AFL Football Round 2 - Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs
Will the Demon faithful get behind their team this week? The Melbourne side were shocking last week and the inclusion of Colin Sylvia this week will not make one iota of difference. I really think the Demons are in trouble even at this early stage of the year. They are too reliant on Russell Robertson and David Neitz to kick their goals and I can’t see anyone else putting their hands up to join the party. What was really disappointing last week was the fact that the “leaders” of the club just didn’t stand up for their team. Nathan Jones is a quality player and is one that you can count on giving you 100% week in week out and I think is a future captain of the club. Can they put that Round 1 flogging behind them?
Russell Robertson indicated that he thought that it was a lack of experience and poor skills that cost them last week. Well they can’t bring in anymore experience so rule improvement out there and the skill level of the Demons should be great considering they have worked on that all summer. If the Demons have any ticker and pride they will come out breathing fire this week and hit the Bulldogs with everything they have got. Simon Buckley showed some promise last week and looks like he has some potential but it is the senior players that need to lead this team and that means the likes of Neitz, Robertson, Yze, McDonald, Bruce, Green, McLean and Brad Miller need to stand up and be counted.
It stark contrast to the Demons, the Western Bulldogs had a fairytale start to the season in Brad Johnson’s 300th game. Now that the adrenaline has gone it will be interesting to see if the Bulldogs can stay “UP” for this
game. Johnson was fantastic last week after a slowish start to the game finishing with 5 goals and was well supported by Scott Welsh with 4 goals and Daniel Giansiracusa with 3 goals. Unlike the Demons they have a few different avenues to goal which is a huge bonus. Adam Cooney needs to play more consistant footy and he started like a house on fire last week with 31 touches with great support through the middle by Scott West and Daniel Cross. I think the Bulldog defenders will cover the Demons forwards and the midfield battle should go the way of the Bulldogs.
I like the Bulldogs by 31 points in this one and they should be 2 zip and the end of the game. Melbourne will come out hard but it will be short lived.
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