Richmond will be hoping to celebrate Damien Hardwick’s 300th match as coach with a win, but they come face-to-face with early flag favourites Collingwood on Friday night.
The Magpies (2-0, 155.7%) have proved themselves a genuine premiership threat in the opening rounds, but they’ll be without big man Mason Cox for the clash at the MCG.
The Tigers (1-0-1, 123.9%) are also unbeaten in season 2023 but have been forced into a handful of changes to the side that defeated Adelaide last weekend.
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Nathan Broad begins his four-game suspension for a nasty dump tackle, while Dustin Martin and Jacob Hopper are out with injury.
Jack Ross comes into the side after being the Round 1 sub, while Hugo Ralphsmith and Judson Clarke will make their first appearances for the year.
Collingwood’s Mason Cox said he’d endured a “big 24 hours” after being ruled out with a rib injury. The big man ended up in hospital with rib bruising and “a bit of internal bleeding”, he revealed.
Hardwick, who joins the likes of coaching greats Mick Malthouse, Alastair Clarkson and Leigh Matthews to coach both 300 games and three premierships, has a bigger dilemma than his injury woes – how to stop Nick Daicos.
Martin out ahead of the Pies clash | 01:57
The second-year star is already drawing comparisons to the likes of Chris Judd, and looms as the Magpies key come Friday night.
“(Daicos) has been an incredible player. I don’t think I’ve seen a better first year from any player. Then you think surely he couldn’t back it up, and it seems he’s gotten better again,” Hardwick told media this week.
“We’ll have contingencies and try and manage him as best we can.
“He’s gonna get the ball, no question. So do we allow him to play his game and try and manage it and try exploiting the other way? Probably.”
This match gets underway at 7.50pm AEST from the MCG.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) from 4pm AEST.
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