MATCH PREVIEW AND TEAM SELECTION - Round 15

[Demonland 72,170]

FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE by the Oracle 

Apart from the AFL Tribunal side show, all of the talk this week has been about injuries and how the Demons are going to deal with their third successive six day break. The theory is that things might not work out so well in the light of the absence of a significant number of their more valuable players and the weight of fatigue as a consequence of the team's recent heavy workload.

But I'm not worried in the slightest.

You see, I follow the patterns and rhythms of life and Melbourne's form line is pointing extraordinarily more towards an upswing this week. The Demons had an ordinary game last week by most measures but they disguised it well with that magnificent, withering finish capped off by Tom McDonald's great goal that gave them their last-minute victory. The rare win out west was one for the ages because behind the victory stood the fact that the team lost in many key performance areas and yet, it was still ahead on the scoreboard that mattered at the end of the night.

The Demons did not dominate as they did the week before against the Bulldogs. They did they win the possession count but only barely won the clearances (even with the return of Max Gawn) and they had less inside fifties than the Eagles. What they did do is the thing they are now very good at - they imposed great pressure through strong football.

We all know that fortune favours the brave and it was thanks to the bravery of the team led by Jack Viney that the team got over the line against the Eagles and I expect them to end the financial year in the same vein on Friday night against the Swans.

THE GAME Melbourne v Sydney Swans at the MCG Friday 30 June 2017 at 7.50pm
 
HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 92 wins Sydney Swans 111 wins 2 drawn

At MCG Melbourne 49 wins Sydney Swans 42 wins 2 drawn

Last 5 meetings Melbourne 0 wins Sydney Swans 5 wins 

The Coaches Goodwin 0 wins Longmire 0 wins

MEDIA
 
TV -   Channel 7 Fox Footy Channel Live at 7.30pm
 
RADIO - SEN
 
THE BETTING
 
Melbourne $2.08 to win Sydney Swans $1.78 to win 
 
THE LAST TIME THEY MET Sydney Swans 12.14.86 defeated Melbourne 4.7.31 in Round 13, 2016 at the SCG
 
The stronger-bodied Sydney Swans strangled a young Demon team that couldn't handle the conditions when torrential rain hit the harbour city. The Swans applied an AFL-record 155 tackles, kicked eight goals to two in the second half and Lance Franklin's four goals matched the Demons' entire tally for the game.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B: Michael Hibberd, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta 
HB: Jordan Lewis, Sam Frost, Jayden Hunt 
C: James Harmes, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince 
HF: Billy Stretch, Cameron Pedersen,  Christian Petracca 
F: Clayton Oliver, Tom McDonald, Alex Neal-Bullen 
FOLL: Max Gawn, Jake Melksham, Jack Viney 
I/C: Tomas Bugg , Mitch Hannan, Josh Wagner, Mitch White  
EMG: Dion Johnstone, Jack Trengove, Sam Weideman

IN: Josh Wagner, Mitch White

OUT: Jeff Garlett (hamstring), Christian Salem (hamstring)

SYDNEY 

B: Nic Newman, Heath Grundy, Nick Smith 
HB: Zak Jones, Dane Rampe, Jake Lloyd 
C: Isaac Heeney, Josh P. Kennedy, Callum Mills 
HF: George Hewett, Lance Franklin, Kieren Jack 
F: Gary Rohan, Sam Reid, Tom Papley 
FOLL: Sam Naismith, Dan Hannebery, Luke Parker
I/C: Oliver Florent, Jarrad McVeigh, Lewis Melican, Dean Towers 
EMG: Jordan Foote, Jeremy Laidler, Callum Sinclair 

IN: Zak Jones, Jarrad McVeigh 

OUT: Will Hayward (foot), Callum Sinclair (omitted) 

FRIDAY OFF OUR MINDS 

Melbourne has been a stranger to Friday night football for far too long, having been completely deprived of the lucrative prime time home fixture for five years - and for the good reason that the team was simply not good enough to showcase its wares in front of national television audiences on the sport's biggest night of the week.

The most recent Friday night games have generally turned into disasters for Melbourne like the "bruise-free" match against Carlton or the time the Hawks crushed an embarrassing, lifeless Demon combination into complete submission. That effort was probably the last straw that caused their banishment from the Friday scene by the AFL from 2012 until now. 

The Friday night wins have been few and far between, the most recent being the time they got their act together against the Bombers in 2011 under Dean Bailey but that was an Essendon home game. You have to go back a lot further to the last Friday night MCG home win which came in round six, 2006 when Melbourne scraped home by a goal in the rain against an inaccurate Geelong. A fortnight later that Demons beat Hawthorn there by 75 points as the "visiting" side. Ironically, the Hawks' list at the time included two youngsters in the early stages of their careers - Buddy Franklin and Jordan Lewis. Both were missing through injury that night and both returned the following week. The rest is history for them and the Hawks but coincidentally they will line up on Friday night in opposing teams.

Both sides pinched narrow victories in their last up starts and both have strong midfields (Demons are ranked equal third in the competition for clearances: the Swans are ninth). Franklin is the one true game-breaker among the two sides and he will be extra dangerous for fact that last Friday night he was held goalless. That doesn't happen very often. 

But Melbourne doesn't rely on any one individual. The strength of the team comes from its evenness and a statistic that does not lie - Demons are the AFL's highest disposal team in 2017, averaging 412.3 per game. They have won the disposal count in 12 of their 13 games while the Swans are ranked 13th in this area. 

The consequence is that for the long-awaited return to the game's centre stage on Friday night, the world is going to see plenty of the red and blue on the wide expanses of the MCG. With Max Gawn back to start the dominance from stoppages, I'm tipping a Demon win by 10 points. 

[brendan 3,437]

Does team get announced today or tommorow for Friday night games 

[Copuchas 763]

3 minutes ago, brendan said:

Does team get announced today or tommorow for Friday night games 

tomorrow, 6.25pm

[ManDee 7,134]

And poor GWS have been savaged by injuries,

Player	Injury	Estimated Return
Matt Buntine	Knee	Season
Stephen Coniglio	Ankle	4 weeks
Brett Deledio	Calf	TBC
Ryan Griffen	Ankle	9 weeks
Jacob Hopper	Finger	3 weeks
Josh Kelly	Hip	Test
Adam Kennedy	Knee	Season
Devon Smith	Knee	Test
Jake Stein	Groin	Test
Tim Taranto	Ankle	8-10 weeks
Lachlan Tiziani	Knee	2-3 weeks
Updated: Tuesday, June 27   But nothing about Melbourne Player Injury Estimated Return Angus Brayshaw Concussion Indefinite Lochie Filipovic Hip 4 weeks Colin Garland* Knee Season Jeff Garlett Hamstring Test Jesse Hogan Testicular cancer Test Nathan Jones Quad 4-5 weeks Pat McKenna Hamstring 4-5 weeks Christian Salem  Hamstring 3-4 weeks Joel Smith Shoulder Available Tim Smith Navicular bone Season Aaron vandenBerg* Heel Season Jack Viney  Shoulder  Available  Jack Watts Hamstring Test Updated: Tuesday, June 27 It's us against everyone else, give em hell.

[daisycutter 29,613]

 

[ManDee 7,134]

49 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

 

DC is that them or us?

Jack Viney to Hurn.

 

[Jaded No More 68,907]

I'm bringing 7 people to this game. Only 2 actually care about the Dees (some don't care about footy much but I'm forcing them to come for 'good luck' ).

I'm gonna cop it for years to come if we don't win.

 

[Demons11 7,008]

No Hogan, Watts or Garlett this week

[DemonOX 8,791]

Garlett, Watts and Hogan ruled out for this week as per SEN who got it from Goodwins presser. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by DemonOX

[brendan 3,437]

Sydney will start favorites for sure 

[Chook 15,013]

With our injuries, against Sydney on the big stage, will be a mighty win if we can get it.

[Adam The God 30,222]

24 minutes ago, Chook said:

With our injuries, against Sydney on the big stage, will be a mighty win if we can get it.

Dare I say it, very Bulldogs 2016-like.

[brendan 3,437]

19 minutes ago, Chook said:

With our injuries, against Sydney on the big stage, will be a mighty win if we can get it.

Agree if we manage to pull it off I will be disappointed if we don't finish top 4, Sydney should start favorites 

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

37 minutes ago, brendan said:

Sydney will start favorites for sure 

As they should.

[Chook 15,013]

On the MCG I'd bring Wiedemann in as another marking target.

OUT: Garlett, Salem

INS: Kennedy-Harris, Weidemann

 

I'd play Hannan in the Garlett role, Tom McDonald as a roving CHF, Pedersen as a decoy, and Weideman close to goal. JKH as an accumulating midfielder (none of this small-forward stuff. He's no more a small forward than Jetta is).

Edited June 28, 2017 by Chook

[qwerty7 326]

Going to be a very tough win and at this point, I'd expect a loss. Having said that, this team is just so surprising and really team focussed that key personnel out doesn't bother me as much anymore. However, we just have too many outs I think for this game that it might make it just that little bit too hard to pull off a win. Will be very happy to be proven wrong 

[DemonLad5 1,642]

Imagine if we didn't have Gawn back 

[brendan 3,437]

Dees already out to $2.02 swans $1.80 it was opposite only an hour ago 

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

So... Matchups...

TMac, OMac and Frost on Buddy, Reid and Sinclair (with a bit of Naismith). Tmac on Reid and rebound... Omac on the high ball, Frost on the lead for buddy with the big double team. Sinclair and Naismith can do as they please.

The midfield... Eesh. What do you do? Olly on Parker? Viney on Kennedy? Melksham on Hanneberry? This is twice the midfield we just nearly lost to in West Coast.

Our forward line though, will smash it. 

I don't reckon week to week we'll see anything close to predictable midfield matchups. I'm pumped. We're a chance anywhere anytime.

[Deemented Are Go! 3,677]

 

16 minutes ago, brendan said:

Dees already out to $2.02 swans $1.80 it was opposite only an hour ago 

Goodo; much prefer being the underdog!

[In Harmes Way 7,768]

Interesting article in the Australian:

"A Melbourne victory over Sydney on Friday night at the MCG will equal an AFL record of four ­consecutive wins in 18 days, previously achieved only once in the history of the game."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-on-track-to-equal-cats/news-story/4a256d3461ab386d3fb82f264e07bde8

[PaulRB 6,362]

1 hour ago, small but forward said:

Interesting article in the Australian:

"A Melbourne victory over Sydney on Friday night at the MCG will equal an AFL record of four ­consecutive wins in 18 days, previously achieved only once in the history of the game."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-on-track-to-equal-cats/news-story/4a256d3461ab386d3fb82f264e07bde8

If we win we'll have to start an "Awesome kick-ass records" thread... 

[What 18,810]

No Garlett, Watts, Jones, Hogan, Salem....

You could argue they are our 5 most important players, Gawn excluded.

Sydneys injury list is empty.

This will be a greater win than last week if we get up.

[leave it to deever 17,511]

Love to make finals with a full compliment. They wont know what hit em.

[Demon_spurs 1,846]

How about selecting Spencer, that way we can push Maxy forward, and really stretch them