Another Irish Invention?
10:30am: Gaelic Athletic Association president Liam O'Neill has said an International Rules series may take place this October in Australia despite the concept being under a serious cloud. "We're very near, we've had contact from [the AFL] and we're very near to confirming arrangements with them," O'Neill told Independent.ie. "There will be a tournament or an event in Australia involving our players and involving their players."
Enough to give Tigers' Supporters the Runs-Ons
8:00am: Former Richmond captain Chris Newman has hinted that containing opposition run ons may be the big challenge the Tigers are facing if they're to make it into the top four this year. "It was a real problem area last year," he told SEN. "We faded out of games and inevitably it cost us the game. I think what we need to do is get a little bit of control back of the football."
Mick Not Feeling So Blue
8:00am: Carlton coach Mick Malthouse was a little prickly after his side's loss but certainly nowhere near as grumpy as he could have been. "We were very, very stoic in our approach to a four-goal deficit at quarter-time. We still went down in the second quarter, but showed a little bit. The whole idea is just to eat into leads - you may not make it up, but we had our chance to put our nose in front. They're the disappointing things - you work that hard to have a chance at it and we botched up a few shots on goal. You take the good with the bad. It wasn't all doom and gloom - it was a very good fightback."
Long Hard Facts
8:00am: Fans often want their players to just boot it long but Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said an over-reliance on long-kicking almost cost his side dearly in their dramatic 12-point win over Carlton on Thursday night. "The tight games are always close and I don't think we were headed tonight but to kick away late and for the guys to find the courage … we were out on our feet there, no doubt," Hardwick said. "For guys to come back, I thought Chris Newman was huge in that last stanza and there were a couple of others, Cotchin stood up as well so it was just great to win that game, a close game. We probably tended to go a little bit too long down the line and it's not our real style of play and we just couldn't seem to find a free target at stages. The other one was that I think in the last quarter, the contested ball … it was all red. We couldn't get our hands on the ball.