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Please cast your votes 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, No Jones rule today.

It was the second time this year that Melbourne held the lead half way through the final quarter against Port Adelaide and yet it lost the game. Earlier in the year, it was a case of a young club simply running out of legs against fitter opposition but this time, it was a case of running out of composure when the time came to hold strong when a game was in the balance. The other comparison with their earlier encounter at Alice Springs was the fact that the Demons leaked goals in conceding an early run on and then had to work hard to rein in the Power. It was hard enough doing that in Alice Springs but it was even more difficult at the "Portress". Melbourne surprised its fans with the opening goal through Luke Tapscott but the Power answered and the game was evenly balanced until Dom Tyson broke through for his team's second goal and a six point lead. The next half hour's play was the low point for Melbourne with the home side kicking three consecutive majors on both sides of the first break to go to a 30-point lead. Twenty minutes into the second quarter, Port had all the momentum, leading 7.4.46 to 2.4.16 and all thoughts of Melbourne fans were about where was the next goal going to come from and how could the damage best be controlled. Somehow, the Demons found the inspiration to take the game on and returned the favour to their hosts by kicking three goals on either side of the break. In the early part of the third quarter the goals came through speedsters Sam Blease and Jay Kennedy-Harris while Jack Watts, who had been quiet early but dominant in this term, goaled at the 16-minute mark to give his side the lead. The question that Melbourne fans were asking now was why had it taken so long for the team to start using some run and to take a game on in the way it was doing now? It didn't last long as the game turned into an arm wrestle for the remainder of the term and it was almost inevitable that the Power would regain the ascendancy, which it did right on three quarter time with the aid of a fortunate free kick paid against Watts for interference - ironically because he had been crunched once or twice earlier in the game without gaining the benefit of a free. The Demons refused to allow the game to slip and goals to Rohan Bail and Tyson's second restored the lead until a late forward thrust by Melbourne was cut off and Port Adelaide moved the ball virtually the length of the ground to where Port's Jay Schulz was paid a mark against a protesting Lynden Dunn to score the winning goal with less than two minutes remaining on the clock. The Demons last roll of the dice came to nothing when a clearing kick from Jack Grimes to Tyson who was in the clear and had support, went out of bounds on the full. Thirty seconds later, the game was over. Dom Tyson with 32 touches was Melbourne's best and he was well backed up by skipper Nathan Jones who was subjected to some close treatment early in the game. It was a much better performance for the Demons but, having twice had chances against a top four club in Port Adelaide it still needs to learn how to beat the top sides. Melbourne 2.3.15 5.5.35 8.7.55 10.9.69 Port Adelaide 4.4.28 7.6.48 8.9.57 10.12.72 Goals Melbourne Tyson 2 Bail Blease Frawley Kennedy-Harris Pedersen Tapscott Vince Pedersen Watts Port Adelaide Schulz Stewart Westhoff 2 Boak Pittard Wingard Young Best Melbourne Tyson Jamar N Jones Garland Watts Frawley Port Adelaide Westhoff Gray Wines Cornes O'Shea Schulz Ebert Changes Melbourne Nil Port Adelaide Nil Injuries Melbourne Tapscott (knee) Port Adelaide Hartlett (ankle) Reports Melbourne Nil Port Adelaide Nil Umpires Jeff Dalgleish, Dean Margetts, David Harris Crowd 37,894 at Adelaide Oval.

We've added some pace today in the form of JKH and Sammy Blease. Will it make a difference?

TIRED by Whispering Jack The story this week is that the young Melbourne side is now suffering from fatigue. Strangely enough, this came from a young player who was one of the very few at the club who showed no signs of weariness last week against Geelong - Jack Viney. Viney, who was one of his team's best in the 66-point defeat last Saturday at the MCG, told the club's website this week, "We started the season really well and were starting to play some real top quality teams now, and its starting to show that the boys are getting a bit fatigued." He added that "They (Geelong) were beating us in contested footy and all areas, so it was about getting back to playing man-on-man footy, and beating our opponent. "From my point of view, it was pleasing to see a little bit more fight in the second half, but it was still not as much as we needed." Sorry Jack, but there's no need to start making excuses for your teammates and the only ones really getting tired are the fans. Over the past two weeks, against quality opposition in Fremantle and Geelong the team has managed a total of nine goals on the back of a creditable performance in coming close to beating the Western Bulldogs at Etihad. In the same time span the equally young (and possibly more inexperienced) Bulldogs have shown no sign whatsoever against of tiredness against two teams that are in the finals race. Rather than demonstrating fatigue, that team is bubbling with enthusiasm and full of energy - a team prepared to take the game on and play attacking football rather than be mired in defensive football only. The Demons' defensive mindset may well be a matter of design; that several months of training and playing in that mode will hold it in good stead in the future but is now weighing heavily on the team. They take on Port Adelaide this Sunday at a ground where they have already recorded a win this year and against a team undergoing a form slump. Moreover, the Demons have available, all bar one player (the injured Daniel Cross) who represented them so admirably in Alice Springs on 31 May. On that occasion, they missed their suspended and then in form key forward Chris Dawes and it wasn't a matter of tiredness that cost them the game but two lapses at either end of the match (each conceding four goals in a quarter hour of play). The teams also have history at the Adelaide Oval where they met a few years ago before it was refurbished in preparation for its role as an AFL ground. That was the day when some incredible umpiring decisions went the way of the home team to give them an unexpected victory. Similarly, this is also a game that could bring Melbourne the four points. It is winnable if the players want it but to do that they need to go for the win and do so for the 120 minutes allocated. THE GAME Port Adelaide v Melbourne on Sunday 20 July, 2014 at 1.10pm at Adelaide Oval HEAD TO HEAD Overall Port Adelaide 16 wins Melbourne 11 wins At Adelaide Oval Port Adelaide 1 win Melbourne 0 wins Past five years Port Adelaide 4 wins Melbourne 1 win The Coaches Hinkley 1 win Roos 0 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Footy Channel Live at 1.00pm RADIO - Triple M 3AW SEN ABC Grandstand THE BETTING Port Adelaide to win - $1.05 Melbourne to win - $10.00 THE LAST TIME THEY MET Port Adelaide 14.11.95 defeated Melbourne 11.9.75 in Round 11, 2014 at TIO Tregear Park, Alice Springs Port Adelaide jumped Melbourne early to race to a 26-point lead but the Demons hit back to take the lead in the third quarter. Port struck back to lead at the last break but Melbourne was in front halfway through the final term before a Power surge saw them safely home. THE TEAMS PORT ADELAIDE B: Cam O'Shea, Jack Hombsch, Dom Cassisi. HB: Matthew Broadbent, Tom Jonas, Jasper Pittard C: Jared Polec, Travis Boak, Kane Cornes HF: Paul Stewart, Justin Westhoff, Matt White F: Robbie Gray, Jay Schulz, Chad Wingard FOLL: Matthew Lobbe, Ollie Wines, Brad Ebert I/C: Hamish Hartlett, Jarman Impey, Benjamin Newton, Aaron Young EMG: Thomas Logan, Sam Gray, John Butcher IN: John Butcher, Dom Cassisi, Benjamin Newton, Paul Stewart OUT: Sam Gray, Thomas Logan, Kane Mitchell (all omitted) MELBOURNE B: Colin Garland, James Frawley, Lynden Dunn HB: Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Jeremy Howe C: Jack Grimes, Bernie Vince, Jordie McKenzie HF: Jack Viney, Cameron Pedersen, Jack Watts F: Rohan Bail, Chris Dawes, Aidan Riley FOLL: Mark Jamar, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson I/C: Dean Kent, Sam Blease, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Luke Tapscott EMG: Viv Michie, Max Gawn, Dean Terlich IN: Sam Blease, Jay Kennedy-Harris OUT: Matt Jones, Dean Terlich Port Adelaide starts the game as the hottest of hot favourites despite having lost four of its last five matches and tumbling out of the top four for the first time since very early in the season. They disappointed last week against Richmond but missed by only two points the week before against Essendon and the defeat that started their slump was by just four points in Sydney. Melbourne's stocks have plummeted badly since their win against Essendon with poor performances against North Melbourne, Fremantle and Geelong (losses of 41, 63 and 66 points respectively) with only the single goal loss to the Bulldogs among them for consolation. The disturbing aspect had been the complete collapse of the club's capacity to put goals on the board - a total of only nine scored in the last two goals stands as testament to its forward line impotence. One wonders what Paul Roos is going to do about the problem this week, assuming he acknowledges that it is indeed a problem that needs to be dealt with in the short term. Earlier in the season, the team performed best when Chris Dawes returned to hold down one key forward placing and James Frawley was moved forward to plug the gap left by Mitch Clark's sudden retirement and Jesse Hogan's ongoing back problems. Lately, Dawes has been unproductive. He's not holding those marks and he's not kicking goals either. Meanwhile, Frawley has been moved down back where he has been relatively ineffective. On top of that, none of the small crumbing forwards who have been given opportunities around the goals have worried the opposition or been able to kick multiple goals. Instead, we get a buzz when someone, anyone, manages to scrounge a singe goal in a quarter of play. The only redeeming feature of this game is that it was at this ground earlier in the year against the Adelaide Crows that Melbourne was able to manage a decent run of goals but even then, although it won the game, the goals dried up after half a game of football. The signs are therefore not good. Port Adelaide by 50 points.

The story this week is that the young Melbourne side is now suffering from fatigue. Strangely enough, this came from a young player who was one of the very few at the club who showed no signs of weariness last week against Geelong - Jack Viney. Viney, who was one of his team's best in the 66-point defeat last Saturday at the MCG, told the club's website this week, "We started the season really well and were starting to play some real top quality teams now, and its starting to show that the boys are getting a bit fatigued." He added that "They (Geelong) were beating us in contested footy and all areas, so it was about getting back to playing man-on-man footy, and beating our opponent. "From my point of view, it was pleasing to see a little bit more fight in the second half, but it was still not as much as we needed." Sorry Jack, but there's no need to start making excuses for your teammates and the only ones really getting tired are the fans. Over the past two weeks, against quality opposition in Fremantle and Geelong the team has managed a total of nine goals on the back of a creditable performance in coming close to beating the Western Bulldogs at Etihad. In the same time span the equally young (and possibly more inexperienced) Bulldogs have shown no sign whatsoever against of tiredness against two teams that are in the finals race. Rather than demonstrating fatigue, that team is bubbling with enthusiasm and full of energy - a team prepared to take the game on and play attacking football rather than be mired in defensive football only. The Demons' defensive mindset may well be a matter of design; that several months of training and playing in that mode will hold it in good stead in the future but is now weighing heavily on the team. They take on Port Adelaide this Sunday at a ground where they have already recorded a win this year and against a team undergoing a form slump. Moreover, the Demons have available, all bar one player (the injured Daniel Cross) who represented them so admirably in Alice Springs on 31 May. On that occasion, they missed their suspended and then in form key forward Chris Dawes and it wasn't a matter of tiredness that cost them the game but two lapses at either end of the match (each conceding four goals in a quarter hour of play). The teams also have history at the Adelaide Oval where they met a few years ago before it was refurbished in preparation for its role as an AFL ground. That was the day when some incredible umpiring decisions went the way of the home team to give them an unexpected victory. Similarly, this is also a game that could bring Melbourne the four points. It is winnable if the players want it but to do that they need to go for the win and do so for the 120 minutes allocated. THE GAME Port Adelaide v Melbourne on Sunday 20 July, 2014 at 1.10pm at Adelaide Oval HEAD TO HEAD Overall Port Adelaide 16 wins Melbourne 11 wins At Adelaide Oval Port Adelaide 1 win Melbourne 0 wins Past five years Port Adelaide 4 wins Melbourne 1 win The Coaches Hinkley 1 win Roos 0 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Footy Channel Live at 1.00pm RADIO - Triple M 3AW SEN ABC Grandstand THE BETTING Port Adelaide to win - $1.05 Melbourne to win - $10.00 THE LAST TIME THEY MET Port Adelaide 14.11.95 defeated Melbourne 11.9.75 in Round 11, 2014 at TIO Tregear Park, Alice Springs Port Adelaide jumped Melbourne early to race to a 26-point lead but the Demons hit back to take the lead in the third quarter. Port struck back to lead at the last break but Melbourne was in front halfway through the final term before a Power surge saw them safely home. THE TEAMS PORT ADELAIDE B: Cam O'Shea, Jack Hombsch, Dom Cassisi. HB: Matthew Broadbent, Tom Jonas, Jasper Pittard C: Jared Polec, Travis Boak, Kane Cornes HF: Paul Stewart, Justin Westhoff, Matt White F: Robbie Gray, Jay Schulz, Chad Wingard FOLL: Matthew Lobbe, Ollie Wines, Brad Ebert I/C: Hamish Hartlett, Jarman Impey, Benjamin Newton, Aaron Young EMG: Thomas Logan, Sam Gray, John Butcher IN: John Butcher, Dom Cassisi, Benjamin Newton, Paul Stewart OUT: Sam Gray, Thomas Logan, Kane Mitchell (all omitted) MELBOURNE B: Colin Garland, James Frawley, Lynden Dunn HB: Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Jeremy Howe C: Jack Grimes, Bernie Vince, Jordie McKenzie HF: Jack Viney, Cameron Pedersen, Jack Watts F: Rohan Bail, Chris Dawes, Aidan Riley FOLL: Mark Jamar, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson I/C: Dean Kent, Sam Blease, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Luke Tapscott EMG: Viv Michie, Max Gawn, Dean Terlich IN: Sam Blease, Jay Kennedy-Harris OUT: Matt Jones, Dean Terlich Port Adelaide starts the game as the hottest of hot favourites despite having lost four of its last five matches and tumbling out of the top four for the first time since very early in the season. They disappointed last week against Richmond but missed by only two points the week before against Essendon and the defeat that started their slump was by just four points in Sydney. Melbourne's stocks have plummeted badly since their win against Essendon with poor performances against North Melbourne, Fremantle and Geelong (losses of 41, 63 and 66 points respectively) with only the single goal loss to the Bulldogs among them for consolation. The disturbing aspect had been the complete collapse of the club's capacity to put goals on the board - a total of only nine scored in the last two goals stands as testament to its forward line impotence. One wonders what Paul Roos is going to do about the problem this week, assuming he acknowledges that it is indeed a problem that needs to be dealt with in the short term. Earlier in the season, the team performed best when Chris Dawes returned to hold down one key forward placing and James Frawley was moved forward to plug the gap left by Mitch Clark's sudden retirement and Jesse Hogan's ongoing back problems. Lately, Dawes has been unproductive. He's not holding those marks and he's not kicking goals either. Meanwhile, Frawley has been moved down back where he has been relatively ineffective. On top of that, none of the small crumbing forwards who have been given opportunities around the goals have worried the opposition or been able to kick multiple goals. Instead, we get a buzz when someone, anyone, manages to scrounge a singe goal in a quarter of play. The only redeeming feature of this game is that it was at this ground earlier in the year against the Adelaide Crows that Melbourne was able to manage a decent run of goals but even then, although it won the game, the goals dried up after half a game of football. The signs are therefore not good. Port Adelaide by 50 points.

Not that long ago ... MELBOURNE B: Colin Garland, Tom McDonald, Dean Terlich HB: Neville Jetta, Lynden Dunn, Jack Grimes C: Daniel Cross, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince HF: Rohan Bail, James Frawley, Jack Watts F: Cameron Pedersen, Max Gawn, Jeremy Howe FOLL: Mark Jamar, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney I/C: Matt Jones, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Aidan Riley, Christian Salem EMG: Jordie McKenzie, Daniel Nicholson, Jimmy Toumpas IN: James Frawley, Neville Jetta OUT: Chris Dawes (suspended), Jimmy Toumpas (omitted) PORT ADELAIDE B: J Hombsch, A Carlile, J Impey HB: M Broadbent, J Trengove, J Pittard C: J Polec, T Boak, K Cornes HF: A Moore, J Westhoff, M White F: R Gray, J Schulz, C Wingard FOLL: M Lobbe, O Wines, B Ebert I/C: K Mitchell, J Neade, P Stewart, A.Young EMG: K Amon, S Gray, B Newton IN: P Stewart, A Moore, J Neade OUT: D Cassisi, A Monfries, H Hartlett

The teams last met in July 2012 at TIO Stadium in Darwin and I'm expecting a few changes to the team lineups when selections are revealed later in the day. MELBOURNE Backs Daniel Nicholson James Frawley Colin Garland Half backs Joel Macdonald Tom McDonald Jack Grimes Centreline Rohan Bail Colin Sylvia Sam Blease Half forwards Ricky Petterd Stefan Martin Jeremy Howe Forwards James Magner Jared Rivers Brad Green Followers Jake Spencer Jack Trengove Nathan Jones Interchange Thomas Couch Lynden Dunn Neville Jetta James Strauss Emergencies Matthew Bate Jordan Gysberts James Sellar In Lynden Dunn Neville Jetta James Magner Jake Spencer Out Matthew Bate (omitted) Jamie Bennell (knee) Jordie McKenzie (groin) Mark Jamar (calf) PORT ADELAIDE Backs Jackson Trengove Alipate Carlile Paul Stewart Half backs Tom Logan Troy Chaplin Domenic Cassisi Centreline Matthew Broadbent Travis Boak Kane Cornes Half forwards Andrew Moore Justin Westhoff Danyle Pearce Forwards John McCarthy Daniel Stewart Brett Ebert Followers Matthew Lobbe Bradley Ebert Matt Thomas Interchange Thomas Jonas Jasper Pittard Chad Wingard Aaron Young Emergencies Darren Pfeiffer Brent Renouf David Rodan In Domenic Cassisi Jasper Pittard Out Darren Pfeiffer Jarrad Redden