RIVALS

by Whispering Jack

There was a time in the early days of the West Coast Eagles when a strong rivalry was developing between the new team from Perth and the oldest team in the land - the Melbourne Football Club.

The Eagles contested their first ever finals game against the Demons at Waverley in 1988 and it was a memorable contest. Melbourne trailled early and had to come from behind to snatch a thrilling win. The exciting finish saw Earl Spalding miss after a mark taken close to goal at the thirty minute mark of the final quarter followed by a brilliant handball from David Williams and a Garry Lyon snap for the winning goal with less than a minute to play. The last kick of the game was from West Coast's Murray Wrenstead who missed a shot on the run from 40 metres out as the siren was about to sound.

West Coast went on to turn the tables when the teams next met in a semi final in 1990 and again the following season when it again knocked the Demons out at AFL Park. By 1994 the Eagles were making a habit of beating them, this time in a Preliminary Final in Perth when they were on their way to their second AFL Premiership.

In those days, the teams played in some memorable games that were chock full of incidents - the stuff of which famous rivalries are made. Like the infamous Chris Lewis finger bite on Todd Viney and Allen Jakovich's kiss planted on brother Glen's cheek when the mercurial Demon forward kicked a goal against him at the MCG.

There have been some classic contests between the teams since then, such as the day an injury depleted Melbourne scored a famous victory at Subiaco in 1998 and more recently, when the club sealed a place in the 2002 finals with a six point Round 19 victory at the same venue. That win was the last time a Victorian club beat the Eagles on their home turf.

However, it would be fair to say that the early rivalry has diminished since the mid '90's although there are signs that the days of big interstate blockbuster games between these clubs are returning.

Last year, when they were occupying the top two spots on the ladder, the teams played out an epic battle at the MCG. Certainly, the Eagles were in control for most of the match after Phillip Matera ran riot early but Melbourne kept plugging away and fought its way back to within striking distance only to fall short by 15 points. It was an impressive display from the losers because they were undermanned, bereft of their skipper and other key players and were coming off a five day break while the Eagles were refreshed having not played since a relatively easy Friday night game at home eight days earlier. The Dees were clearly stuffed at the end of the game but if you can call a losing performance “admirable� then this was the one.

For Melbourne that MCG game against West Coast became an unfortunate milestone in a season that went pear shaped from that day onward. Despite a late resurgence and a few narrow victories at the end of the season, the Demons couldn’t regather the form that had made them the Eagles’ most likely rival for the premiership flag.

Melbourne stumbled again at the start of the season but has regrouped with five successive victories and now faces West Coast in a game that could well fire up old rivalries. It's a much different Melbourne side to the one that played in their last encounter. The Demons have ironically benefited from the spate of early season injuries suffered at the club. In the absence of Alistair Nicholson, Clint Bizzell and Ryan Ferguson we have seen Nathan Carroll, Jared Rivers and Brad Miller settle into the main defensive positions. Paul Wheatley's injury paved the way for Daniel Bell. Nathan Brown's loss is adequately covered by the revelation of 2006 in Clint Bartram. Matty Whelan missed out a few weeks back but is now holding firm again in the Demon defence. The forward line lost David Neitz and Lynden Dunn came in to fill the breach. And Byron Pickett is firing on all cylinders providing much needed aggression all over the ground. Brock McLean, Brent Moloney and James McDonald are adding a harder more solid edge to the team. Five successive victories and this is now the form team of the competition.

That is not to say that Sunday's game against West Coast is going to be at all easy. Far from it when one considers the game is virtually a season defining one for Melbourne - an opportunity to crack a leading side on its home turf and in reasonable form. If you aspire for a top place and a premiership, that's exactly what has to be done. A win would most likely put the Demons just outside the top four on percentage but a loss sees them back with the pack and facing tough games against St. Kilda and Collingwood just to hold their place in the race for a finals position.

One thing that can be said with some surety is that the team will cross the Nullarbor without the usual trepidation felt by visitors from Victoria in recent years. Of course, there's talk about how on earth will we hold a tremendous midfield made up of the likes of Judd, Cousins, Kerr, Fletcher and Stenglein but equally, the Eagles need to worry about how they will nullify McLean, Moloney, McDonald, Johnstone and Bruce. That's what rivalry is all about and that's why I consider the game in Sunday as one that could assume enormous importance when we look back at it in future times.

I have such great faith that I'm tipping Melbourne to revert back to type and win by 5 points in a titanic struggle that will only be decided by the sound of the final siren.

WEST COAST EAGLES V MELBOURNE

Sunday May 28 at Subiaco, 2.40pm. AWST 4.40pm AEST

TV & Radio

TV - Channel 9 (Perth) Fox Footy Channel (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney & Brisbane)

Radio - 6PR ABC

TAB Sportsbet Odds West Coast Eagles $1.35, Melbourne $3.00

Head to Head Played 34 West Coast Eagles 21 Melbourne 13

The last time they met West Coast Eagles 15.15.105 d Melbourne 13.12.90 at the MCG, Round 13, 2005

The Teams

WEST COAST

B Graham Glass Wirrpanda

HB Nicoski Hunter Stenglein

C A Embley Cousins Braun

HF Waters Hansen Chick

F Kerr Lynch Staker

FOLL Cox Judd Fletcher

IC Banfield Rosa Seaby Selwood

EM B Jones R Jones Priddis

In Banfield

Out Hurn

New Matt Priddis (Subiaco)

MELBOURNE

B Miller Carroll Whelan

HB Yze Rivers Bell

C McDonald Bruce McLean

HF Robertson Dunn Davey

F Green Neitz Pickett

FOLL White Moloney Johnstone

IC (from) Bartram Godfrey Jamar C Johnson

EM Bate Holland Read

In C Johnson

Out Bate

Field umpires Meredith Woodcock Goldspink