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Melbourne has pocketed the four premiership points and somewhat sheepishly walked away from its close encounter against the Gold Coast Suns, knowing that it worked hard for victory against an emerging young side at Heritage Bank Stadium and learned some valuable lessons along the way. Twenty minutes into their fourth interstate clash in eight games, the Demons appeared in total control. They were doing the hard running, hitting their targets and while not exactly dominating the early clearances, their tall forwards were proving more than a handful for the Suns’ defence. They led 3.3.21 to 0.2.2 and were threatening to make the contest a rout, perhaps not to the extent of last week’s 15 goal thrashing of the Kangaroos, but nevertheless a heavy beating. It was as time on in the first quarter began to tick over however, that the Suns decided they were not going to be bullied but rather, were going to fight the game out and beat their opponents at their own game. Their co-skipper Jarrod Witts was taking on the twin towers Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy in the ruck duels to the extent that his team ended up square in the hit out count (37 each) but more importantly, they won the clearances by 42 to 36. And they won the contested possessions! That’s right - the Suns beat the hard bodied tough nuts Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney and co by six clearances on the evening, even without their hard nut superstar Touk Miller. They did it mainly with their young wunderkinder Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson who are both rapidly coming of age. Rowell started it with his five clearances by quarter-time, getting the ball directly into dangerous places up forward where the elusive Malcolm Rosas did damage with two goals followed by another from Mabior Chol to bring the margin to a solitary point before Kade Chandler broke away for a goal late in the term. Anderson kept getting better as the game went on and inspired his team against one of the competition’s toughest midfields. The second quarter was much the same as the first with Melbourne asserting its authority again to build a three goal plus lead and Gold Coast pegged them back to seven points once more at the main interval. It would have been even closer but for the fact that Alex Neal-Bullen slotted one through with seconds left on the clock. Kozzie Pickett was celebrating his new contract and proving a handful for the home side. He scored the first goal of the second half but the dogged Suns were determined. Their defence fought back to get on top and sensing victory, they clawed their way to a three quarter time stalemate, helped by three free kick goals during the term. It was at this stage that the Demons had to assert themselves against a tiring young opponent. Petracca lifted them, kicking off one step from forty metres with the ball hooking its way through the big sticks and then an off-the-ball indiscretion from Levi Casboult gifted Max Gawn a goal and gave Melbourne a 14 point lead. Almost half of the final term had ticked away and the Suns had not scored in that time. But there was still one more twist to come in the tale of this game. The ball was deep in Melbourne’s forward line when a desperate lunge by Jacob van Rooyen caused a crash and Suns defender Charlie Ballard had to be carried off with a neck injury. Things grew heated while the wounded Sun was in the hands of the trainers and the incident seemed to breathe life into the home side which went on to kick two goals while the Demons were only able to manage points. The usually reliable Bayley Fritsch who had been kept quiet all day, was the main offender with three behinds for the quarter as he saw his long streak of kicking at least one goal a game come to an end. In a frenetic finish that saw a few bad Melbourne defensive errors, the Suns almost tied the game but Darcy Macpherson missed his chance to level the scores with 20 seconds remaining. This wasn’t Melbourne’s greatest moment and the team was by no means at the top of their game. Their hard nosed defence has built a reputation of resilience by respecting its opposition but in this game, there were times when they perhaps underestimated them. Such as when Lachie Hunter held on for too long and got pinged for holding the ball or when a trio of Demons failed to see the ball out and unnecessarily cost the team a goal. Errors such as these can be even far more costly - hopefully, lessons have been learned. After last week’s big win, some Demon fans expressed frustration at the narrowness of this win and the failure to put their opponents away after establishing a good early lead. We should never lose sight of the fact however, that Collingwood, one of their closest rivals is making an art form of and has earned the football world’s admiration for winning their close encounters, learning from the experience and moving on to their next challenge. That’s what good teams do. MELBOURNE 4.4.28 8.5.53 11.6.72 13.12.90 GOLD COAST SUNS 3.3.21 7.4.46 11.6.72 13.7.85 GOALS MELBOURNE Gawn Grundy Pickett 2 Bowey Chandler Jordon Neal-Bullen Petracca Sparrow van Rooyen GOLD COAST SUNS Rosas 4 Casboult Chol King 2 Anderson Ellis Lukosius BEST MELBOURNE Petracca Gawn Oliver Brayshaw Sparrow May GOLD COAST SUNS Anderson Macpherson Ballard Powell Rowell Lemmens INJURIES MELBOURNE Nil GOLD COAST SUNS Ballard (head) Long (leg) REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil GOLD COAST SUNS Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE James Harmes (replaced Daniel Turner in the fourth quarter) GOLD COAST SUNS James Tsitas (replaced Sam Flanders in the fourth quarter) UMPIRES Paul Rebeschini Jacob Mollison Brent Wallace James Strybos CROWD 11,440 at Heritage Bank Stadium

The Melbourne Football Club will continue its trend of accumulating frequent flier points with a fourth interstate trip of the season this weekend. The next destination is Queensland where the team takes on the Gold Coast Suns at the renamed Heritage Bank Stadium (formerly Metricon). The Demons have put together ten consecutive victories over the Suns but their trip to Carrara in 2022 was fraught with difficulty in steamy conditions on a sopping wet pitch that caught the visitors off guard. The team looked fatigued in running out winners by 13 points and was saved on that occasion by their early accuracy in front of goal and the midfield magic of Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver. Little wonder that Melbourne officials will be looking closely at the local weather forecast, especially after the troubles the team had handling the ball against Brisbane in Round 2. The good news is that the current forecast in the lead up to the game is no rain and low 20s temperatures. Despite their topsy turvy season and a current 13th place on the AFL ladder, the Suns can’t be taken lightly. They have beaten two 2022 finalists including the reigning premiers and their strong showing last week against Richmond at Marvel Stadium breathed life into their season. The way they took the Tigers apart in the third quarter in a game with stellar performances coming from Ben King, Noah Anderson and Will Powell has signaled that they will be no easy beats on their home turf this Saturday. This is definitely a case of “game on!” Fortunately for the Demons, they hit a rich vein of form with a rousing comeback win against the Tigers on Anzac Eve followed by a percentage boosting 90-point win over North Melbourne - all in the space of five days. The latter game might have been with thanks to a mismatch but they got most things right with their system, discipline, endeavour and approach to the ball instilled by Simon Goodwin and his coaching team. They are strong in every department be it in the ruck, on the ball, either in defence or attack and in their general depth. There will be some great duels in this game. Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy have their work cut out for them against Gold Coast giant Jarrod Witts who starred in the equivalent game last year. At their feet, the Demon midfield, dubbed by Goodwin as “contested ball beasts", should continue their dominance over their counterparts who are are also noted for being strong at the contest but will sorely miss Touk Miller. And the Demons have an advantage there in that the younger Suns midfielders will be coming off a six day break. Melbourne was buoyed this week with the inking of a new four year deal by Kysaiah Pickett thus avoiding the uncomfortable situation surrounding the ongoing “will he, won’t he” deliberations about Luke Jackson’s future last year. The club is now well serviced by its small brigade of Pickett, Kade Chandler and Charlie Spargo up forward as well as their “second tier mids” such as Alex Neal-Bullen, Tom Sparrow and James Jordon, who together are so potent in creating scoring opportunities and in finishing them off. So potent that the Demon attack is not necessarily dependent upon having multiple goal kicking tall timber. These are the things that make the Melbourne set up so compelling and why the Demons are so hard to beat. Melbourne by 23 points. THE GAME Gold Coast Suns v Melbourne at Heritage Bank Stadium Saturday 6 May, 2023 at 4.35pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall - Gold Coast Suns 3 wins Melbourne 13 wins At Heritage Bank Stadium - Gold Coast Suns 1 win Melbourne 3 wins Past five matches - Gold Coast Suns 0 wins Melbourne 5 wins The Coaches - Dew 0 wins Goodwin 6 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 12.10.82 defeated Gold Coast Suns 10.9.69 at Heritage Bank Stadium, Round 2, 2022 The Demons made it two from two but not convincingly in a game played on a soggy surface in high humidity. Norm Smith Medallist Christian Petracca picked up 40 possessions and his partner in crime Clayton Oliver, 34 touches. THE TEAMS GOLD COAST SUNS B S. Lemmens S. Collins B. Long HB D. Macpherson C. Ballard W. Powell C B. Fiorini D. Swallow B. Ellis HF T. Berry J. Lukosius M. Rosas F B. Humphrey B. King M. Chol FOLL J. Witts M. Rowell N. Anderson I/C R. Atkins L. Casboult A Davies S. Flanders SUB J. Tsitas EMG H. Oea A. Sexton J. Stein IN T. Berry, L. Casboult, S. Flanders J. Tsitas 
 OUT B. Ainsworth (quad) N. Holman (foot) A. Sexton (omitted) L. Weller (knee) MELBOURNE B J. Lever S. May T. Rivers HB J Bowey H. Petty D. Turner C J. Jordon C. Oliver L. Hunter HF E. Langdon B. Fritsch T. Sparrow F K. Chandler B. Grundy K. Pickett FOLL M. Gawn C. Petracca J. Viney I/C A. Brayshaw A. Neal-Bullen J. McVee J. van Rooyen SUB J. Harmes EMG B. Laurie J. Schache IN H. Petty D. Turner OUT M. Hibberd (managed) J. Schache (omitted) Injury List: Round 8 Charlie Spargo - Concussion | Available Harry Petty - Concussion | Test Josh Schache - Wrist | Test Luke Dunstan - Knee | TBC Christian Salem - Knee | 1 - 2 Weeks Kye Turner - Groin | 5 - 7 Weeks Will Verrall - Pelvis | 7 - 8 Weeks STATISTICALLY SPEAKING by Sam the Stats Man The club was looking fairly healthy over the pre season but it has by no means been immune from injury in 2023. In fact, at one stage a few weeks ago, Melbourne was sitting in third place on the AFL website injury list behind West Coast and Sydney, two clubs in chronic injury mode. As a result, only 12 players have taken part in all seven games to this point in the season. At the other end of the scale, two players in Christian Salem and rookie ruckman Will Verrall have yet to play at all this season. The club’s other rookie ruckman Kyah Farris-White started the season the season learning the ruck trade with the Dandenong Stingrays and when the Coates Talent League went into a brief recess, he made switch to the Casey Demons. The club missed skipper Max Gawn for only a few weeks with a medial injury but, for 24 hours in late March, it seemed as if the prognosis was going to be more dire. Salem was affected by a recurrence of the thyroid issue he suffered a few years back and then was hit by a knee injury. Verrall is going to be out for a while with his pelvis fracture - these things take their time healing. Joel Smith’s injury woes have kept him to just two VFL games at Casey but his return match against the Tigers last week was encouraging. These are the statistics of games played and goals scored to this point in the 2023 season:- ADAMS, Jed CDFC games 6, CDFC goals 0. BOWEY, Jake MFC games 7, MFC goals 1. BRAYSHAW, Angus MFC games 7, MFC goals 0. BROWN, Ben MFC games 3, MFC goals 9, CDFC games 2, CDFC goals 1. CHANDLER, Kade MFC games 7, MFC goals 13. DUNSTAN, Luke CDFC games 6, CDFC goals 5. FARRIS-WHITE, Kyah CDFC games 2, CDFC goals 0. FRITSCH, Bayley MFC games 6, MFC goals 16. GAWN, Max MFC games 4, MFC goals 3. GRUNDY, Brodie MFC games 7, MFC goals 3. HARMES, James MFC games 3, MFC goals 0, CDFC games 3, CDFC goals 3. HIBBERD, Michael MFC games 4, MFC goals 0, CDFC games 1, CDFC goals 0. HOWES, Blake CDFC games 6, CDFC goals 0. HUNTER, Lachie MFC games 7, MFC goals 3. JEFFERSON, Matthew CDFC games 6, CDFC goals 9. JORDON, James MFC games 5, MFC goals 3, CDFC games 1, CDFC goals 2. LANGDON, Ed MFC games 7, MFC goals 1. LAURIE, Bailey MFC games 2, MFC goals 0, CDFC games 3, CDFC goals 3. LEVER, Jake MFC games 6, MFC goals 0. McDONALD, Tom MFC games 4, MFC goals 5, CDFC games 3, CDFC goals 5. McVEE, Judd MFC games 7, MFC goals 0. MAY, Steven MFC games 5, MFC goals 0. MELKSHAM, Jake MFC games 4, MFC goals 4, CDFC games 1, CDFC goals 5. MONIZ-WAKEFIELD, Andy CDFC games 5, CDFC goals 2. NEAL-BULLEN, Alex MFC games 7, MFC goals 7. OLIVER, Clayton MFC games 7, MFC goals 4. PETRACCA, Christian MFC games 7, MFC goals 8. PETTY, Harrison MFC games 6, MFC goals 2, PICKETT, Kysaiah MFC games 5, MFC goals 12. RIVERS, Trent MFC games 7, MFC goals 1. CHRISTIAN SALEM - no games. SCHACHE, Josh MFC games 1, MFC goals 1, CDFC games 3, CDFC goals 9. SESTAN, Oliver CDFC games 6, CDFC goals 8. SMITH, Deakyn CDFC games 6, CDFC goals 0. SMITH, Joel CDFC games 2, CDFC goals 4. SPARGO, Charlie MFC games 5, MFC goals 6. SPARROW, Tom MFC games 7, MFC goals 3. TOMLINSON, Adam MFC games 3, MFC goals 0, CDFC games 3, CDFC goals 0. TURNER, Daniel CDFC games 4, CDFC goals 0. TURNER, Kye CDFC games 2, CDFC goals 0. VAN ROOYEN, Jacob MFC games 5, MFC goals 10, CDFC games 1, CDFC goals 1. VERRALL, Will - no games. VINEY, Jack MFC games 6, MFC goals 3. WOEWOEDIN, Taj CDFC games 3, CDFC goals 2.