After Opening Round was compromised off the back of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the AFL season is officially in full swing as Richmond and Carlton line up in their traditional Round 1 match.
Watch your club in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Stream every round LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play, on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.
As Adem Yze’s Tigers officially begin club-wide rebuild, his side will unveil three debutants for the traditional Thursday night clash in Sam Lalor, Luke Trainor and Harry Armstrong. The former was taken with Pick 1 in the 2024 National Draft, with Tranior and Armstrong taken at picks 21 and 23 respectively.
A plethora of retirements, injuries and departures to rival clubs have hit Richmond’s senior list depth hard, but tonight will be the first opportunity of many for Punt Road’s youth to be exposed to the fast-paced nature of AFL.
While not as depleted, their opponents Carlton will still be without several key players at the MCG, with Charlie Curnow (knee), Nic Newman (knee), Elijah Hollands (personal reasons), Marc Pittonet (calf), Alex Cincotta (hip) and Jagga Smith (knee) all missing among others.
Lucas Camporeale, one of two father-son picks the Blues took in last year’s draft, will debut in the navy guernsey tonight, as will former Giant Nick Haynes and last-minute SSP selection Francis Evans.
Out-of-contract star Tom De Koning will be unleashed as Carlton’s solo ruck for the evening in Pittonet’s absence. Jack Silvagni will tonight also end a 600-day stint on the sidelines, having not played an AFL game for premiership points since July 22, 2023 after doing an ACL.
Richmond have named 24-gamer Tyler Sonsie as their starting substitute, while the Blues have surprisingly vested veteran Sam Docherty.
The first bounce at the MCG will take place at 7:30pm local time in Melbourne.
Follow our live coverage of the Round 1 clash between Richmond and Carlton below! Can’t see the blog?Click here
TEAM LINE UPS
RICHMOND
B: J.Blight, B.Miller, N.Broad
HB: J.Short, N.Vlastuin, L.Trainor
C: S.Banks, K.McIntosh, J.Trezise
HF: R.Mansell, S.Campbell, S.Green
F: J.Bauer, T.Lynch, S.Lalor
FOLL: T.Nankervis – C, T.Taranto, J.Hopper
I/C: T.Brown, T.Dow, J.Ross, H.Armstrong, T.Sonsie (sub)
EMG: K.Smith, M.Rioli, S.Ryan
CARLTON
B: J.Silvagni, J.Weitering, O.Hollands
HB: A.Saad, M.McGovern, L.Cowan
C: B.Acres, P.Cripps – C, L.Camporeale
HF: S.Walsh, B.Kemp, L.Fogarty
F: M.Cottrell, H.McKay, Z.Williams
FOLL: T.De Koning, A.Cerra, G.Hewett
I/C: N.Haynes, J.Motlop, C.Lord, F.Evans, S.Docherty (sub)
EMG: L.Young, M.Carroll, W.White
Discussion about this post