Can Blues ruin Richmond fairytale?

Will Carlton play the villain? Source: JOE CASTRO / AAP

EVERY great fairytale needs a knight on a white steed and an evil enemy hell-bent on destruction.

Richmond is the feel-good story of this year's finals series, and Carlton is happy to play the dastardly villain from Visy Park.

The Tigers haven't played finals since 12 years; have six of the top seven players on the list of most AFL games without a final.

Carlton, meanwhile, was dead and buried six weeks ago and only is only playing finals because of Essendon's peptides scandal.

So while the Richmond army stampeded to Punt Rd on Saturday, a single rousing version of the Old Dark Navy Blue was Carlton's concession to finals.

Mick Malthouse was keeping a low-key presence in a short training session, but assistant coach Brad Green was happy to concede the Blues' role as the villain.

Nothing would be sweeter for Carlton than dumping their inner-city rivals from September after so much talk and so much hype.

"It is the romance of Chris (Newman) and not playing finals, and Richmond haven't played finals in a while," Green said.

"I hope (Chris does play) ... it's great for footy and it's great for him.

"But we are looking to knock them off, no doubt about that. It is finals footy, the atmosphere is going to be red-hot. It is a contested game, finals footy, and our boys have got to be ready for it, and I have got no doubt they are."

The Tigers might have won 16 of their 22 finals against the Blues, but that is ancient history right now.

More relevant is Carlton's record of 11 of the past 12 wins, with that record only tainted by a Round 1 Chris Yarran miss that denied the Blues.

The best part for the Blues is that they haven't even had to beat Richmond in recent years when they have faced off in Round 1.

Instead they bunker down, let Richmond over-hype themselves, then watch on with glee as the Tigers implode on game day.

The Blues have tried that tactic again this week, refusing all but the most limited media opportunities and locking out fans from their mid-week session.

The edge between these two sides was evident when Richmond boxing coach John Vickery turfed out a Carlton spy from Tigers training this week.

But the Blues know this is a different Richmond side, a flint-hard Tigers team boasting 15 wins and a host of matchwinners.

Green reeled off the names - Dan Jackson, Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio and Dustin Martin.

Cotchin was trounced by Ed Curnow just a month back with Martin worked over by Zach Tuohy.

Green made no promises about repeating the dose with those match-ups, but you can be assured Carlton won't gift Richmond another fast start this time.

Back in Round 21 Josh Bootsma was obliterated by Jack Riewoldt early - Malthouse won't make that mistake again.

On Saturday Malthouse was seen but not heard, but Green said he had his fingerprints all over the week.

"Look, he's got a lot of finals experience, he has been great. Mick has been Mick. He has kept it a normal week. He's kept it pretty calm towards the boys. No doubt he has got them firing up and ready to go."