It’s true that Melbourne is faced with a monumental challenge but it’s not about turning around a negative 15½ goal outcome against Fremantle which is where it finished in Alice Springs early last month.
It’s all about winning a game where both sides start with the score at 0.0.0 each, play under different conditions, on a different ground in a different city (albeit the home of the Dockers), with different players and with many of the same players of differing physical freshness and mental attitudes.
There’s been an outcry and a lot of tears about the fact that the Demons have been forced to soldier on without two AFL top liners in Max Gawn and Christian Petracca but when you compare the makeup of the Melbourne team of round 12 with the team of round 18, there are some significant changes for the better even if you can never replace Max and Christian. These are the changes between the two games -
Out Max Gawn, Lachie Hunter, Christian Petracca, Shane McAdam, Adam Tomlinson
In Jake Lever, Jake Melksham, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Koltyn Tholstrup, Jacob van Rooyen.
That’s a mixed bag of players coming in which includes two experienced players in Lever and Melksham. One adds cohesion to the defence, the other adds steel to the attack which was not functioning properly on 2 June 2024 when Melbourne flopped badly to the purple people.
The other three are JvR who is in massive form as a forward and relief ruckman, and two youngsters playing with great enthusiasm. They replace McAdam who was held scoreless, Hunter who was ineffective before he was subbed off at half time with a calf injury and Adam Tomlinson who worked hard but he doesn’t compare with Lever.
There are a number of Melbourne players who have lifted several notches including wingers Ed Langdon and Caleb Windsor. Their current form is uplifting and their attacking mindset is setting a different tone to the team’s performance.
The last time they met, it was said that the Dockers were completely switched on and primed to beat the Demons. They had an extra two days to prepare themselves for the game and this time they are coming off a shattering loss to Hawthorn.
Certainly, Freo will have an advantage in the ruck if Max isn’t ruled fit to play but in every other respect, the goalposts have been removed 360 degrees over the past six or seven weeks. Even Optus Stadium is Melbourne’s home away from home.