St. Kilda take on Melbourne
St. Kilda v Melbourne
MCG – 1:45PM – Saturday 11 August
St. Kilda will be looking to keep their faint glimpses of finals football alive when they come up against Melbourne this Saturday at the MCG.
The Saints sit precariously two wins outside the eight with only four games left for the season. While a win is expected and will not make any real ramifications, a loss on the other hand would all but end the Saints season by 4:20PM on Saturday.
Melbourne on the other hand is simply playing for 2013. Brad Green this week announced his retirement, effective after Round 22, which will hopefully provide the Demons with some added incentive to put in a memorable performance.
The Demons also have the opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time in 2012, which would also seem them safely away from the dreaded Wooden Spoon.
To boost Melbourne’s chances, number one recruit Jack Watts looks set to make his return this week, as does Jordie McKenzie. James Magner could be one to miss out, seemingly starting to feel the affects of his first year of AFL, while Cale Morton will also miss with a shoulder concern.
St. Kilda on the other hand looks set to welcome back defender Jason Blake back in to the fold, after recovering from an ankle injury. Other possibilities that could join Blake coming back in to the Saints side this week are Arynn Siposs and Beau Wilkes. The likely candidates to come under the microscope are big man Justin Koschitzke and Dean Polo, who both had disappointing games last week.
For the Demons to win, they are going to have to over turn a current seven game losing streak at the hands of the Saints.
Central to any chance of a Demon victory will be the need to limit the influence of the classy Nick Dal Santo and his fellow Saint midfielders.
Perhaps the most effective means for causing an upset will be to employ similar tactics to that used against Essendon, by flooding the opposition forward, resulting in a high turnover rate and thus relying on a counter-attacking football.
St. Kilda need only to focus on their own game and secure a fast start to nullify any early momentum or belief Melbourne could build up on.
It should be enough for the Saints to win by a rather handsome margin.
Prediction: St. Kilda by 68 points
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