A couple of weeks ago, we breathed a sigh of relief when two of Hawthorn's most important players lost the plot and earned themselves a few weeks holiday courtesy of the AFL system which punishes such indiscretions as whacking unsuspecting opponents in the head and the like.

It didn't take long for the suspensions of Luke Hodge and Jordan Lewis to have a negative impact on the Hawks. Their surprise defeat at the hands of the GWS Giants put them three games behind competition leader Fremantle and, even at this early stage of proceedings that makes the possibility of them having to negotiate an interstate final a likely outcome given the line-up of teams currently near the top of the table.

All this spells trouble for Melbourne reeling from consecutive big losses at the hands of two of those big guns and now staring down the barrel at a confrontation with the wounded reigning premiers. They are not likely to take the Demons easily or give any concessions but rather will approach this clash with a heightened sense of "unsociability" given how problematic a surprise defeat at the hands of an AFL minnow would be to its prospects of pulling off an AFL premiership "threepeat".

So Melbourne fans going to Saturday afternoon's away game at the MCG should not draw any solace from the fact that Hodge and Lewis are going to be sitting in the stands along with one or two of their key defenders. Hawthorn will come out fully pumped, ready for the kill and out to add to its imposing string of impressive wins (eleven in a row) mostly by huge winning margins stretching out to almost a decade. And sadly, judging by how meekly their opponents have succumbed in the past couple of matches, they won't need to whack any heads to achieve that feat again on Saturday.

THE GAME

Hawthorn v Melbourne at the MCG Saturday 16 May 2015 at 2.10pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Hawthorn 83 wins Melbourne 74 wins

At MCG Hawthorn 42 wins Melbourne 35 wins

Last 5 meetings Hawthorn 5 wins Melbourne 0 wins

The Coaches Clarkson 1 win Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV Fox Sports Channel 3 at 2.00pm (live)

RADIO - Triple M 3AW

THE BETTING

Hawthorn $1.13 to win Melbourne $6.00 to win

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Hawthorn 17.13.115 defeated Melbourne 9.11.65 in Round 20, 2014 at the MCG

It was just another one of the many since Melbourne beat them on a Friday night in 2006 before the deluge came for the Demons. Nothing changed. They came out. Went bang. We lost by 50 points.

THE TEAMS

HAWTHORN

B: Shaun Burgoyne, James Frawley, Ben Stratton
HB: Grant Birchall, Josh Gibson, Taylor Duryea
C: Bradley Hill, Sam Mitchell, Matthew Suckling
HF: Isaac Smith, Jack Gunston, Cyril Rioli
F: Ben McEvoy, Jarryd Roughead, Luke Breust
FOLL: Jonathon Ceglar, Paul Puopolo, Liam Shiels
I/C: Ryan Schoenmakers, Will Langford, Angus Litherland, Billy Hartung
EMG: Daniel Howe, Jonathan Simpkin, Tim O'Brien

IN: James Frawley, Angus Litherland

OUT: Jed Anderson, Brendan Whitecross

MELBOURNE

B: Christian Salem, Tom McDonald, Colin Garland
HB: Jack Grimes, Lynden Dunn, Jeremy Howe
C: Daniel Cross, Nathan Jones, Heritier Lumumba
HF: Angus Brayshaw, Jesse Hogan, Rohan Bail
F: Jeff Garlett, Chris Dawes, Aaron Vandenberg
FOLL: Jake Spencer, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince
I/C: Matt Jones, Viv Michie, Billy Stretch, Jimmy Toumpas
EMG: Max Gawn, Ben Newton, Cameron Pedersen

IN: Rohan Bail, Jack Grimes, Matt Jones, Viv Michie

OUT: Jay Kennedy-Harris (groin), Ben Newton, Cam Pedersen, Jack Watts

Hawthorn's reputation is not only one of "unsociability" but it is also completely ruthless and, unfortunately for Melbourne, that streak has come out the most this year when the Hawks have been recently wounded. You only need to look at how they bounced back after losses to Essendon and Port Melbourne by flogging the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne to know that there will be no complacency in the camp after their upset loss to Greater Western Sydney which was their first ever to one of the two new franchise clubs.

The problem for Melbourne is that it has almost picked the wrong week to come up against
Hawthorn. Sure, it would have been much worse had Hodge, Lewis and Lake been available but the Hawks have a happy knack of being able to cover their losses reasonably well. Even without their two highly regarded midfielders, they have the likes of Sam Mitchell and Shaun Burgoyne in the heart of the ground with dangerous players like Cyril, Brad Hill and Liam Shiels thereabouts and they have class everywhere on the ground.

This should all prove to much for the Demons whose stocks are somewhat depleted. Even with their best 22 available they would struggle but this week, it could get ugly.

Hawthorn by 57 points.

Quite right.

All to often over the years we have read on these pages that so-and-so is out so we are in with a big chance.

We just need to learn to beat whoever the opposition put out for us to play, be it the full team of a wounded one.

And as you say the Hawks will be absolutely livid and reeling. The stand ins will be out to cement their places.

It is a huge challenge for our team.

Go Demons.

Wouldn't it be nice.