THE SCORE by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 64,699]

Ten years ago Aaron Davey was drafted as a rookie by the Melbourne Football Club. He was a revelation instantly with his blistering pace - a feature not only of the attacking side of his game but, with his ability to run down opponents, he became a formidable weapon for his team in defending from the forward line. Over time, injuries took their toll on his body but he still had a glittering career at the club which included a "Bluey" Truscott Medal in 2009.

In a fashion, it was Davey who was the prototype player for the way in which the game evolved over the past decade with the demand for almost all players to have the capacity to run both ways and moreover, do it all day, albeit that the effort required in achieving this outcome makes rest and rotation of players necessary. Players with Davey's speed only but without the endurance, soon were forced to play lesser roles within a team structure or were superceded altogether.

The relevance of this in the context of the Queens Birthday fixture between Melbourne and Collingwood is that a decade ago it was the Magpies who were in the doldrums while the Demons were up near the top of the tree (they reached first place at the end of round 18, 2004) and the situation reversed itself very quickly over the course of the next few years.

There are a number of reasons why the teams changed places including financial stability, good management and recruiting but on the field, it was mainly Collingwood's ability to adapt in style and then to take the lead over the rest of the competition with its hard running midfield which resulted in a premiership in 2010 and regular top four placings in other years.

The record shows that Melbourne has languished behind the pack for far too long but this year, the changes to the defensive side of the team style introduced by new coach Paul Roos are starting to reap rewards. The flow of goals against has been stemmed and we are no longer seeing massive opposition scores on a weekly basis. Leaving aside the round 2 game against the Eagles (hopefully, an aberration) the team's percentage would now be sitting at around 90 compared to just over 50 last year.

The challenge is for the team to maintain its new found defensive intensity while at the same time develop more potency when going into attack. Against the top team last week, Melbourne gathered 421 disposals to 364 but they translated into only 43 inside 50s against 60.

You can maintain defensive pressure for only so long but, in the end, you need to include scoreboard pressure as well. When Melbourne successfully manages the next step, it will be able to take its place with the likes of Collingwood in the AFL scheme of things.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Collingwood at MCG Monday 9 June 2014 at 3.20pm (AEST)

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 79 wins Collingwood 144 wins 5 drawn

At the MCG Melbourne 59 wins Collingwood 77 wins 3 drawn

Last Five Years Melbourne 0 wins Collingwood 4 wins 1 drawn

The Coaches: Roos 0 wins Buckley 0 wins

MEDIA

TV Channel 7 Fox Footy Channel (Live at 3.00pm)

Radio Triple M 3AW SEN ABC ABC Grandstand

THE BETTING

Melbourne $4.20 to win Collingwood $1.22 to win

LAST TIME THEY MET

Collingwood 17.20.122 defeated Melbourne 5.9.39 at MCG in Round 11, 2013

The Demons opened up brightly enough and kept up with the Pies until the first break but when the pressure was applied, the team collapsed without so much as a whimper in the game that spelled the end of coach Mark Neeld.

Aaron Davey kicked his team's first and last goal for the game. Ironically, neither of the team's other goalkickers from that day (Trengove 2, Blease 1) will be out there on Monday afternoon.

TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B: Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn, Neville Jetta

HB: Jack Grimes, Tom McDonald, Jeremy Howe

C: Daniel Cross, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince

HF: Rohan Bail, James Frawley, Matt Jones

F: Cam Pedersen, Chris Dawes, Jack Watts

FOLL: Mark Jamar, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney

I/C: Max Gawn, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Christian Salem, Dean Terlich

EMG: Jordie McKenzie, Aidan Riley, Jimmy Toumpas

IN: Chris Dawes

OUT: Jimmy Toumpas

COLLINGWOOD

B: Tom Langdon, Jack Frost, Alan Toovey

HB: Marley Williams, Lachlan Keeffe, Tyson Goldsack

C: Dane Swan, Brent Macaffer, Heritier Lumumba

HF: Alex Fasolo, Jesse White, Jarryd Blair

F: Luke Ball, Travis Cloke, Jamie Elliott

FOLL: Jarrod Witts, Dayne Beams, Scott Pendlebury

I/C: Sam Dwyer, Paul Seedsman, Josh Thomas, Clinton Young

EMG: Taylor Adams, Tim Broomhead, Brodie Grundy,

IN: Luke Ball, Sam Dwyer, Dane Swan

OUT: Taylor Adams, Nick Maxwell (calf), Steele Sidebottom (suspension)

The status of Melbourne's traditional rivalry with Collingwood has taken a battering lately and certainly its performances over the past three years have not helped it in maintaining its hold on the Queens Birthday blockbuster.

The Demons haven't won against the Magpies since they surprised them in the 2007 encounter. They also drew in the 2010 Queens Birthday match up (although died in the wool Collingwood fanatics insist that their wayward kicking cost them 2 premiership points that day). Since that day, the best effort we've seen is a 42 point loss in 2012 sandwiched in between 88 points (2011) and 83 points (last year). And though this day is potentially the biggest revenue earner of the year for the club, the crowds have been dwindling in direct proportion to its fortunes on the field.

This makes the 2014 version a vital one for the Melbourne Football Club. There has been a substantial amount of discussion about the club's improvement this year but 3 wins out of 10 is nothing to write home about. The danger for the team now is that it will be content to rely on the recent spate of positive publicity about its mini-resurgence and rest on its laurels, rather than make a concerted effort to rise out of the bottom six.

A win against a top four contender would certainly give momentum to that resurgence and Melbourne ceryainly blew its chances against Port Adelaide last week; to concede the first 26 points and the last 25 and be in arrears by only 20 at the final siren suggests that it had its chances. To take the next step, it needs to apply itself for 100% (or close to that figure) of the time against whatever opposition it comes against.

Collingwood, with its outstanding midfield has dominated Melbourne in the engine room in their recent meetings but the Demons' rise in this division has narrowed the gap between the two teams. Mark Jamar leads the way with his return to close to his All Australian form of 2010 and the well documented inclusions that are the product of the pre season recruiting campaign should ensure that the on ball duels between the teams will be competitive. Melbourne's defence is performing well beyond expectations even with the move of James Frawley to attack and this week, the return of Chris Dawes to face his old club could give it an edge in the key forward area.

I'm tipping a cliffhanger with Collingwood's big game experience to give it the edge in a close game worthy of an expected crowd of 75-80 thousand.