20 months is a long time in football. Flashback to round 22 2008.

Final score Richmond 18.13 - 121. Melbourne 6.5 - 41. They laughed at us. We were totally terrible and they thought they were destined for the finals in 2009. It was also Jack Grimes' first game. Thank goodness he barracked for the Dees as a kid, otherwise he might have applied for a spot with the Gold Coast.

Flash forward to round 4 2010. Ironically both sides only have 11 players from the lineups who are part of todays team. Missing players are in CAPs.

3 Bartram, Clint

21 BELL, Daniel

32 Bruce, Cameron

1 BUCKLEY, Simon

41 CARROLL, Nathan

8 Frawley, James

20 Garland, Colin

18 Green, Brad

16 Grimes, Jack

4 HOLLAND, Ben

2 Jones, Nathan

19 MARIC, Addam

23 McDonald, James

7 MILLER, Brad

10 MORTON, Cale

15 Petterd, Ricky

12 Sylvia, Colin

37 Warnock, Matthew

31 WHEATLEY, Paul

45 WHELAN, Matthew

34 WHITE, Jeff

13 YZE, Adem

Richmond (finished 9th 2008 haha)

11 BOWDEN, Joel

39 CONNORS, Daniel

9 Cotchin, Trent

3 Deledio, Brett

10 Edwards, Shane

41 FOLEY, Nathan

23 Jackson, Daniel

17 JOHNSON, Kane

16 McGUANE, Luke

13 McMAHON, Jordan

40 Moore, Kelvin

20 Morton, Mitch

1 NEWMAN, Chris

12 RICHARDSON, Matthew

8 Riewoldt, Jack

25 SCHULZ, Jay

5 Simmonds, Troy

30 Tambling, Richard

2 THURSFIELD, Will

32 TIVENDALE, Greg

21 Tuck, Shane

35 White, Matt

They humiliated us in August 2008. Surely todays clash is a revenge match for the club, for the 11 remaining Demons,and especially for Grimes. No further motivation required. GO DEES!!

The conditions at the MCG differ greatly from last week. There is no chance of rain today, cloud cover is aprox 80% and at the first bounce the wind should be around <8km/h. I think footy conditions will be excellent today taking all that into consideration.

I'm just hoping the boys kick better than 7.15 this week.

A few thoughts on some of todays players.

I think Sylvia has been wetting himself in anticipation to set foot out in the MCG. He will be coming out all guns a blazing.

Scully having a couple of average weeks (in his standards), I think he will come out with a point to prove today, seeing he sets himself VERY high standards. I do realise this is only his 4th AFL game. Can not wait to see how awesome he will be when he has played out this season and another full pre season under his belt. Good times

Watching last weeks replay, it also looks as though Bruce is getting back into the groove of things, in defense he was pressuring well, up forwards his kicking let him down, he does seem like the 'fire' is back in his belly. He will have a good game today.

Bennell is just getting better and better as the weeks roll on, I think his inclusion in the forward line has made him more comfortable. He is exciting to watch. Love watching him with just a sniff of space.

Jamar seems to be an issue with me. He is pretty much rucking on his own, I do not like to see him fatiguing early into the season due to little to no support. But I guess the footy department know what they are doing. We need Spencer or Martin to step up, Martin would be great to rotate through the forward line. Spencer to me still looks like a fish out of water.

Just to show how badly the Tigers are travelling, their VFL affiliate Coburg lost to Frankston today even with all those blokes they dropped this week.

Well, Scully played and Newton didn't.

And to think that some supporters wanted Scully dropped this week.

Astonishing.

Well, Scully played and Newton didn't.

And to think that some supporters wanted Scully dropped this week.

Astonishing.

Indeed. That third quarter in particular is exactly why he had to play.