Melbourne Demons v Fremantle Dockers
Etihad Stadium – 1:45PM – Saturday 14 July
Fremantle will look to further it’s finals credentials when they travel to Etihad Stadium to take on Melbourne.
The Dockers need to win to keep up with the group of teams now on eight wins heading towards September.
Thought it may read as Melbourne’s home game, rest assured that Melbourne posses no home ground advantage.
The Demons have lost 15 of their past 16 games at Etihad Stadium, with their last win coming in 2007.
It is a deplorable stat for the Demons that must be rectified.
For Melbourne, the rest of the season is based firmly around pride.
With only two wins for the season, with one coming against fellow easy beats GWS, Melbourne simply need to show something to give their supporters hope for next year and beyond.
An opportunity presents itself today by overcoming the Etihad Stadium hoodoo.
To even contemplate victory however means the Demons need an effective play to limit in form Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich, who has averaged five goals a game over the past five weeks.
While James Frawley will give it his all on Pavlich, he will be heavily reliant on the Melbourne midfields ability to maintain possession and pressurize the Fremantle ball carriers.
Melbourne also has the added issue of kicking a winning score. For the first half of the year, Mitch Clark was the sole focal point of the Demon forward line, with Clark now ruled out for the rest of the year, it is hard to see Melbourne kicking a winning score.
It will be the likes of Jared Rivers and Colin Garland who will be required to contribute meaningfully in the forward line this week if the Demons want to win.
Even then, it looks to be too difficult a task for Melbourne, with Fremantle looking to be too good all over the ground with plenty of motivation.
Prediction: Fremantle by 38 points
Teams
Melbourne
B: Daniel Nicholson, James Frawley, Luke Tapscott
HB: Joel Macdonald, Tom McDonald, Jack Grimes
C: Jack Trengove, Jordie McKenzie, Jeremy Howe
HF: Ricky Petterd, Jared Rivers, Sam Blease
F: Colin Sylvia, Colin Garland, Brad Green
Foll: Mark Jamar, Rohan Bail, Nathan Jones
I/C: Matthew Bate, Stefan Martin, Jamie Bennell, Thomas Couch
Emg: Jake Spencer, James Strauss, James Magner
In: Brad Green, Mark Jamar, Ricky Petterd, Tom McDonald, Thomas Couch
Out: Lynden Dunn (Suspension), Brent Moloney, Jake Spencer, Jack Watts (Ankle), James Magner
Fremantle
B: Antoni Grover, Luke McPharlin, Adam McPhee
HB: Paul Duffield, Michael Johnson, David Mundy
C: Michael Barlow, Ryan Crowley, Clancee Pearce
HF: Tendai Mzungu, Christopher Mayne, Stephen Hill
F: Hayden Ballantyne, Matthew Pavlich, Kepler Bradley
Foll: Jonathon Griffin, Matthew de Boer, Dylan Roberton
I/C: Garrick Ibbotson, Michael Walters, Greg Broughton, Cameron Sutcliffe
Emg: Zachary Clarke, Lachie Neale, Lee Spurr
In: Michael Walters
Out: Nick Lower (Concussion)
Read up on the supporters perspective over on BigFooty!
