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THE BEAST by Whispering Jack

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This weekend the football world will recognise the man who was the last coach to take the Demons to a finals appearance (not to mention a win over Collingwood on Queens Birthday) with the Big Freeze at the "G" event to raise awareness of and funds for a cure for motor neurone disease, an affliction which Neale Daniher suffers. The cause is a worthy one and the clubs involved in this weekend's blockbuster game are to be commended for throwing their efforts behind the objective of finding a cure for the "beast".

And when the game begins and hopefully a massive sum has been raised for MND research, the fans of this club which Daniher coached to finals appearances and one grand final for almost a decade can be a part of the search to cure their own club's "beast", an affliction that has wracked the club since his last days at the helm.

Since Daniher's departure, the club has been in a constant cycle of disastrous and failed attempts to rebuild with few glimpses of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

Even with the arrival of new coach Paul Roos and the advent of some bright young talent, the ride continues to be a bumpy one as attested by the season's record to date of three wins and six defeats and a poor percentage. The anomaly is that five of those losses have been against clubs that occupy the top eight and the other was against a team that came within a whisker of making last year's grand final. One of the wins was over a current top eight side; another against a team just outside. In a competition where the fixture is engineered to give the lower sides a decent draw, Melbourne has played only once against a club occupying the current bottom seven spots on the ladder. The Demons can't even win the luck of the draw because this week they're up against fourth placed Collingwood.

They are also a team that shows all of the signs of a young team with some promise, exhibiting growing pains and carrying baggage from its unsuccessful recent past. One of those signs is inconsistency. The gap between the team's best and its worst is a gaping chasm and one has no clue as to which side of its persona will emerge at the long weekend.

That is the nature of the Beast.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Collingwood at MCG Monday 8 June 2015 at 3.20pm (AEST)

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 79 wins Collingwood 145 wins 5 drawn

At the MCG Melbourne 59 wins Collingwood 78 wins 3 drawn

Last Five Meetings Melbourne 0 wins Collingwood 4 wins 1 drawn

The Coaches: Roos 0 wins Buckley 1 win

MEDIA

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

Radio Triple M 3AW SEN ABC ABC Grandstand

THE BETTING

Melbourne $ 3.55 to win Collingwood $1.30 to win

LAST TIME THEY MET

Collingwood 8.13.61 defeated Melbourne 3.10.28 at MCG in Round 12, 2014

Melbourne lost by only 33 points but it was an excruciatingly painful game to watch. The Demons kicked a goal in the first minute and only two more for the afternoon in a defensive slog but were well in the game until late in the third quarter when an umpiring slip and some skill errors gave the Pies the upper hand. In spite of all that, honours for best on the ground went to Demon Bernie Vince.

TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B: Colin Garland, Tom McDonald, Jack Fitzpatrick

HB: Jeremy Howe, Lynden Dunn, Neville Jetta

C: Daniel Cross, Aaron vandenBerg, Heritier Lumumba

HF: Ben Newton, Cam Pedersen, Jack Viney

F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Aidan Riley

FOLL: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince

I/C: Angus Brayshaw, Matt Jones, Jimmy Toumpas, Jack Watts

EMG: Jack Grimes, Viv Michie, Jake Spencer

IN: Max Gawn, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley

OUT: Rohan Bail, Jack Grimes, Jake Spencer (all omitted)

COLLINGWOOD

B: Tom Langdon, Nathan Brown, Marley Williams

HB: Alan Toovey, Jack Frost, Tyson Goldsack

C: Travis Varcoe, Dane Swan, Paul Seedsman

HF: Jamie Elliott, Jesse White, Steele Sidebottom

F: Alex Fasolo, Travis Cloke, Jarryd Blair

FOLL: Brodie Grundy, Jack Crisp, Scott Pendlebury

I/C: Tim Broomhead, Jordan De Goey, Adam Oxley, Jarrod Witts

EMG: Sam Dwyer, Ben Kennedy, Brayden Maynard

IN: Tim Broomhead

OUT: Taylor Adams (toe)

Neale Daniher spoke to the Melbourne players again this week.

Perhaps there's not a lot of logic behind what I'm about to suggest but I believe that the last time Daniher spoke to this group, they got up and played possibly their best game of the season against the Western Bulldogs and on that basis, I'm giving them the nod to break an eight year old streak and win a Queens Birthday clash against Collingwood.

Last week, in the absence of a rev from the Rev, Melbourne demonstrated its inconsistency and its brittleness by turning a comfortable four goal lead halfway through the second quarter into a ten goal defeat against a previously flailing Port Adelaide. There's little doubt that such form has a lot to do with what's going on in the collective heads of the group and Neale Daniher's courage and example over the past year during his battle with MND is enough to spur those with doubts in their minds about their ability to succeed in this sport.

And for this reason, I believe that the Melbourne Football Club will join American Pharoah, the Aussie Test Cricket Team, Serena Williams, the Casey Scorpions and Barcelona (remind me about their colours) in their triumph over the Beast this week.

Melbourne by 17 points.

 

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