World Footy News

The 2010 Australian Football League season kicked off tonight with Carlton and Richmond doing battle at the MCG in front of a big crowd.

Both clubs have been strugglers for many years, but Carlton have slowly been rising up the ladder, and as expected were too strong for the Tigers, whose team included four first-gamers. Carlton were without suspended captain Chris Judd.

One of the common media questions leading into this season has been who will replace Brendan Fevola (traded to Brisbane after one controversial incident too many) as Carlton's major goal-scorer. Against Richmond the Blues appeared to share the focus between small forward Eddie Betts (3 goals) and tall targets Jarrad Waite (2) and Irishman Setanta O'hAilpin (3), while Chris Yarran also picked up 3 goals.

O'hAilpin has now been with Carlton for 6 years and seems to have dodged the de-listing bullet on multiple occasions. Now aged 27 and with 59 senior games to his credit, Setanta looks set to deliver more consistently. With Carlton on the rise and Fevola's departure, 2010 could be the season for the Irishman of mixed Irish-Fijian heritage to stamp himself as a first choice forward crucial to the Blues' hopes of pushing deeper into the top eight than last year's 7th finish.

Final scores:

Richmond 4.2 7.6 9.8 9.10 (64)
Carlton 7.1 11.1 14.7 18.12 (120)

Crowd: 72,010 at MCG