DIGGING DEEP

DIGGING DEEP by Whispering Jack

That wily old campaigner Kevin Sheedy had to dig deep into his bag of tricks to come up with a message for this week's game between the fledgling GWS Giants and Melbourne.

Instead of informing all and sundry that his team, composed of mainly pimply faced teenagers mixed in with a handful of broken down old hacks and two or three players poached for nothing from other clubs considered it an honour to grace the wonderful ground which really gave birth to our native game, Sheedy couldn't help but go feral by baiting Melbourne fans with stereotypes about visiting the snow and with tales about how his club lured Tom Scully away from the club and into the fleshpots of Rooty Hill.

As with much of what Sheedy says and does these days, it's all smoke and mirrors stuff - deception to mask the inadequacy of his team which was put together with the money and influence of a higher power being the AFL.

There was no recruiting acumen and no finesse involved. The Giants' recruiters picked heir marks, offered more than their current clubs could possibly pay and had them hook, line and sinker. Clubs whose investments in the game were garnered through a century and a half of the hard slog had players pirated by people using their money. Talk about insult and injury!

The truth of the matter is that Sheedy's new franchise is bleeding the AFL of millions of dollars to gain the sport a foothold in a new heartland in the western suburbs of a city that isn't interested the game at all.

You only had to look at the rows and rows of empty seats at Skoda Stadium where the visiting Tiger fans almost outnumbered the bewildered looking locals at last week's affair to tell you that it's just not working.

The truth is that Sheedy's ploy is a total distraction. An attempt to move the focus away from the fact that there's a game to be played and won and onto personalities like Scully, who jumped ship at the first opportunity to make a bigger buck (and good luck to him if he can get paid for routinely producing less on the field than half a dozen of his pubescent teammates) or James McDonald who, quite frankly, must have been embarrassed by the coach's suggestion that he be made captain for the day just so he could stick it up the fans who supported Junior so well for more than a decade.

The first game between Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney Giants deserves much more than the piffling build up and humbuggery of Kevin Sheedy. It deserves to be taken seriously as a game of football for four points and not as a circus. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Sheedy has made it.

Hopefully, Mark Neeld won't take the bait.

THE GAME

Melbourne v. GWS Giants at the MCG – Sunday 26 June 2012 at 3.15pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 0 wins GWS Giants 0 wins

At the MCG Melbourne 0 wins GWS Giants 0 wins

Since 2000 Melbourne 0 wins GWS Giants 0 wins

The Coaches Neeld 0 wins Sheedy 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Channel 7 & Fox Footy Channel live at 3.00pm.

RADIO - ABC774 3AW Triple M

THE BETTING

Melbourne to win $1.31 GWS to win $3.55

LAST TIME THEY MET

Never.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

Backs James Sellar James Frawley Jared Rivers

Half backs Daniel Nicholson Tom McDonald Jack Watts

Centreline Rohan Bail Jack Trengove Jack Grimes

Half forwards Jeremy Howe Lynden Dunn Nathan Jones

Forwards Mitch Clark Colin Garland Colin Sylvia

Followers Mark Jamar Brent Moloney Jordie McKenzie

Interchange Matthew Bate Aaron Davey Joel Macdonald James Magner

Emergencies Sam Blease Troy Davis Cale Morton

In Rohan Bail Matthew Bate Aaron Davey Joel Macdonald

Out Sam Blease Brad Green (hip) Cale Morton Luke Tapscott (suspension)

GWS GIANTS

Backs Jack Hombsch Tim Mohr Sam Darley

Half backs Shaun Edwards Phil Davis Toby Greene

Centreline Tom Scully Callan Ward Adam Treloar

Half forwards Taylor Adams Jeremy Cameron Rhys Palmer

Forwards Nathan Wilson Jonathan Patton Mark Whiley

Followers Dean Brogan James McDonald Dylan Shiel

Interchange Tomas Bugg Jonathan Giles Devon Smith Luke Power

Emergencies Chad Cornes WIlliam Hoskin-Elliot Andrew Phillips

In Jonathan Giles Jack Hombsch Nathan Wilson

Out Chad Cornes (rested) Andrew Phillips Sam Schulz (calf)

THE PERILS OF LONG RANGE FORECASTING

Let's face it. The minute the AFL issued its programme of matches way back twhen the full roster of Greater Western Sydney players was far from finalised, we were all smacking our chops in anticipation of what shaped not only as an eminently winnable game for Melbourne but also as a probable crushing of the club we had quickly grown to loathe because of the tactics used to lure Tom Scully away from the club. After all, Melbourne's first encounter in 2011 with that year's debutants from the Gold Coast had resulted in a 15 goal victory even though most judges felt the team didn't even raise a gallop until the final quarter. Surely, this would be another massacre of similar proportions?

Well, we've seen some changes since then. Things have not gone well for Melbourne with injuries, loss of form, a slow adaptation to a new style of play and some extraordinary and well documented on and off field events derailing the first half of the club's season. Not even in our wildest nightmares did we expect Melbourne to be on only one win at this juncture.

A similar thing could be said of Greater Western Sydney who most expected to go through 2012 winless. Not only did they beat the Suns earlier in the season, but they have been impressive with some real competitive performances, particularly in recent times. It's no mean feat to be on even terms with Geelong on its home turf even if the Cats are seemingly on their way down and the Giants did well last week to be within sniffing distance late in their game against the Tigers.

On Sunday, the Giants will experience the MCG for the first time and the big ground should suit them because they run and spread well, a feature which has for the most part been lacking at Melbourne this year. The Demons have loaded up with big bodies in order to exploit the youthful Giants and it will be interesting to see how the game plays itself out.

What puzzles me is the GWS decision to omit Chad Cornes who routinely stars against Melbourne and whose form this year had been widely acknowledged as one of the reasons why his team has been so competitive. Last week he had 23 touches against Richmond and whilst not as prolific against Geelong in the game before that, his contribution was significant. In his team's only win this year, Cornes had 28 possessions, took 12 marks and was easily best on the ground. It's hard to believe that he's been rested for this game on this ground and in the heavy conditions anticipated for Sunday. I wouldn't be surprised if this was yet another Sheedy ploy and a late change will see Cornes running out for the game.

What Melbourne needs to win on Sunday is a good start. After a couple of weeks of competitive starts against Carlton and Essendon, the Demons were woeful for almost a quarter and a half as they conceded more than eight goals as a result of some sloppy play, loose checking and poor kicking for goal against the Pies on Queens Birthday. A similar start will lead to a day of embarrassment.

On the other hand, the Giants will need everything to go their way much as it did last week against the Tigers when virtually every foray into the forward line resulted in a goal while Richmond was extremely wasteful up forward. The result was that the home side needed only fourteen shots to achieve twelve goals while the visitors scored one less goal with 31 attempts in their two goal win. In other words, it was only a matter of accuracy in front of goal that was the difference between a close result and an absolute thumping.

These things rarely happen two weeks in a row and, on that basis I believe the time has come for Melbourne to kick off a better half of the season and I'm tipping Melbourne and Black Caviar to make it a double for the weekend. Both will end up saluting the judges.

Demon fans - prepare to wave your jackets in the direction of the GWS coaches box at the end of the game!

Melbourne by 36 points.