Match Preview and Team Selection - Round 11

[Demonland 73,139]

THAT'S LIFE by Whispering Jack

The fortunes of the Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs Football Clubs intersected when the two sides met in June last year at Etihad Stadium. The Demons were finally and slowly emerging from years of deprivation and suffering in the competition's lower depths while the Bulldogs were rapidly descending from the dizzy heights of the previous year's unexpected September glory.

Despite the fact that both sides seemed to be heading in different directions, the outcome was still a shock to all, with the hitherto inconsistent Melbourne combination dominating throughout and, perhaps in a portent of things to come, winning all four quarters. 

We thought we had made it. We almost had it all but it turned out, that the hopes of a top four placing or even a finals finish were to prove premature, perhaps because the Demons were experiencing a "That's Life" moment as described in the Frank Sinatra hit song. 

They were riding high during that particular month and they were cut down in the next one but you could mount an argument that it all began with what was otherwise a very happy afternoon at Etihad for Melbourne fans. 

The victory however, was soured in the final quarter when co-captain Nathan Jones (quad) and Jack Watts (hamstring tightness) were both taken off as a precaution for assessment during the coming week. In the end, both missed the next month and they were joined on the sidelines in the weeks to come by a number of others including the team’s other skipper, Jack Viney. 

Melbourne went on to record a great victory over the Eagles on the following Saturday but the number of consecutive six day breaks, the injuries and a controversial suspension to Tomas Bugg in the next game against the Swans, all took their toll. 

The weakened team found themselves flat on their faces and, despite attempts to pick themselves up and get back in the race, the tiring Demons were floundering. Despite the fact that they were perilously close to making the finals for the first time in over a decade, they simply rolled themselves up in a big ball and died at the last hurdle.

Poets, dreamers, philosophers and crooners like Frank might well ask whether the experience of a  "That's Life" moment last year was a sign for the club and supporters that it was too soon to be thinking of premierships; that had the Demons fallen into the top eight, they might well have suffered the same fate as their replacement Essendon, which was bundled out in humiliation at the hands of the Swans by 80 points in the Elimination Final.

The club has bounced back and we now find it again challenging  for the finals and a top four finish even more strongly but this time, the team is much better equipped with greater depth, class, durability and experience than it had at this time last year. 

Just as the great Sinatra was able overcome and recover from extended periods of failure in his career, the time is now right for the Melbourne Football Club. 

That's life!

THE GAME 

Western Bulldogs v Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, Saturday 2 June, 2018 at 1.45pm
 
HEAD TO HEAD
 
Overall: Western Bulldogs 76 wins Melbourne 86 wins 1 draw
 
At Etihad Stadium: Western Bulldogs 9 wins Melbourne 7 wins
 
Last Five Meetings: Western Bulldogs 3 wins Melbourne 2 wins
 
The Coaches: Beveridge 0 wins Goodwin 1 win
 
MEDIA
 
TV - Fox Sports Live at 1.30pm
 
Radio - Triple M 3AW ABC ABC Grandstand 
 
THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Melbourne 17.11.113 defeated Western Bulldogs 8.8.56 at Etihad Stadium, Round 13, 2017 

Melbourne smashed the reigning premiers by 57 points to move to fifth place on the AFL ladder. It was a spiteful  encounter fueled before the game when Tomas Bugg controversially taunted Bulldog Jason Johannisen on social media. The ploy worked as the Demons took advantage of a hesitant opponent to record a comfortable win and stamp their credentials for a place in the finals.

THE TEAMS  

WESTERN BULLDOGS 
 
B: Matthew Suckling, Jackson Trengove, Ed Richards
HB: Bailey Williams, Dale Morris, Easton Wood
C : Jason Johannisen, Lachie Hunter, Patrick Lipinski
HF: Caleb Daniel, Josh Schache, Tory Dickson
F: Luke Dahlhaus, Marcus Bontempelli, Billy Gowers
Foll: Tom Boyd, Toby McLean, Jack Macrae
I/C: Hayden Crozier, Mitch Honeychurch, Jordan Roughead, Roarke Smith
Emg: Tom Campbell, Lin Jong, Lukas Webb, Lewis Young

In: Mitch Honeychurch, Dale Morris

Out: Zaine Cordy (concussion), Bailey Dale (foot)
 
MELBOURNE  

B: Michael Hibberd, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta
HB: Angus Brayshaw, Jake Lever, Jordan Lewis
C : Bernie Vince, Jack Viney, Nathan Jones
HF: James Harmes, Jesse Hogan, Jake Melksham
F: Tim Smith, Tom McDonald, Christian Petracca
Foll: Max Gawn, Christian Salem, Clayton Oliver
I/C: Bayley Fritsch, Mitch Hannan, Alex Neal-Bullen, Charlie Spargo
Emg: Tom Bugg, Cameron Pedersen, Tom Bugg, Joel Smith, Billy Stretch

NO CHANGE

THE PARADOX 

The paradox about a game in which Melbourne starts as clear favourite is the fact that the Western Bulldogs will take the field with more than half a team comprised of premiership players while their counterparts have just one, and only a handful have even been a part of finals football. Co-captain Nathan Jones, who will be playing in his 250th match, is the only current team member to have tasted the finals experience as a Demon.

That we have to go back in time only 20 months to the time when the Western Bulldogs stormed their way to the flag, is testament to the fickleness of our sport. They were on top one day and twelve months later, they finished in the bottom half of the ladder. Today, with almost half the season gone, they occupy a place in the bottom six with a percentage south of 80.

And yet, the Doggies still have some of the game’s elite within their ranks. The in-form Jack Macrae is at the head of many of the media’s best player rankings, Marcus Bontempelli is regarded among the game’s top shelf while it was not long ago that the likes of Luke Dahlhaus, Lachlan Hunter, Jason Johannisen and Easton Wood were the toast of the town. Despite their past two defeats at the hands of top eight sides, they did win three games on the trot in rounds six to eight.

The problem for the Bulldogs is that they have lost enough of the keys to the premiership success through retirement, injury or loss of form and have been unable to fill the void in class. As a consequence, their team appears unbalanced, inexperienced and down in confidence. In short, they are a long way from being capable of replicating the magic of September, 2016.

Going back to those very recent heady days, it would have been unthinkable to consider them as being vulnerable to Melbourne in any game played at  where the Bulldogs were lords and masters. These days however, the ground is a veritable fortress for the Demons who shook off the gloom of consecutive losses to Hawthorn and Richmond earlier this year to beat Essendon and St Kilda at the beginning of their current winning streak. They have won four games in a row at Etihad Stadium, a place which   was not long ago viewed by their fans with shock, fear and awe.

But it’s a different Melbourne these days. On the back of its current winning streak, it has established an unenviable record - it leads the competition in percentage, it’s the highest scoring team, number one for inside 50s and marks inside that area and most importantly, is the winner of the contested possession count. 

Add the dominance of ruckman Max Gawn and the fact that Jack Viney is finding his feet (and pardon the pun) after his long stint out with injury, it’s hard tipping against the Demons who could only lose if they start bathing in the glory of the complimentary publicity they’ve been receiving of late. 

With co-captain Nathan Jones leading then out for his 250th game reminding them of how much effort is required for a downtrodden side to lift itself back up to get in the race, I expect the team to be well grounded and up to the task of making it six in a row.

Melbourne by 51 points

[Demon Head 292]

Come on Demons, fly me to the moon ? 

[McQueen 17,867]

We are a juggernaut.

The Dogs will be whimpering and cowering away from the contest just as quickly as Adelaide were.

Percentage.

[What 18,810]

7 minutes ago, McQueen said:

We are a juggernaut.

The Dogs will be whimpering and cowering away from the contest just as quickly as Adelaide were.

Percentage.

The Dogs are playing awful, awful footy. They are weak all over the park.  Non functioning forward line, can barely kick goals,  weak in contested footy. 

Their rucks are woeful.  We probably average twice as many hitouts per game and Max could break records this week.  He will give our mids silver service as always and this week they might get their biggest feast yet.

It really should be a massive win for us, but its footy so who knows.  They have been getting it inside 50 an above average amount but their entries are terrible an they have no real targets down there.

[rumpole 522]

This is the AFL which means that anything can happen. There are so many factors that could play a role in the result including things like the extra two days rest enjoyed by the Bulldogs, the extra travel by the MFC from Alice Springs etc. We will start as the strong favourite but no game’s an absolute certainty.

 

[dl4e 5,851]

If we are off by 5% then we may get done. Joneses 250th will lift the troops one would think. Be interesting comming of a game against a so called decent opponent.

[Deemented Are Go! 3,684]

So what the hell is going on with the Weed?!

[Guest]

Definitely need to move on now.

The Crows game needs to be well and truly forgotten now if we are to have any chance against the Dogs.

If we go in big headed thinking we will beat those plebs from Footscray then we have already lost.

I think one problem we have had for the 30 years I have followed the club is that matches off Broadway like this have brought the lairising side out in us. Clearly need our heads screwed on and focused on the job.

That will be the tell if we have turned the corner.

I also will be interested to see how we cope with a team who applies more frontal pressure. Not to say the Dogs will be it but our ability to squirt of a quick handball to a running teammate has been a big part of our arsenal the last 3 weeks. If someone shuts those lanes down, how do we respond?

[Deemania since 56 6,716]

5 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

The Dogs are playing awful, awful footy. They are weak all over the park.  Non functioning forward line, can barely kick goals,  weak in contested footy. 

Their rucks are woeful.  We probably average twice as many hitouts per game and Max could break records this week.  He will give our mids silver service as always and this week they might get their biggest feast yet.

It really should be a massive win for us, but its footy so who knows.  They have been getting it inside 50 an above average amount but their entries are terrible an they have no real targets down there.

Max's new taps are flushing good water directly to our middies - not the glass variety but those made of steel.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

The pessimistic supporter in me says a week of massive media plaudits and individual interviews stating we aren't getting ahead of ourselves says the old Melbourne lose this game. Please don't validate for me that the old Melbourne still exists in some way.

[Nasher 33,617]

*sniff* smells like blood...

[WERRIDEE 5,503]

This should be an absolute smacking, 10 goals plus if we are fair dinkum.

Do it for Chunk fellas! 250 games great well deserved milestone for a great player❤️

 

POSSIBLE TEAM

B: JETTA, O.MCDONALD, J.LEWIS

HB: HIBBERD, VINCE, LEVER

C : SALEM, OLIVER, JONES

HF: PETRACCA, T.MCDONALD, FRITSCH

F: MELKSHAM, HOGAN, T.SMITH

FOLL: GAWN, BRAYSHAW, VINEY

IC: HARMES, NEAL-BULLEN, SPARGO, HANNAN

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

53 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

This should be an absolute smacking, 10 goals plus if we are fair dinkum.

Do it for Chunk fellas! 250 games great well deserved milestone for a great player❤️

 

POSSIBLE TEAM

B: JETTA, O.MCDONALD, J.LEWIS

HB: HIBBERD, VINCE, LEVER

C : SALEM, OLIVER, JONES

HF: PETRACCA, T.MCDONALD, FRITSCH

F: MELKSHAM, HOGAN, T.SMITH

FOLL: GAWN, BRAYSHAW, VINEY

IC: HARMES, NEAL-BULLEN, SPARGO, HANNAN

I must say i liked it when Jonathon Brown said on Monday...... No Change for 6 to 8 years.

[brendan 3,437]

The bulldogs won a premiership just 32 games ago, it’s been a massive fall from grace but they still have some dangerous players, the bont and macrae are guns who could carve us up given the chance but our depth all over the park should be way too strong and I expect another big win, would be great to demolish another side for Jones 250th he absolutely deserves it 

[Jaded No More 68,972]

Danger game. Media attention. Coming off 5 massive wins. Pressure on the opposition. All the hallmarks of a Melbourne loss. Let’s hope this is not the case, and we win especially for Jonesy. 

[binman 43,734]

40 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Danger game. Media attention. Coming off 5 massive wins. Pressure on the opposition. All the hallmarks of a Melbourne loss. Let’s hope this is not the case, and we win especially for Jonesy. 

Nope. The old mfc has one, maybe two good wins then a frustrating loss against a team below it.

The new and improved mfc wins 5 in a row and keeps going. 

[Nasher 33,617]

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

Danger game. Media attention. Coming off 5 massive wins. Pressure on the opposition. All the hallmarks of a Melbourne loss. Let’s hope this is not the case, and we win especially for Jonesy. 

I feel like I should be worried, but I am 100% not. We haven’t seen this Melbourne side before, past embarrassments are irrelevant.

My only problem about this game is it’s still sooooooo far away. I am itching.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

53 minutes ago, Nasher said:

I feel like I should be worried, but I am 100% not. We haven’t seen this Melbourne side before, past embarrassments are irrelevant.

My only problem about this game is it’s still sooooooo far away. I am itching.

My only slight concern is the shorter break after playing in a warm conditions and even then I'm more worried about us getting injuries as opposed to losing.

Pound for pound we just have a much stronger list, most of our team would need to be really off the boil for us to lose.

[Engorged Onion 10,223]

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

I feel like I should be worried, but I am 100% not. We haven’t seen this Melbourne side before, past embarrassments are irrelevant.

My only problem about this game is it’s still sooooooo far away. I am itching.

thank gawwwwd its not yet another sunday game...

[Deeoldfart 8,061]

19 hours ago, Demon Head said:

Come on Demons, fly me to the moon ? 

'High hopes'

[Pates 9,660]

New team, we start again and reload. Dogs might be in woeful form but match day can be a totally different story. We need to be switched on and I hope the coaching staff is making sure the players keep doing the simple team things. It’s what got us to where we are now, keep it going. 

Jonesy’s 250th should be motivation enough. 

[dworship 3,342]

Can't see them kicking enough score to win and they've now lost Bailey Dale also

[buck_nekkid 6,046]

Even at 80% we would give the dogs a run on their current servings of tripe.  If (and it is a big IF) they can get it together, I can't see them scoring enough, or limiting us enough, to get the chocolates.  I could imagine they might try an old fashioned flood and attempt to block the back half so the scoring is limited, then rope a dope Essendon style using Johannison etc.  We are much better defending against the goals over the back now (which was the old achillies heel) and they really have no forward to speak of.  Max will eat them alive (we could even play Flipper and he would halve the contest).  

Perhaps they will go hard man on man - that suits our HULK-SMASH contested ball game.

So on reflection, I find it hard to see where we will lose it, unless we go back to bad habits and jog to contests, get sucked into disputed balls and our press gets sucked too far up the ground.  It smells like a big win.  Conservatively, even if they run hard at us for a few quarters, can see us breaking their backs and running away with it.  Conservative guess with no personnel problems (I cant bring myself to use the 'i' word..)and a non-Kool-aid drinking performance:  Dees by 50.

[Dee Zephyr 19,268]

On 5/30/2018 at 8:00 AM, Nasher said:

My only problem about this game is it’s still sooooooo far away. I am itching.

Less than 12 hours until team selection at least with no extended bench, yay!! 

Thought we’d get this thread up the top again, was struggling to find it with all these new threads. 

[BigFez 1,462]

2 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Less than 12 hours until team selection at least with no extended bench, yay!! 

Thought we’d get this thread up the top again, was struggling to find it with all these new threads. 

How annoying are extended benches?  I remember reading the Adelaide thread last week and they were whining about the extended bench because it was their first Sunday match of the year!