RICHO’S TOP: Why Carlton should back Michael Voss for another AFL season

1. Carlton is a powerful club with a passionate supporter base.

They are very restless as the talkback lines are showing here in Melbourne. This is where you need a strong leadership to stay the course. Changing coaches every three to four years doesn’t work, Carlton have done this too much over the last 20 years. With Brian Cook and Graham Wright overseeing things I expect they will stay the course. From what Michael Voss has said on Wednesday it sounds like the club bosses are not reading him the riot act. Voss has a year to go on his contract and maybe a few changes around him will be made, but Vossy should get to see out his contract. A win tonight away from home against Port will relieve the immediate pressure, but then the Pies and Lions await. These are tense times at Carlton.

2. Can the Swans make a run?

The band is back together now with Tom Papley and Errol Gulden back in the fray. They have won two on the trot but with nine games remaining and being two games outside the eight there is absolutely no wriggle room at all. To make finals a team likely needs 13 wins, but with their low percentage the Swans might need 14. That means eight wins in their last nine games. It seems improbable and it starts tomorrow night against the eighth-placed dogs. Win that and build momentum you just never know. Papley and Gulden change this team completely. They will need this game to be an arm wrestle as I don’t think they can match the Dogs in a freed flowing score fest.

3. It’s a question that won’t go away for Fremantle.

Do they go with the two ruckmen in Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson or just the one? I don’t think it can be both from what I saw last week. To me it simply must be Jackson. With Patrick Voss, Jye Amiss and Josh Treacy playing forward Freo looks too top heavy with Darcy and Jackson playing as well. Jackson was simply outstanding in the air and on the ground against Essendon. It may have been his best game ever. It appears he loves to ruck 80 per cent of his game time which he wouldn’t get with Darcy playing as well. A big call awaits Justin Longmuir when he names his squad today.

4. This is just a really, quick simple one.

Why after all of these years do, we have a warning for a 6-6-6 infringement? Teams understand what needs to be done. You don’t get a warning for any other rule. It’s either there or it isn’t — a free or no free. It does my head in.

5. Logan Morris has slowly crept up on everyone I reckon.

Was a bit in the shadows of Joe and Eric last year but oh boy he’s had an amazing start to his AFL career. In the last two weeks he has kicked five goals in each game against Top 8 competition. At 190cm he’s short for a key tall but to me he plays a lot taller. Takes the ball at the highest point. He reads the flight of the ball beautifully in the air. During the Channel Seven call last Friday James Brayshaw said he had the swagger reminiscent of Jonathan Brown. Well at the same stage of his career Logan’s kicked 54 goals to Browny’s 34. He’s going magnificently and with the Lions having a tough draw on the run home the 19-year-old will be a key factor in the Lions’ quest for back-to-back flags. It’s a lot of pressure for a young player but it doesn’t seem to faze him at all.

6. So Nick Daicos got tagged and so he should as he’s an absolute leer jet.

In an era where the one-on-one contest has gone to team defence and zones, I am a fan of a genuine contest between two players. Yes, one is trying to get the ball and the other is trying to negate most of the time, but it’s a fascinating battle. If you let Nick run wild, he will destroy you. If the tagger does anything illegal the umpires are there to pay the appropriate free kicks as they did against Saint Marcus Windhager last week. I reckon Daicos would enjoy the battle of the tag as he showed last Saturday night. I don’t get what all the fuss is about as it’s not circle work at training.

7. The perceived problem with North is their key defensive posts but I think they are starting to overcome the issue with their defence looking sounder.

Charlie Comben has been improving all season. He’s now a reliable interceptor playing a bit higher. Behind him the surprising emergence of Toby Pink has been the thing most North fans would love. Pink can lock down and is a no-frills type of player. Throw in Griffin Logue being healthy and the Roos defence has got a better look. It’s slowly turning for North. Next up is Hawthorn. If they can claim a top eight scalp they truly are on their way.

8. I love getting back to local footy clubs and on Saturday I was lucky to visit Eltham Footy club in Melbourne’s north.

The first thing I do is go to the photo wall to see how many AFL players the club has developed through their juniors. Eltham had some good names on their wall. The best being Marcus Bontempelli, then there was North star and West Coast coach Adam Simpson, followed by triple premiership Tiger Nick Vlastuin, Josh Caddy, Nick Coffield, Patrick Lipinski, David Zaharakis and a champion from the 1970s and 80s, dual Brownlow medallist Peter Moore. So when you go to the local footy you should do the same. You’ll be surprised the names you will see.

9. Talking of the Bont.

How good was he last Sunday against Richmond. There are some players that you just can’t see ever wearing another team’s colours. It would be sacrilegious. Imagine Peter Daicos or Kevin Bartlett or James Hird in another team’s guernsey. Hell would freeze over first. That’s why I was so pleased to hear Marcus, right, say his new contract at the Dogs was on the way. He just must be a Bulldog for life. I think he’s the best Bulldogs player alongside EJ Whitten of course. Dogs fans would be relieved and absolutely pumped.

10. This week’s fine wine is Jeremy Cameron.

Over his last six games he has kicked 33 goals. At age 32 Jezza is playing as well as ever. He has lost none of his athleticism or agility. Only Buddy Franklin has covered the ground better as a key forward in this era. He told Channel Seven after the game last Friday he had a “stinker” in the bad loss to the Lions. If that’s a stinker for him l am worried about the Tigers’ backline after the Cats’ bye. Sitting on 48 goals and with the Cats playing only one current top 8 team on the way to finals he could reach 80 goals. Another Coleman Medal awaits.