There’ll be no shortage of new faces donning their colours for the first time on Thursday night when the Carlton Blues host the Richmond Tigers in the opening match of the 2017 AFL season.
All three of Richmond’s off-season recruits – Dion Prestia, Josh Caddy and Toby Nankervis – will take to the field in the yellow and black for the first time.
Prestia played 95 games for the Gold Coast Suns before joining the Tigers at the end of last year, Caddy has played the exact same number of games – 24 for Gold Coast, and a further 71 for Geelong.
Nankervis has played a dozen games in three years at the Swans, but has the chance to become a mainstay in Richmond’s side with Ivan Maric aging and Shaun Hampson currently injured.
The Tigers will also debut speedy forward Dan Butler who has spent two years on the list without playing a game so far.
Carlton will debut two former Giants who they recruited during the off-season – Caleb Marchbank, and Jarrod Pickett. For Pickett, it will be his AFL debut.
Marchbank and Pickett are both former top ten picks who spent only two years at GWS, Marchbank playing seven games in that time.
However the Blues have also sprung a selection surprise, naming No.6 draft pick Sam Petrevski-Seton to debut despite him not playing a single game in the JLT Community Series.
Petrevski-Seton was unavailable during the pre-season due to a quad strain.
Carlton have also named former Geelong player Billie Smedts, who they gained in a trade that saw Zach Tuohy move to the Cats.
Some notable absentees from the sides named are new recruit Rhys Palmer and Sam Kerridge for Carlton, and Anthony Miles for Richmond. All three have been named as emergencies.
7:20pm AEDT Thursday 23 March, MCG
Carlton Blues
B: Lachie Plowman, Jacob Weitering, Kade Simpson
HB: Dale Thomas, Sam Rowe, Caleb Marchbank
C: Sam Docherty, Bryce Gibbs, Jarrod Pickett
HF: Dennis Armfield, Levi Casboult, Matthew Wright
F: Ed Curnow, Jack Silvagni, Simon White
Fol: Matthew Kreuzer, Patrick Cripps, Marc Murphy
Int: Jed Lamb, Charlie Curnow, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Billie Smedts
Emg: Harrison Macreadie, Rhys Palmer, Sam Kerridge
Richmond Tigers
B: Alex Rance, David Astbury, Dylan Grimes
HB: Kamdyn McIntosh, Taylor Hunt, Brandon Ellis
C: Nick Vlastuin, Shane Edwards, Shaun Grigg
HF: Daniel Rioli, Sam Lloyd, Dan Butler
F: Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt, Jason Castagna
Fol: Toby Nankervis, Trent Cotchin, Josh Caddy
Int: Reece Conca, Ben Griffiths, Bachar Houli, Dion Prestia
Emg: Ivan Maric, Kane Lambert, Anthony Miles
Macca
Guest
Have to agree Ron - there was a lot to like and I thought most of the young blokes acquitted themselves pretty well.
Ron The Bear
Guest
For all of that to and fro, thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel for Carlton tonight, without threatening to get too far off the bottom in 2017.
Macca
Guest
Ron - Of course Bolton has selected some journeymen to stay competitive - the goal is still to win after all but that has nothting to d with it being Friday night and everything to do with the fact 6 players (and possibly 7 if the Age report is correct and Macreadie comes in) 20 or under is a massive amount. Playing so many young kids it gets you slaughtered every week is not development - there is a real skill in finding the right balance between exposing youth and staying competitive and Bolton got it pretty right last year and this round 1 side looks like the right mix again.
Ron The Bear
Guest
Lists, sure. Teams, no. Richmond's players are a year older also, but they are a younger unit collectively than the "baby Blues". Your chances of winning increase with the age gap to your opponent. This has been proven throughout 120 years of football. Hence I believe Bolton has selected some journeymen in order to remain competitive on the big stage. A Sunday twilight game may have been different.
Macca
Guest
Ron - the average age is irrelevant - in round 1 last year we had just 1 player under 21 - Weitering - this year we have 6 - Marchbank, Pickett, Weitering, SPS, Silvagni & Curnow - the average age stays the same because core players like Simpson, Gibbs, Murphy, Kreuzer, Docherty, Cripps & Casboult (plus the likes of Rowe, Thomas, Wright & Armfield) are all a year older but it is hard to argue that we are not putting out a younger side. Also if you look at the average age of AFL lists there is very little difference between 2nd and 17th.
Travis
Roar Pro
I think thats a pretty strong 22. If the blues have any chance of winning tonight it has to come from the players we aren't expecting it. We know Richmond will try and mark Murphy and Cripps, it is whether players such as Pickett, Wright, Smets, Kerridge and Marchbank play their part. They don't have to be BOG tonight, but if they play their role in the team we will go along way to winning. We need to be able to kick goals, last year goal kicking was clearly our biggest problem because often we dominated play but got little reward for the chances we were creating as we didn't have enough tall players inside 50 demanding the ball. I hope to see Kruezer and Wietering play in the forward line tonight. The run across half back with Docherty and Simpson is one of our biggest strengths to go with Cripps center clearances. So if we can get on top in key areas of the ground as well as having everyone playing their part, Carlton will be a big chance. But again I press, the effort has to be there and the players have to be minded to win....
Ron The Bear
Guest
Average age remains above 25, where teams are typically expected to play finals. Perhaps Bolton's worried about the impact of a bad loss on centre stage, a la Richmond in 2009, but he's shown himself to be risk-averse. It will probably make for a decent contest but I'm not sure there's much long-term gain in it for Carlton, whatever the result.
Macca
Guest
Brinxx - where they are named isn't relevant.
Macca
Guest
Ron - the blues have named 3 players from the 2015 draft, their first pick from 2016 and 2 from 2014 that are new to the club how much younger do you want them to go?
Paul D
Roar Guru
What has happened between last season and this season to result in Miles not being named? I know they brought in Prestia and Caddy, but I'd have picked Miles ahead of Conca for starters. Presumably they want to throw Prestia in the deep end in the midfield and let him know what he's let himself in for.
Brinnx
Guest
Simon White picked in the forwards, Bolton must be seeing something that's eludes me completly
Ron The Bear
Guest
Carlton's 22 is older than Richmond's, again. What year is the rebuild going to start?
Macca
Guest
I'd also add it looks like the blues are going to try and compensate for a lack of fire power with extra pace which would by why Kerridge and Palmer missed out.
Macca
Guest
Good selections for the blues, playing plenty of youth. Armfield, Thomas, Lamb and Smedts will want to perform though as ther are more than a few lining up for their spot.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
It'll be great to see SPS out there. I'm also excited to see Marchbank play a game, the kids obviously got talent. Pity I'll be spending the night working serving popcorn and movie tickets to the lovely folks of Adelaide; otherwise I'd be watching the game.