Expert
The final match of the weekend’s AFL action sees the winless Melbourne Demons host the winless Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Join us for live scores and a blog of the all the action from 4.40pm AEST.
Both the Dees and the Dogs entered the new campaign with new coaches, but pre-seasons of optimism have quickly been replaced by widespread pessimism.
The Demons have been poor on each occasion this season. Losses to Brisbane (41 points), West Coast (108 points) and Richmond (59 points) were all by bigger margins than perhaps expected.
And in the case of the Brisbane and Richmond matches, Mark Neeld’s men would’ve gone into the game confident of victory.
It seems Melbourne may finally be hitting rock bottom after five seasons of rebuilding that began all the way back in 2007.
For today’s clash the Dees regain key midfielder Brent Moloney, while Colin Sylvia and Liam Jurrah remain injured.
Joining Moloney as an ‘in’ is Joel Macdonald, who will slot into the Dees feeble defence. Co-captain Jack Grimes is suspended and Stefan Martin is axed.
The Western Bulldogs enter this game with their confidence in tatters.
In the opening two rounds of the AFL they were quite good – they matched it with West Coast for three quarters before going down by 49 points and followed that up with an inspiring 18-point loss to Adelaide at AAMI.
Last week, however, the Dogs lost to St Kilda by 64 points after only amassing 5.10.40 at their favourite, home track of Etihad Stadium.
Brendan McCartney has made three changes to the line-up for today’s clash. Key defender Brian Lake (suspension), impressive youngster Clay Smith (soreness) and second-year player Tom Liberatore (dropped) are the omissions.
Patrick Veszpremi, Justin Shermin and Mitch Wallis come into the team.
Defenders Dale Morris, Lindsay Gilbee and Tom Williams weren’t considered for selection because of injury.
Today I’m tipping the Dees. I think both teams are travelling ordinary but Melbourne play the MCG better than any other ground in the country and they Dees have troubled the Dogs a few times in recent seasons (remembering that at the time the Dogs were premiership challengers and Dees were wooden spoon contenders).
I’ve got hardly any confidence but I’ll tip Melbourne to win this game by 15 points.
Which team gets their first win of 2012? Find out at 4.40pm AEST as we wrap up round four with action from the MCG and if you’re watching or following along, join in the conversation below.