BUSINESS AS USUAL by Whispering Jack

“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”

The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote a book, “The Art of War” which describes military and competitive strategy and tactics that in time have been adapted to other walks of life including business and sport.

Famed NFL head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots is a strong adherent of the 5th century writings he has used to motivate players over two successful decades. There is only one sign in his locker room and it is a direct quote: “Every battle is won before it is fought.”

Belichick studies his opponents closely to know their strengths and their weaknesses. "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness". Another quote that comes from “Art of War.”  

The relevance for Melbourne this week as it travels across the Nullarbor Plain to take on the West Coast Eagles at its home away from home, Perth’s Optus Stadium, should be obvious. The noise around the Eagles is about the string of injuries the club suffered in last week’s local demolition derby but the Demons must not consider that all they need to do is turn up and the four points are theirs for the taking.

That’s not how things work at the elite level in sport. History is full of tales of those who have taken their apparent superiority over others for granted, allowed themselves to become complacent thereby creating their own weakness for the enemy to exploit. This year’s Saints have done exactly that in each of their opening matches and sit undefeated at the top of the ladder while the reigning premiers are in exactly the opposite space.

So when the Demons come to Perth, it will be with business as usual in mind. They will focus on their strengths; their superior midfield, a powerful defence and an emerging forward line with its multifaceted strengths. They should not be distracted by the fact that the desperate Eagles are set to lose a swag of players from last week’s lineup as a result of injuries incurred in the course of battle with the Dockers.

On the subject of business as usual, coach Simon Goodwin pulled some nice surprises last week in the face of his team’s loss to Brisbane and the hopefully short term absence of the skipper. The man who, in the past, has appeared reluctant to ring in too many changes, brought in youth and made a few moves that some of us have been clamoring about for some time — and it worked in surprising the enemy (not to mention some of the fans) to knock them off their pedestal. Smacked as if it was straight out of the Sun Tzu playbook.

Melbourne by 27 points.

THE GAME

West Coast v Melbourne at Optus Stadium Sunday 9 April, 2023 at 5.20pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall West Coast 37 wins Melbourne 19 wins

At Optus Stadium West Coast 3 wins Melbourne 3 wins

Past five meetings West Coast 2 wins Melbourne 3 wins

The Coaches Simpson 4 wins Goodwin 3 wins

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Melbourne 16.16.112 defeated West Coast Eagles 5.8.38 at Optus Stadium in Round 9, 2022

The Eagles were in all sorts of pain as they languished out of form near the bottom of the table and spent most of the game struggling to be competitive.

Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver dominated the midfield and Tom McDonald booted four goals in what turned out to be one of his last games for 2022. A crude Kade Chandler tackle put the Eagles' Luke Foley into concussion protocols and resulted in a two-match ban over the dangerous tackle which held back the young Demon’s career until he fought his way into the side at the start of this season.

THE TEAMS

WEST COAST EAGLES

B T. Cole T. Barrass L. Duggan
HB J. Jones S. Hurn J. Hunt
C B. Hough E. Yeo A. Gaff
HF C. West J. Darling G. Clark
F N. Long O. Allen J. Waterman 
FOLL B. Williams R. Ginbey T. Kelly
I/C J. Culley L. Edwards E. Hewett S. Petrevski-Seton SUB J. Rotham EMG L. Foley X. O'Neill J. Petruccelle

IN G. Clark J. Culley L. Edwards B. Hough J. Rotham C. West E. Yeo

OUT C. Chesser (knee) J. Cripps (broken ankle) J. McGovern (hamstring) L. Ryan (knee) D. Sheed (throat) L. Shuey (hamstring) A. Witherden (concussion)

MELBOURNE 
 

B J. Lever S. May M. Hibberd
HB T. Sparrow H. Petty J. McVee
C A. Brayshaw C. Oliver L. Hunter
HF E. Langdon B. Fritsch J. Bowey
F C. Spargo J. van Rooyen A. Neal-Bullen
FOLL B. Grundy J. Viney C. Petracca
I/C K. Chandler T. McDonald K. Pickett T. Rivers SUB J. Jordon EMG L. Dunstan J. Melksham A. Tomlinson 

IN T. McDonald K. Pickett

OUT B. Brown (back) J. Melksham (omitted)

Injury List: Round 4
Josh Schache - Concussion | Test
Daniel Turner - Ribs | Test
Joel Smith - Thumb | 3 Weeks
Max Gawn - Knee  | 3 - 4 Weeks
Taj Woewodin - Finger  | 4 Weeks
Christian Salem - Knee | 4 - 6 weeks
Will Verrall - Pelvis  | 8 - 10 Weeks