STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND

by J.V.McKay

The City of Greater Geelong might well be a long way removed from the face of the planet Mars but when the Melbourne team travels down the highway to the cattery on Saturday it will be facing an environment that is at least equally hostile.

For starters, the crowd will comprise of 85-90% home fans. It's a given that the Demon supporters who manage to procure themselves a ticket to the game and then brave the one hour plus drive, manoeuvring their way through the inevitable road works, police speed traps and inhospitable locals to finally make it to the ground will well and truly be in the minority.

And that alone is a recipe to ensure that rest of the day will consist of lots of loud abuse from the home town crowd, including attempts to sway the umpires' decisions and generally to put the visiting team under the hammer.

On the ground, the local winds will push the football in a friendly manner towards the home team's goals while our kicks will inexplicably find a wayward trajectory towards the boundary line. The ball will bounce directly into their hands and away from ours and the rain will come just as we're ready to make a charge to snatch the game out of their grasp. It almost always seems to happen that way down there!

That's why I'm still debating whether or not to go to Skilled Stadium at all for Saturday's game. I hate the drive down, I hate looking for a parking spot down there, and I hate the ground, the crowd, the conditions, the pies and the hot dogs they sell there, and the football team with their hooped jumpers. I hate the fact that we still have our injury woes and that we're coming off a six-day break at this time of the season while they've had a full week since their victory - also at home - against Sydney.

I've had so many sad and sorry experiences there but worst of all; I wasn't there last year when Melbourne got up to win by a single, solitary point after trailing by more than five goals early in the third quarter.

Melbourne victories at Corio Bay come only once in a blue moon or, if you like, a blue Mars so I wasn't even listening to the game on radio that day because I thought that, after winning there only twice in the previous 32 years, the team had not a snowball's hope in hell. I finally caught up with the result at about 5.30 pm and, after getting over the shock, rushed home to set the VCR to ensure that I could at least have the pleasure of watching the replay.

But if we're averaging a win once every 11 years, what chance is there that we can win twice in a row down there?

With the force of history, the injury gods and the "powers that be" all working against the Demons, I wonder if it's possible that this time things will work out differently. I wish I had some logical evidence to guide me here. The problem is that I have none either way because these teams are so bloody flaky!

You never know what you're getting with either of them - especially the Cats who have produced some of the most brilliant slashing displays of the season, interspersed with some pure garbage. Melbourne is a little better - it has reserved its garbage performances for encounters with the Carlton Football Club and the odd quarter or two here and there.

The teams have been closely matched in the past couple of years. Melbourne has won three of the last four encounters but the aggregate score for those games was 362 points each. The Demons’ last two wins were by narrow margins and their loss to the Cats came in last year's elimination final when they very much undermanned and Geelong played at the top of its game. The Cats gained the initiative from the centre bounces where Steven King dominated and Cam Mooney played an on the ball role with distinction. Jeff White finished the game seeing stars (or planets like Mars perhaps) and the hapless Demons limped off in total disarray. They started the game without skipper David Neitz and were rudderless on the day, a problem compounded by the fact that very few of the other leaders stood up to fill the breach.

Lack of leadership has been one of Geelong's problems this year. When he plays, King spends a lot of time on the bench and he appears decidedly unfit at the moment. Brad Ottens likewise. Mooney won't be there courtesy of his record breaking fourth suspension for the season. Despite the loss of Mooney, the Cats still have their small serial pests in G. Ablett Jnr., Chapman and S. Johnson who always spell danger at Skilled Stadium.

For the visitors, playmakers like Aaron Davey, Travis Johnstone, Russell Robertson and Matthew Whelan have had a game to brush off the cobwebs (not that Davey needed that!) but others are now under an injury cloud. Skipper David Neitz is only a 50/50 chance to play and given that the Demons would not have won without him last week, the scales must be tipped in the favour of the home side. Even if Neitz plays the likelihood is that he might line up on one of the best defenders of the decade in Matthew Scarlett.

The result of the game is of utmost importance to Melbourne's flag fortunes. It can't afford to lose either this week or next if it is to retain its all important top four placing. Meanwhile, Geelong, who were early favourites for the flag, are virtually out of the race for the finals and will need a swag of improbable upset results to figure in the action beyond the next fortnight.

Both teams gained some momentum last week but the big question is which of them will continue in the same vein again on Saturday. I've decided to go for the Cats for no other reason that the fact that their home ground advantage is such that it makes visitors feel like strangers in a strange land and that should be enough to get them across the line.

Geelong by 5 points.

Thank you very much.

GEELONG v MELBOURNE

Where & When: Skilled Stadium, 2:10pm AEST, Saturday 26 August, 2006.

TV & Radio:

TV - Channel 10 (Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane)

Radio - 3AW, Triple M, K-Rock

Head to Head: Played 200, Geelong 116, Melbourne 83, Drawn 1

Last time they met: Melbourne 13.9.87 defeated Geelong 11.15.81, round six, 2006, at the MCG

The betting: Geelong $1.72 Melbourne $2.00

The Teams:

GEELONG

B: Harley Scarlett J.Hunt

HB: D.Johnson Milburn Egan

C: Enright G Ablett Rooke

HF: Mackie N Ablett S.Johnson

F: Bartel Ottens Chapman

FOLL: King Ling Corey

I/C: Tenace Wojcinski Lonergan Prismall

EMG: Kelly Kingsley Gamble

IN: N Ablett Wojcinski

OUT: Mooney (suspension) Byrnes

MELBOURNE

B: Whelan Carroll Holland

HB: Bruce Rivers Ward

C: Green McLean Johnstone

HF: Yze Miller Pickett

F: Robertson Neitz Davey

FOLL: White Jones McDonald

IC: Bartram Bell Godfrey Jamar

EMG: Motlop Smith Sylvia

IN: Pickett

OUT: Bate (bruised knee)

Field umpires: Ellis Meredith Wenn