NAB Cup countdown – Tigers and Blues

FOOTY is back – and not before time.

The NAB Cup begins this weekend, but the AFL's pre-season competition generally means different things to all the 16 clubs.

Silverware is nice, but look at Carlton's season in 2007 after they hoisted the NAB Cup aloft. Everyone is wary of peaking too early.

However, with the monsoonal rain in Queensland affecting some intra-club hit-outs and South African sojourns to overcome, the AFL's pre-season matches will provide crucial full-on footy for many clubs.

And let's not forget those sitting in the coaches' box for the first time – the NAB Cup provides a vital opportunity for everyone to ease their way into the season. No-one wants to be underdone come round one of the Toyota AFL Premiership.

As clubs return to their home base (or in two cases fly to Dubai) after spreading the AFL gospel in Community Camps around Australia and the world, we take a sneak peak at how your team is shaping up.

RICHMOND

NAB Cup round one
St Kilda v Richmond, Telstra Dome, 7.40pm (AEST) Friday, February 15. (Channel Seven).

Toyota AFL Premiership round one
Carlton v Richmond, MCG, 6.10pm (AEST) Thursday, March 20. (Channel Ten).

Telstra AFL Community Camp
Echuca, Tuesday, February 5 – Thursday, February 7. The camp began with a training session at Moama Football Club. Wednesday included an Auskick super clinic, followed by player visits to Echuca Hospital, Moama Retirement Village and local schools.

Wednesday evening forums catered for any budding footy coaches, administrators, medical and training staff. The public can then check out the Tigers’ form, and that of local umpires, who will officiate in an intra-club practice match at Moama Oval on Thursday at 4pm.

Assistant coach David King provides an insight into the state of the Tigers’ playing list heading into the NAB Cup:

Medical room
"Most of our players are up and going and fit and healthy and that’s been the really pleasing aspect of our pre-season," King said.

"Trent Cotchin’s probably the only one [who’s not], but as a 17-year-old we’re not looking for him to have too much of an impact at this stage of his career.

"Coming off that broken ankle, we’ve had a very careful approach with him. The rest are not too far off the mark; we haven’t really got too many in a flat rehab-type program.

"Richie Tambling will be fine; he just rolled his ankle in a tackle, so it was never really a long-term thing.

“We’ve got a NAB Cup selection criteria that you have to have completed a certain amount of training sessions including a set component of contested footy sessions and at this point we would assume that most of our list would get there.

“Mark Coughlan is back into full training and he’s another one who is trying to meet that criteria. He’s getting through training now and he’s acclimatising his body again to contested footy.

"It might take a little while for him, but there’s no holding them back; if they’re 100 per cent ready to go then we’re not going to stop them playing."

Pre-season bolter
“I guess the biggest thing that you notice is the traded players who have come in," King said.

"Jordan McMahon and Mitch Morton have come in and been able to impact the group pretty much straight away. To see the way those two work has been very exciting and you just know that if you get those two up and running that they’re going to impact our group even further."

Veteran watch
"I know Richo’s [Matthew Richardson's] 32 years of age and he’s probably sick of pre-seasons, but the way he presents himself is impeccable," King said.

"He’s a real athlete and he hasn’t lost any of his aerobic or anaerobic capabilities over this pre-season.

"[Head coach] Terry [Wallace] has probably treated Richardson, Joel Bowden, Kane Johnson, Nathan Brown, Troy Simmonds and Greg Tivendale a little bit differently to the others in terms of having them train away from the group at times over summer.

"It’s kept them fresh and relieved that pressure on them of leading the way every session and allowed us to find out a fair bit about the group underneath to see how they would control their own destiny.

"But they’ve all been back training with the main group for a while now and we haven’t really set any unrealistic goals for those guys throughout pre-season."

Position battle
"I think in seasons gone by we’ve probably played guys that maybe didn’t have as much selection pressure on them as what they’ll have this year.

"It’s always hard to get a game at AFL level, but I think our forward line has been a strength in recent years.

"You’ve got Richo with Brett Deledio showing some really exciting things toward the end of last year, we’re going to get a Nathan Brown, hopefully, fingers crossed, fully fit for this season …you’ve got Kayne Pettifer there, so those guys by themselves certainly take a bit of marking.

"Jack Riewoldt is one you’d throw in there, I think you’d put Graham Polak in there – he’s had a very, very solid pre-season – Tambling can play down there as can Jay Schulz, so we’ve got numerous options to go through there."

Club's approach to the NAB Cup
"We had a points [selection] system last year … but we haven’t used that this year; I don’t think you can use those things every year, they have their lifespan and certainly it was good for us, but we’ll focus on a few different areas [in terms of selection] this time," King explained.

"I don’t think you set [your approach] in concrete either way; as long as we’re healthy in terms of our playing unit, as long as we don’t lose too many, we’d love to just get most players to the line for the season-proper and we’ll use [the NAB Cup] as a lead-up.

"We’ll go in with a strong side, but we won’t be playing players who aren’t 100 per cent right in order to get over the line.

"We’ve got a lot of guys in the 40 to 60-game mark now and that’s really given them a great chance to step up this year.

"We’re hoping that’s as early as possible and if that’s in the NAB Cup that’s great, but we’re certainly looking towards round one [of the season proper]."

CARLTON

NAB Cup round one match
Port Adelaide v Carlton, AAMI Stadium, Saturday, February 16, 5.40pm (ACST). (Channel Ten)

Toyota AFL premiership season round one match
Carlton v Richmond, MCG, Thursday, March 20, 6.10pm (AEST). (Channel Ten)

Telstra AFL Community Camp
Carlton was one of four clubs to travel to South Africa for its Community Camp.

The Blues were in the region from January 21 to February 3, and faced off with Fremantle in an exhibition match at SuperSport Park in Pretoria on February 2. Fremantle won by 14 points.

Medical room
The Blues' star recruit Chris Judd had groin surgery late last year and is yet to resume full training with the side.

While his physical fitness cannot be questioned – he reportedly ran the Princes Park time trial in 10 minutes and 30 seconds on his own – he is yet to embark on full-contact training.

Andrew Walker is planning on playing in the first NAB Cup game after overcoming shoulder problems, while youngster Clinton Benjamin injured his groin in South Africa, but the severity of the strain is unknown.

Pre-season bolter
Young ruckman Shaun Hampson has impressed during the pre-season, while Simon Wiggins is pleased with his own progress as he has survived the summer months without any hamstring issues.

Emerging star Marc Murphy was the club's best player against Fremantle, and is looking stronger after another full pre-season in the gym.

Veteran watch
Nick Stevens played his first game since round three last year while the Blues were on tour in South Africa, and got through the hit-out well despite playing only the first half.

Heath Scotland also participated while Brendan Fevola sat out after undergoing a range of surgery last year. The club is unlikely to risk him ahead of the season proper.

Position battle
An interesting competition between the Blues' big men has been simmering throughout the pre-season.

Coach Brett Ratten has six ruck options to trial, including two experienced hands, one Irishman, an emerging talent, a rookie, and the highly acclaimed No.1 draft pick from last year.

Cain Ackland and Cameron Cloke will square off, while Setanta O'hAilpin will be invited to show his wares in the middle, as will pre-season star Hampson and rookie Sam Jacobs.

Throw in young gun Matthew Kreuzer, and the battle for Carlton's two ruck spots is sure to heat up.

The midfield will see two experienced faces added, with Judd and Stevens expected to fill key roles, and the NAB Cup will also allow for the newly appointed leadership group members to showcase their skills ahead of the final decision on captaincy.

Club's approach to the NAB Cup
Carlton chief executive Greg Swann said the club is looking at the bigger picture this year, rather than obtaining the pre-season silverware.

"We are focussed on round one, we are not focussed on the NAB Cup this year," Swann said, in the Herald Sun on January 17.

"We have won it [in the past] and then we haven't won another game, so we will do it a bit differently this time."

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.