FOOTY fans looking for an early treat before Thursday night’s Richmond v Carlton AFL season opener at the MCG will certainly get one if they head down to Swinburne Centre early, with the Tigers and Blues naming powerful squads for their final Smithy’s VFL practice match.

This will be a hard-fought contest as the teams wrap up preparations for next week’s season openers, with Richmond naming 12 AFL-listed players and Carlton going even better with 14 in their 27-man squads for a clash that starts at 4:00pm.

Despite there likely being emergencies held over for the AFL clash across the park, early bird fans can still be confident of seeing a host of AFL-listers running out in the early game.

Richmond’s contingent includes tall forward Noah Cumberland, pacy rebounder Hugo Ralphsmith, key defenders Tylar Young and Bigoa Nyuon and AFL recruits Steely Green and Kaelan Bradtke.

Carlton’s team looks even more impressive, with star midfielder Paddy Dow, full-back Sam Durdin, AFL promotion Alex Cincotta, draftees Harry Lemmey and Jaxon Binns and SSP addition Hudson O’Keeffe to play.
Newly-appointed VFL captain Ben Crocker and recruit Liam McMahon are also named to play, while ruckman Marc Pittonet could also line-up alongside rookie Alex Mirkov.

Entry to the match is free and open to the public, so get down to Yarra Park early before heading to the MCG.

RICHMOND v CARLTON

4:00pm Thursday, Swinburne Centre

RICHMOND
5.Jack Ross*, 13.Hugo Ralphsmith, 20.Kaelan Bradtke, 27.Thomson Dow*, 32.Samson Ryan*, 36.Noah Cumberland, 40.Tyler Sonsie, 41.Sam Banks, 42.Judson Clarke*, 46.Tylar Young, 47.Bigoa Nyuon, 49.Steely Green, 51.Austin Johnson, 52.Angus Hicks, 53.Garrett McDonagh, 55.Lachlan Street, 56.Harry White, 57.Mutaz El Nour, 58.Cam Olden, 59.Lachlan Johnson, 61.Tom Brindley, 63.Beau Tedcastle, 64.Misilifi Faimolo, 65.Joel Nathan, 67.Fraser Elliot, 68.James Trezise, 71.Archie May

IN: Banks, Bradtke, Clarke, Cumberland, Dow, Green, Nyuon, Ralphsmith, Ross, Ryan, Sonsie, Young
OUT: Ashtyn Atkinson, Ben Bilston-McGillen, Tom Bower, Tom Bracher, Will Bravo, Harry Broderick, Matthew Clarkson, Max Clohesy, Billy Cooper, Ned Crowe, Lukman Haddara, Lewis Hill, Brad Melville, Luke Teal, Mohammed Yassine

CARLTON
1.Zavier Maher, 2.Paddy Dow, 4.Lochie O’Brien*, 7.Luke Parks, 8.Ben Crocker, 11.Tyreece Leiu, 14.Liam McMahon, 16.Jack Carroll, 17.Brodie Kemp, 18.Mitch Moschetti, 19.Ned Cahill, 20.Lachie Plowman*, 26.Patrick Dozzi, 27.Marc Pittonet*, 28.Aidan Mills, 30.Michael Lewis, 31.Harry Lemmey, 32.Jaxon Binns, 34.Heath Ramshaw, 36.Josh Honey*, 38.Sam Durdin, 39.Hudson O’Keeffe, 40.Alex Cincotta, 41.Dom Akuei, 44.Jack Lefroy, 45.Alex Mirkov, 46.Archie Stevens.

IN: Akuei, Binns, Carroll, Cincotta, Crocker, Dow, Durdin, Kemp, Lemmey, Maher, Mirkov, O’Brien, O’Keeffe, Plowman, Ramshaw
OUT: Jack Martin, Mitch McGovern, Matt Owies (AFL), Ethan Bentley, Jed Brereton, Hayden Gill, Blake Kuipers, Ben Moyle, Jacob Naismith, Logan Prout, Hamish Sinnott, Lachlan Swaney, Girgio Varagiannis, Callum Verrell, Will White.

*AFL emergencies

SMITHY'S VFL PRACTICE MATCH SCHEDULE See it here