The Demons return to Casey Fields (aka the Field of Dreams) this Saturday to host the Saints in Round 2. If you’re feeling lucky, head down the Monash for some family-friendly footy—you might even walk away a winner. The first 5,000 adults through the gate will receive an entry into the $10,000 helicopter ball drop. With Casey’s infamous wind, what could possibly go wrong? Closest ball to the pin wins.

So spread the word, get down there—and good luck!

The Match-up

On the field, expect a fierce contest. St Kilda stunned the competition last week with a commanding win over Adelaide. Nick Dal Santo has the Saints playing fast, confident footy, and they’ve added serious depth. Giorgia Patrikios and Tyanna Smith were dominant in the midfield, while recruits Amber Clarke (ex-Essendon) and Charlotte Baskaran (ex-Hawthorn) have slotted in seamlessly.

Over at the Dees, it was no surprise that our midfield depth and forward craft proved too strong for the Bulldogs last Saturday night, resulting in an eight-goal ‘demon-lition’.

The form guide leans towards Melbourne, but Meggs reckons this one will be a slog.

Selection this week

The forward line gets a significant boost with Georgia Gall returning from an ankle injury and Tayla Harris cleared to play after an eye poke. Dynamic Irishwoman Sinead Goldrick also plays her first match of 2025 after raising the championship cup for Dublin just weeks ago—her fourth All-Ireland medal. Hopefully a sign of things to come?

Making way are Lily Johnson and Alyssia Pisano.

St Kilda have named experienced midfielder Nicola Barr (ex-Giants), who will debut in tri-colours.

Meggs’ view

Expect the Saints to make it a tough and physical game. They’ve got plenty of talent and experience that could undo our gameplan if we turn up unprepared.

Jessie Wardlaw can be unstoppable, so in the absence of Tahlia Gillard, Saraid Taylor will have her hands full.

Nick Dal Santo will be desperate to break his duck against the Dees—he’s never coached a winning side against us. The recent margins have been narrowing: 41, 26, 14 points.

Nevertheless, Melbourne’s midfield is shaping up beautifully, with so many players in form—Hanks, Purcell, Hore, McNamara, Heath, and Paxman.  

The new kids on the block—O’Hehir, Mahony and Ebert —add plenty of excitement, and our gameplan is a joy to watch when we get it right.

We’re top of the table after Week 1. Let’s keep winning.

Go Dees!  

Melbourne by 12 points

THE GAME

Round 2: Melbourne v St Kilda

Saturday 23 August 2025 at 3:05pm (Melbourne time)

Casey Fields, Melbourne – Wurundjeri/ Boon Wurrung

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 4 wins St Kilda 1 win

At Casey Fields Melbourne 2 wins St Kilda 0 wins

The Coaches Stinear 3 wins Dal Santo 0 wins

MEDIA

TV – 7, 7Plus, FOXTEL, Kayo.  

Mobile – AFL Live Official App

 THE LAST TIME THEY MET - 2024 Season 9 Round 7

ST KILDA         0.0   2.0   4.0   5.0 (30)
MELBOURNE    2.0   4.2   5.4   6.8 (44)

GOALS
St Kilda: Wardlaw 3, Guttridge, Richards
Melbourne: Zanker 2, Bannan, Campbell, Goldrick, Purcell

BEST
St Kilda: Wardlaw, Watson, Trudgeon, Smith, Jakobsson
Melbourne: Hanks, McNamara, Hore, Purcell, Zanker

Crowd: 3,073 at RSEA Park

It was a hard-fought win to make it 3 on the trot in our 2024 revival.

Tyla Hanks (22 disposals, 12 clearances, 8 coaches votes) and Kate Hore (21 disposals, 11 tackles, 8 votes) led from the middle and were sensational.

Eliza McNamara had a PB 31 possessions and earned 6 coaches votes.

Liv Purcell, dressed up like a superhero in her custom-fitted face mask, was typically fearless with 15 possessions, 4 tackles and a goal.

Dal Santo noted Melbourne’s dominance in clearances and contested ball as the difference.  

Melbourne 6.8 (44) defeated by St Kilda 5.0 (30) at Moorabbin Oval, 13 October 2024

THIS WEEK’S TEAMS

MELBOURNE

FB [19] Laela Ebert [28] Saraid Taylor

HB [30] Shelley Heath [8] Sarah Lampard [13] Maeve Chaplin

C [22] Eliza McNamara [5] Tyla Hanks [4] Paxy Paxman

HF [24] Megan Fitzsimon [6] Alyssa Bannan [7] Tayla Harris

FF [29] Eden Zanker [9] Georgia Gall

FOL [15] Lauren Pearce [2] Olivia Purcell [10] Kate Hore

I/C [23] Sinead Goldrick [11] Molly O'Hehir [1] Georgia Campbell [31] Blaithin Mackin [20] Maggie Mahony

EMG [12] Ryleigh Wotherspoon [3] Alyssia Pisano [33] Lily Johnson

IN Gall, Goldrick

OUT Johnson, Pisano (omitted)

ST KILDA

FB [14] Hannah Priest [2] Nicola Stevens

HB [15] Kyla Forbes [10] Paige Trudgeon [12] Serene Watson

C [1] Molly McDonald [9] Jaimee Lambert [5] Darcy Guttridge

HF [16] Ella Friend [30] Jesse Wardlaw [21] Georgia Patrikios

FF [11] Zoe Besanko [22] Ashleigh Richards

FOL [20] Rebecca Ott [7] J'Noemi Anderson [6] Tyanna Smith

I/C [3] Alice Burke [17] Nicola Barr [25] Amber Clarke [26] Charlotte Baskaran [34] Arianna Clarke

EMG [8] Bianca Jakobsson [19] Rene Caris [32] Natalie Plane

IN Barr

OUT Plane (omitted)

Injury List: Round 2

Melbourne

Sinéad Goldrick — personal / available

Georgia Gall — ankle / available

Tayla Harris — eye / TBC

Gab Colvin — knee / 3 - 4 weeks

Denby Taylor foot — / 4 - 5 weeks

Tahlia Gillard — knee / 7 - 9 weeks

Grace Beasley — knee / 9 - 10 weeks

Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive

St Kilda

Nicola Barr foot — /  Test

Hannah Stuart hamstring — / 1 - 2 weeks

Olivia Vesely hip — / 1 - 2 weeks

Charlotte Simpson back — / 1 - 3 weeks

Nicola Xenos foot — / 5 - 7 weeks

Alana Gee — knee / 7 - 9 weeks

Emmelie Fiedler — knee / season

Good to see that Tayla Harris has recovered from her poke in the eye. She's a great point of difference to all other teams with her fantastic marking.

Avg. games experience

Melbourne's R2 team: 45.0 games

StK's R2 team: 40.0 games

Hoping to see Kate's lead extended in this game!

Top 5 AFLW all-time leading goalkickers:

Hore 83 goals (from 79 games)

Ponter 82 (73)

Garner 79 (90)

Brennan 78 (64)

Houghton 77 (75)

Dees in the media ICYMI.

Eliza McNamara on the W Show

afl.com.au/aflw

W Show: Crows ‘complacency’, cross-coder on club radars,...

Eliza McNamara joins the W Show to discuss all the biggest topics in the AFLW, how she plays footy despite constant pain from a back injury and the comp’s 74-player game

Interesting to hear how the non-selected players are getting match time during the season (basically, huge scrimmages involving several clubs, with 74 players rotating in and out).

afl.com.au/aflw

Why this star Demon's 'other' job is more than a labour o...

Eden Zanker worked a full-time job over the off-season that sparked plenty of questions from her teammates

From last week:

afl.com.au/aflw

Batman mask and Nanna Jill: How Demon made it through hor...

When Liv Purcell had to decide between wearing a mask or missing a season, the choice was easy

The ladder:-

Anyone know what time the golf-balling goes down? (figuratively and literally!😄)

24 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Anyone know what time the golf-balling goes down? (figuratively and literally!😄)

I think after the game is all we've been told. So allowing for the post game shenanigans - players shaking hands, winning team singing the song, autographs and selfies with fans along the boundary, etc. - could be 15-20 mins after the match finishes. Unless they hurry the players off the field post haste. We don't want half our team missing next week due to gold ball injuries. 😮

16 minutes ago, Craig T said:

I think after the game is all we've been told. So allowing for the post game shenanigans - players shaking hands, winning team singing the song, autographs and selfies with fans along the boundary, etc. - could be 15-20 mins after the match finishes. Unless they hurry the players off the field post haste. We don't want half our team missing next week due to gold ball injuries. 😮

Hmmm...

I'd inferred from one of Tayla’s pressers that it was before?

And I'd be worried about the light for a post-game drop...

As to location, for compliant air operations and suitable safety provision, I'm thinking the drop might be on a controllable marked 'landing pad' on the grassed area Tayla landed at, behind the training facilities, and from a relatively low hover height.

44 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Hmmm...

I'd inferred from one of Tayla’s pressers that it was before?

And I'd be worried about the light for a post-game drop...

As to location, for compliant air operations and suitable safety provision, I'm thinking the drop might be on a controllable marked 'landing pad' on the grassed area Tayla landed at, behind the training facilities, and from a relatively low hover height.

Yeah, there is some definite confusion. But this is from https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1851810/aflw-round-2-details

"Inspired by Mansfield Football Club’s annual Easter ball drop event, a helicopter will fly over Casey Fields immediately after the final siren, dropping thousands of numbered balls on to the ground."

So obviously the players will be wearing helmets and other protective gear for at least the last quarter. 🫣

5 minutes ago, Craig T said:

Yeah, there is some definite confusion. But this is from https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1851810/aflw-round-2-details

"Inspired by Mansfield Football Club’s annual Easter ball drop event, a helicopter will fly over Casey Fields immediately after the final siren, dropping thousands of numbered balls on to the ground."

So obviously the players will be wearing helmets and other protective gear for at least the last quarter. 🫣

Edited August 22Aug 22 by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew

33 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

I just can't wait till tomorrow. That, but 3x as many golf balls. It will be the undoubted highlight of this 10th season of the AFLW. 🙄