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As a long term resident of Waalitj Marawar, I am moved to warn my fellow Narrm fans that a danger game awaits. The locals are no longer the easybeats who stumbled, fumbled and bumbled their way to the good fortune of gathering the number one draft pick and a generational player in Harley Reid last year. They are definitely better than they were then. Young Harley has already proven his worth with some stellar performances for a first year kid playing among men. He’s taken hangers, kicked booming goals and even physically taken the mickey out of men a decade and more older than he. It’s not often that a person of such tender age has proven to be a team lifter in professional sport but the Eagles have W’s to show for games at Optus Stadium against Richmond and Fremantle. Those wins were not insignificant and nor was their last up home game effort against the Bombers. For their part, the Demons have been slow starters in recent weeks and that, of itself is a danger sign. Their last four games have produced opening halves of 2, 3, 3 and 3 goals and, as a consequence, they haven’t been convincing when they won and unsteady when they lost. This week, they travel across the continent without two marking forwards in Jacob van Rooyen and Daniel Turner. The team might well be rested after a decent break but we won’t know how affected they are in the wake of two tough encounters within five days. Of course, you might say, that Narrm has the best defence in the competition but then again, it failed to prevent a six goal opening quarter avalanche from Carlton last week. The Blues were exceptional at converting forward thrusts into goals last week as they barged through that much vaunted back line with eight goals from ten scoring shots in a great wet weather first half to lead by 31 points. A few weeks earlier, Brisbane did much the same to them. The big questions loom for Narrm. Is it capable of playing out four quarters of football from start to finish, and if it can’t do so against a bottom six outfit, what are the consequences for when it plays the best of the best? The wet conditions also took their toll on the Demons’ hard-hitting but not overly endowed with pace midfield which needed readjusting and reinforcement. Coach Simon Goodwin nearly pulled a rabbit out of the hat when he moved Christian Petracca into attack. The problem for Waalitj Marawar is that, apart from wunderkind Reid, some of the players who led their charge a few weeks ago, the likes of Elliot Yeo and Jake Waterman have been out injured, along with Oscar Allen. If they can get these players back on the field, this game could be a close contest so team selection will be of paramount importance. The big warning for the coach and his team is that this outfit from Waalitj Marawar should not be taken lightly. I’m going for Narrm but all eyes will be on how the team moves in those opening fifteen minutes or so. Narrm by 9 points THE GAME Waalitj Marawar v Naarm at Optus Stadium Sunday 19 May, 2024 at 6.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Waalitj Marawar 37 wins Naarm 20 wins At Optus Stadium Waalitj Marawar 3 wins Naarm 4 wins Past five meetings Waalitj Marawar 1 win Naarm 4 wins The Coaches Simpson 4 wins Goodwin 4 wins THE LAST TIME THEY MET Narrm 19.12.126 defeated West Coast Eagles 9.12.66 at Optus Stadium in Round 4, 2023 The Demons made short work of a disorganised West Coast outfit and were untroubled to record a percentage booster at Optus Stadium. Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Brodie Grundy and Trent Rivers were the stars and Tom McDonald booted four goals for the visitors. THE TEAMS WAALITJ MARAWAR B A. Witherden, T. Barrass, B. Hough HB T. Cole, J. McGovern, L. Duggan C C. Chesser, H. Reid, J. Hunt HF L. Edwards, J. Waterman. J. Cripps F L. Ryan, J. Darling, J. Williams FOLL B. J. Williams, T. Kelly, R. Ginbey I/C J. Jones, J. Rotham, D. Sheed, J. Williams SUB T. Dewar EMG J. Culley, H. Edwards, A. Gaff IN J. Jones, J. Waterman OUT H. Johnston (omitted), J. Petruccelle (ankle) NARRM B B. Howes, S. May, T. Rivers HB J. McVee, T. McDonald, J. Lever C J. Billings, C. Oliver, C. Windsor HF A. Neal-Bullen, B. Fritsch, K. Pickett F K. Chandler, H. Petty, S. McAdam FOLL M. Gawn, J. Viney, C. Petracca I/C J. Bowey, B. Brown, C. Salem, T. Sparrow SUB T. Woewodin EMG T. Fullarton K. Tholstrup, A. Tomlinson IN B. Brown, S. McAdam, C. Salem OUT E. Langdon (personal reasons), D. Turner (calf), J. van Rooyen (concussion) Injury List: Round 10 Christian Salem — hamstring / Test Josh Schache — Achilles/ TBC Jacob van Rooyen — concussion / 1 week Charlie Spargo — Achilles / 2 - 3 weeks Daniel Turner — Calf / 2 - 3 weeks Marty Hore — Calf / 4 - 6 weeks Jake Melksham — knee / 5 - 7 weeks