THE DOVE by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 64,798]

The dove is a bird associated with peace and harmony. The hawk is its exact opposite - aggressive and warlike.

Ironically, in the week when Melbourne takes on the AFL Hawks it is the club that you associate with the aggressive bird that sits in peaceful harmony at the top of the AFL table while the Demons are seemingly in disarray and ducking for cover in the wake of their coach's stinging attack on his players and the culture of the club. Paul Roos blamed the clubs culture of losing on its past tanking controversies claiming that some Demons players remaining from 2009 appear to be scarred from those experiences and must overcome them before the club can take further strides forward.

I think he's wrong and that he didn't think out those comments very well at all. They invited the attention of the usual media vultures and were unnecessary negative given the shortcomings of the list he possesses. In my view, he should get on with the job of coaching and looking to the future rather than look for excuses.

Whatever the reason for the malaise that led to the situation at ¾ time when Melbourne held a slender lead but almost double the number of shots at goal (and the possible explanations seem numerous and open to conjecture), the game was there to be won in the final quarter.

That's when the coach can exert his influence and given we were seeing two young inexperienced teams that haven't performed well in 2014, the result reflected just as poorly on our coaching as it did on the players.

Look at the replay and you can see the defensive mindset in mid quarter compared to the way Brisbane took on the game and you won't be surprised at all about who won and who lost.

I thought at the time that Roos still had his eye on the future with the way they played out the game and was prepared to give him an escape card but I was disappointed with his references to the past in the post-match which of course, led to the predictable feeding frenzy from Caroline Wilson and co who simply won't let go of past personal agendas.

Roos knew exactly what he was getting himself into when he took on the job and he should be last person to make excuses. We've seen some signs of improvement this year but given the fact that he has a better list that was expected, we should be seeing more. For all that, with a game against the top team in the competition, it's time to see a more aggressive approach to our opposition than to our ghosts of the past, perceived or otherwise.

THE GAME

Hawthorn v Melbourne at the MCG Saturday 9 August 2014 at 4.40 pm.

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Hawthorn 82 wins Melbourne 74 wins

At MCG Hawthorn 41 wins Melbourne 35 wins

Last 5 years Hawthorn 5 wins Melbourne 0 wins

The Coaches Clarkson 0 wins Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV Fox Footy Channel at 4.30pm (live)

RADIO Triple M 3AW SEN ABC ABC Grandstand

THE BETTING

Hawthorn $1.04 to win Melbourne $11.00 to win

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Hawthorn 15.25.115 defeated Melbourne 6.13.49 in Round 10, 2013 at the MCG

The Hawks kicked 12 goals to 1 in the first half. Thanks to some atrocious kicking from the Hawks the Dees managed to miraculously outscore them in the second half.

THE TEAMS

HAWTHORN

B: Taylor Duryea, Josh Gibson, Matt Spangher

HB: Luke Hodge, Ben Stratton, Grant Birchall

C: Isaac Smith, Sam Mitchell, Matthew Suckling

HF: Bradley Hill, Ryan Schoenmakers, Luke Breust

F: Paul Puopolo, Jarryd Roughead, Jordan Lewis

FOLL: Ben McEvoy, Shaun Burgoyne, Liam Shiels

I/C: David Hale, Jonathan Simpkin, Billy Hartung, Will Langford

EMG: Jonathon Ceglar, Angus Litherland, Alex Woodward

IN: Billy Hartung, Sam Mitchell, Isaac Smith

OUT: Jack Gunston (knee), Angus Litherland, Alex Woodward

MELBOURNE

B: Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn, Jeremy Howe

HB: Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Matt Jones

C: Rohan Bail, Bernie Vince, Daniel Cross

HF: Jay Kennedy-Harris, James Frawley, Jack Watts

F: Mark Jamar, Chris Dawes, Dean Kent

FOLL: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson

I/C: Dom Barry, Viv Michie, Aidan Riley, Jack Viney

EMG: Jack Fitzpatrick, Jordie McKenzie, Daniel Nicholson

IN: Dom Barry, Daniel Cross, Max Gawn, Matt Jones, Viv Michie

OUT: Blease, McKenzie, Pedersen (head), Tapscott (knee), Terlich

The changes to the team this week reflect the fact that Paul Roos means business. He has warned that many of his players are virtually on trial and the three omissions from last week's fiasco are certainly on shaky ground. Luke Tapscott who is out by virtue of a knee injury is also in trouble because it took him the better part of the season to gain promotion from Casey and yet, he failed at the highest level yet again. The same can be said of most of the players selected in the VFL this week. With perhaps, the exception of Christian Salem and a couple of rookies, the rest have their cards virtually marked.

The inclusions into the team look like plusses. Max Gawn has been in ripping form while Daniel Cross has been the team's measuring stick this year and it's no coincidence that things went awry the moment he dropped out of the team with that foot fracture. Matt Jones and Viv Michie are solid but unspectacular citizens with form at Casey while Dom Barry is young and fast but looms as the likely sub. All in all, there is likely to be an improvement in the line up but the bad news is that this week's opponent is Hawthorn, not Brisbane and that foretells of a tough evening at the office.

Hawthorn comfortably.