Expert
History may not repeat, but Geelong will be eager to put away Melbourne once again as the two sides meet at Simonds Stadium. We’ll have live scores and updates from 1.45pm AEST.
You will recall that in the corresponding fixture last year, the Cats belted the Demons to the tune of 186 points.
It was the loss that led to Dean Bailey’s sacking.
New coach Mark Neeld has banned the Demons players from mentioning that catastrophic afternoon this week, but it’s an inevitable talking point.
Geelong are coming off a healthy 38-point win over the Brisbane Lions in terrible conditions.
Tom Hawkins continued his impressive start to the season by kicking six goals. He’s now three goals clear atop the Coleman Medal race.
James Kelly and impressive young forward Mitch Brown come into the side, but Mathew Stokes and Taylor Hunt are out.
Melbourne took a step forward last week in their 18-point loss to St Kilda last week, but they are still yet to get on the board in 2012.
Mark Jamar was commanding in the ruck – something he’s a good chance to do again today – while Jordie McKenzie and Tom McDonald performed well playing on Brendon Goddard and Nick Riewoldt respectively.
Importantly, the Dees have regained their most crucial forward and their most crucial defender in Mitch Clark and James Frawley. Jack Watts was a controversial omission.
It was a rough start for the Demons at the beginning of their 2012 campaign, but the signs of quiet progress we’ve seen the past two weeks make it difficult to suggest a repeat of last year’s game is on the cards.
Geelong, though, will be looking to continue playing themselves into form after a less-than-perfect start to their own campaign. It wasn’t until last weekend that they made it into the top eight.
You’d expect them to get over the line comfortably.