WEAK BY WEEK by The Oracle

A month is a long time in AFL football.

The proof of this is in the current state of the two teams contesting against each other early this Saturday afternoon at the MCG.

It’s hard to fathom that when Melbourne and Fremantle kicked off the 2025 season, the former looked like being a major player in this year’s competition after it came close to beating one of the favourites in the GWS Giants while the latter was smashed by Geelong to the tune of 78 points and looked like rubbish.

Fast forward to today and the Demons are low on confidence and appear panic stricken as their winless streak heads towards an even half dozen and pressure mounts on the coach and team leadership. 

Meanwhile, the Dockers have recovered their composure and now sit in the top eight. They are definitely on the up and up and look most likely winners this weekend against a team which they have recently dominated and which struggles to find enough passages to the goals to trouble the scorers.

And with that, Fremantle will head to the MCG, feeling very good about itself after demolishing Richmond in the Barossa Valley with Josh Treacy coming off a six goal haul and facing up to a Melbourne defence already without Jake Lever and a shaky Steven May needing to pass a fitness test just to make it onto the field of play. 

Six goal Treacy kicked more majors on Sunday in SA than any Demon forward managed in five games which just about sums up the glaring deficiencies in an attack that averages just 61 points a match this season. Moreover, Freo has Jye Amiss up there as well and he kicked four goals in each of their encounters in 2024.

They might be the least of Melbourne’s problems because there’s a huge elephant in the room as far as it’s concerned and that’s the vexed question of the will to win of this combination which has been relying heavily on a week by week basis on its experienced old heads like Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca to do the job even though each of them has had to fight hard to perform in a lacklustre squad in difficult circumstances.

And Kozzie Pickett who is one of only a small number of explosive players in an otherwise currently docile team and who might end up on the purple side of the Nullarbor next year, is also facing a fitness test.

Arrayed against them will be the likes of Angus Brayshaw, Caleb Serong and the hard to contain Shai Bolton.

Sorry, but Melbourne and Simon Goodwin’s misery will be extended for at least another week.

Fremantle by 57 points.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Fremantle at the MCG on Saturday 19 April 2025 at 1.20pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 18 wins Fremantle 27 wins

At the MCG Melbourne 9 wins Fremantle 9 wins

Last five meetings Melbourne 1 win Fremantle 4 wins

The Coaches Goodwin 2 wins Longmuir 5 wins

LAST TIME THEY MET

Fremantle 17.14.116 defeated Melbourne 10.6.66  at Optus Stadium, Round 19, 2024

The Dockers have beaten the Demons three times in a row, with the cumulative winning margin in both 2024 games (in Alice Springs and at Optus Stadium respectively) an embarrassing 142 points. Freo was in complete control of both games and had no trouble in their last encounter when Melbourne went into the game without Max Gawn and was smashed around the ball.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B J. Bowey, H. Petty, T. McDonald

HB X. Lindsay, B. Howes, C. Salem

C C. Windsor, J. Viney, E. Langdon

HF K. Tholstrup, T. Fullarton, K. Pickett F K. Chandler, D. Turner, C. Spargo

FOLL M. Gawn, C. Petracca, H. Langford

I/C J. Melksham, C. Oliver, T. Rivers, H. Sharp, T. Sparrow

EMG J. Adams, J. Henderson, B. Fritsch

IN B. Howes, T. Fullarton K. Tholstrup D. Turner

OUT B. Fritsch (omitted), J. Henderson (omitted), S. May (groin), J. van Rooyen (omitted)

FREMANTLE

 B L. Ryan, A. Pearce, B. Cox

HB H. Chapman, K. Worner, J. Clark

C J. Sharp, H. Young, J. O’Meara

HF M. Frederick, S. Switkowski, S. Bolton

F M. Reid, J. Treacy, M. Amiss

FOLL S. Darcy, C. Serong, A. Brayshaw

I/C B. Banfield, J. Draper, I. Dudley, M. Johnson, O. McDonald

EMG J. Aish, N. Erasmus, L. Reidy

IN O. McDonald

OUT P. Voss (suspended)

 Injury List: Round 6

Matt Jefferson — hand / available

Judd McVee — hamstring / available

Tom Campbell — hamstring / test

Steven May — foot / test

Marty Hore — calf / 4 - 5 weeks

Jake Lever — ankle / 7 - 8 weeks

Shane McAdam — Achilles / next season

Andy Moniz-Wakefield — knee / next season