The mercurial Cat has built a reputation for destroying all comers and being one of the most difficult match-ups in the league but Russell managed to keep him goalless with just 13 disposals in one of his quietest games for years in Carlton's 35-point win.
"There were a couple of rumours going around before the game that he might miss out. I was really looking forward to the challenge. He's a gun player and he's shown that over the last couple of years. I was looking forward to the duel." Russell said.
"I've played up forward a fair bit in my time so it was nice to go back, do a job and help the side out."
Russell might be used to playing in the front half of the ground but he said he was more than happy to play a defensive role. But he says he has not been told what Carlton's long-term positional plans are.
"To be honest, I don't know where I'm going. Before the game I don't know where I'm going to play. Wherever they put me, I enjoy it," he said.
The win means Carlton are almost certainties to make the finals and the 23-year-old was echoing the club's message of not looking beyond the next week's opponent.
But you can sense the excitement of Russell who had to wait until his 10th AFL game to play in a winning side and played in just four wins in his first 31 matches.
"We've been through a few tough times. I want to give you a good response (about finals) but obviously we want to take it week by week. If we come to the finals, hopefully we can give it a real good shake," he said.
The win against Geelong was Carlton's most impressive all year and Russell said it gave the playing group enormous confidence to know they could take it up to the best teams on their day.
"It's all about our consistency. Being a young group we've got a lot of maturing to do. We seem to come up well against these big teams, besides the Collingwood game a couple of weeks ago. We need to take out the one-wood and have a real good crack at it. We've got nothing to lose and that's what we tried to do tonight."
