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UTOPIA - NOT YET by Whispering Jack

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The last time Melbourne beat North Melbourne was during Nathan Jones' debut season in a game played on the MCG way back in 2006. Jones played the last eight games of the 2006 AFL season, including Melbourne's two finals but since then neither he nor any other Demon has tasted any success against the Kangaroos. They have played against each other a dozen times and Melbourne has lost at every one of their meetings including all seven at the venue of Saturday night's game.

Twelve months ago, rumours of the impending appointment of Paul Roos as coach of Melbourne started to take hold. As the football world moved into finals mode, the story turned from rumour into possibility and then into fact and with every passing day, the Demon faithful grew more and more optimistic about the future of their club. Nobody held utopian dreams of a dramatic improvement to the lofty heights occupied by the team Roos previously coached and he himself warned the supporters to expect things to move forward at a slow pace.

And that's how things are turning out. Even with some inspired recruiting of the likes of Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince and Daniel Cross, the team has taken small steps forward and even these seem to have come to a full stop over the last two months of the season. It's well and good that the Demons managed to crack the long standing Adelaide hoodoo and improved their game defensively but they end the season with a game style that has virtually no potency in attack. In this respect, one has to go back nearly a century to find a Melbourne team with a worse capacity for scoring and that combination was the rag tag unit that represented the club in its first season after a war time recess of four years.

Hardly a recommendation as the Demons approach their final challenge of 2014 - to overcome their long standing hoodoo against the Kangaroos at their most daunting of all venues, Etihad Stadium, from which they have not returned home victorious in the seven years since they beat the Western Bulldogs on a Saturday night in 2007.

THE GAME

North Melbourne v Melbourne on Saturday 30th August, 2014 at Etihad Stadium at 7.40 pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall North Melbourne 71 wins Melbourne 83 wins 1 drawn

At Etihad North Melbourne 7 wins Melbourne 0 wins

Last five times North Melbourne 5 wins Melbourne 0 wins

The Coaches Scott 1 win Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Fox Sports Channel 3 @7.30pm live

RADIO - 3AW SEN

THE BETTING

North Melbourne to win $1.06 Melbourne to win $9.50

LAST TIME THEY MET

North Melbourne 15.17.107 defeated Melbourne 10.6.66 at the MCG in Round 14, 2014

Seven unanswered goals to the Kangaroos in the middle part of the third quarter was the difference between the two teams although North's inaccuracy in front of goal didn't aid it's cause. Bernie Vince picked up 41 possessions.

THE TEAMS

NORTH MELBOURNE

B: Lachlan Hansen, Scott Thompson, Jamie Macmillan

HB: Shaun Atley, Nathan Grima,Sam Wright

C: Nick Dal Santo, Andrew Swallow, Ben Jacobs

HF: Kayne Turner, Ben Brown, Daniel Wells

F: Mason Wood, Drew Petrie, Aaron Black

FOLL: Daniel Currie, Ben Cunnington, Jack Ziebell

EMG: Trent Dumont, Brad McKenzie, Scott McMahon

IN: Daniel Currie, Lachlan Hansen, Jamie Macmillan, Daniel Wells, Mason Wood

OUT: Michael Firrito (soreness), Todd Goldstein (soreness), Levi Greenwood (calf), Luke McDonald (back), Lindsay Thomas (knee)

NEW: Mason Wood (Geelong Falcons)

MELBOURNE

B: Lynden Dunn, James Frawley, Neville Jetta

HB: Jeremy Howe, Tom McDonald, Bernie Vince

C: Jordie McKenzie, Daniel Cross, Rohan Bail

HF: Viv Michie, Max Gawn, Christian Salem

F: Jack Fitzpatrick, Chris Dawes, Dean Kent

FOLL: Mark Jamar, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson

I/C: Matt Jones, Aidan Riley, Jack Viney, Jack Watts

EMG: Dom Barry, Daniel Nicholson, Cameron Pedersen

IN: Jordie McKenzie, Aidan Riley

OUT: Colin Garland (knee), Cameron Pedersen (omitted)

In all likelihood, North Melbourne will finish the regular season in sixth place irrespective of whether it wins on Saturday and its elimination final opponent on the following weekend will most probably be Essendon (I'm discounting the possibility that an adverse Federal Court decision could change the makeup of the finals at this late stage).

Therefore, the fact that this match is one of the final round's few dead rubbers has allowed the Kangaroos the luxury of resting a number of its players.

The irony in that is that in recent times North Melbourne, which always seems to have a small injury list when playing Melbourne, will be missing five regulars (Todd Goldstein, Levi Greenwood, Luke McDonald, Lindsay Thomas and Michael Firrito) through relatively minor injuries such as "soreness" and, thanks to Brent Harvey's suspension, one of its constant stars during that long and ongoing winning streak against the Dees. Daniel Wells and Lachlan Hansen are returning but both are in need of a run after spending time out with injury in the latter part of the season.

The fact that Melbourne is facing such a weakened opposition would, on the face of it, provide some cheer for a club coming off a disappointing last two months given the opportunity of a victory to round off a difficult season. There's also an outside possibility that the club might "win" the wooden spoon so the incentive to win is well and truly there.

The problem for the Demons is that they are playing like the runner who has "hit the wall" in a marathon race. While most teams are still showing an ability to run all day even at the end of a long, hard season, they have been completely pedestrian in their own style of late and, even against a drastically weakened North Melbourne which has nothing to play for, the sea change necessary for this team to achieve a winning score is well beyond its capacity.

The problem for Melbourne has been apparent for much of the second half of a year that has brought it one solitary victory thanks to a late goal from Christian Salem against Essendon at the MCG in round 13. A week later, on the same ground and against the opponent it faces again on Saturday night, it hit that wall early in the third term. For a period of 15 minutes, North played some of the best football I have seen this year. It took the game on, its players ran and spread, passed the ball forward with precision and kicked seven unanswered goals in the space of less than fifteen minutes of brilliant attacking football, leaving its opponents to play the role of witches hats in a routine training drill.

Ever since, the Demons have moved out of that head space only on rare occasions. It is Paul Roos' challenge for next year and beyond to get the team out of the trough but there is no chance that it will happen this week at Etihad Stadium. Melbourne today, is a long way away from Utopia.

North Melbourne by 50 points.

 

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