 percent) that even if they do lose tonight, there is a fair chance they will still make next Saturday night’s NAB Cup grand final.
The midfield brigade has been exemplary to date with the work around the stoppages a key so far.
Use of the ball by foot, the power forwards and the use of the boundary also means they’ve looked slick.
Keep in mind that Malthouse has been tinkering with the game plan.
Jarrad Waite will still be missing with a calf injury, while David Ellard won’t be there with a hamstring injury from last week’s match.
For the Adelaide Crows, they may still say “it’s just pre-season”. But there’s no doubting they would have been very disappointed with the performance put on field last weekend.
With a good team on the park, that should be pushing for another top-four spot, their loss to Geelong was poor.
The basic ball skills seemed lacking, while their run and carry was missing.
There has been some talk of a lack of confidence among some in the group, especially with full-forward Taylor Walker. In reality, Walker’s always lacked consistency so nothing’s really changed.
What has been revealed during the week is that a dozen of their players had been suffering from a stomach bug, which could be a reason for the lack of pizazz.
The good news is last week’s game is now a distant memory as they get towards the light at the end of the pre-season tunnel.
Coach Brenton Sanderson has mooted a raft of changes for tonight’s game with Daniel Talia, Rory Sloane, Ian Callinan and Jared Petrenko expected to be included.
Does the Carlton’s NAB Cup charge under new mentor Mick Malthouse continue tonight? Find out from 8.40pm AEDT.
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