Roar Guru
Melbourne have pulled off a sensational last minute win over the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco.
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Final score
West Coast Eagles 14.12.96
Melbourne Demons 15.9.99
The finals will be shaped in Perth tonight, as the West Coast Eagles face the Melbourne Demons at Subiaco. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 7:40pm AEST (5.40pm AWST).
It’s been a long time since the Demons had a win against this team – almost eight years in fact.
But Melbourne seem altogether a different proposition in 2017 – demonstrated no better than by their thumping win over the reigning premiers last week – and so most betting markets have framed this game as being essentially too close to call.
With both teams sitting on seven wins and five losses, just outside the top four, it certainly looks an even contest on paper, although West Coast have home ground advantage.
There’s a perception that things seem to be falling into place for the Dees. While they haven’t been totally consistent, they seem to have hit a pretty strong run of form over the past five rounds, winning four of those games.
And tonight they welcome back influential ruckman Max Gawn, who has missed most of the season. How he works in tandem with Cam Pedersen, who has filled in ably, will be one of the points of interest in this game.
From West Coast’s perspective every game is taking on extra significance in a year where not much separates the top of the ladder from the bottom. Their struggles to win on the road make it essential that they consistently beat teams near their level at home.
Last week against the red-hot Cats they did exactly that, although it got closer than they would have liked.
The Eagles boast a powerful midfield group, including Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff, Matt Priddis, Elliot Yeo and the rapidly improving Dom Sheed, and they seem to be in form right now.
At selection, Mark LeCras and Jackson Nelson miss through injury for the home side, while Josh J Kennedy is still not ready to resume his position at full forward. Josh Hill and Malcolm Karpany come in.
Two significant outs for Melbourne, with Nathan Jones and Jack Watts missing through injury. Billy Stretch comes in, and of course the Demons regain Max Gawn.
Prediction
Both these sides seem to be hovering around the bottom of the eight, but arguably Melbourne’s best footy this year has been more impressive than the Eagles’.
Neither side has been all that consistent, but at home West Coast have generally got the results they wanted. An eight-point loss to the Giants is their only slip at Subiaco.
With the Demons missing Jones and Watts, and given their history of sometimes struggling to back up from a good result, the Eagles look more likely tonight.
West Coast by 18 points.