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The Melbourne Demons are inching closer and closer to a much-deserved finals berth after a 50-point win over the Western Bulldogs.
Final score
Melbourne Demons 18.11.119
Western Bulldogs 10.9.69
The Melbourne Demons will host fellow Victorians the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday afternoon, in the Bulldogs first game at the venue this year. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 4:35pm AEST.
Melbourne got back on the winners list last Saturday night with a 54-point win over Fremantle.
The Demons would have been pleased to take the win in warm and humid conditions, but were very wasteful in front of goals, kicking a total of 24 behinds.
Meanwhile, after strong performances in a close loss to North Melbourne and a close win over Geelong, the Western Bulldogs went backwards with a very poor second half against Hawthorn.
Two points up at half time, the Bulldogs then conceded seven goals in the third term and fell to a 63-point defeat at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
In team news, Melbourne have been forced to make two changes after injuries to Joel Smith (hip) and Billy Stretch (toe) in Darwin.
Bernie Vince will return after two weeks out of the senior side, while Jay Kennedy Harris comes in for his first match of the season.
The Western Bulldogs have been further hit by injury with vice-captain Marcus Bontempelli ruled out following surgery for appendicitis.
Also unavailable at selection were Tom Boyd (back soreness) and Hayden Crozier (hamstring tightness).
Mitch Honeychurch, Jack Macrae and Jordan Roughead will take their places in the side; Macrae returning after a hamstring injury kept him out for two weeks.
These two teams last met six rounds ago at Etihad Stadium, where the Demons were clinical and came away with a strong 49-point win.
Alex Neal-Bullen will play his 50th AFL game, while Jason Johannisen will notch up 100 games and take the reigns as captain in the absence of Easton Wood and Marcus Bontempelli.
Prediction
The unpredictable Western Bulldogs pose a threat to premiership contenders or pretenders (take your pick) the Melbourne Demons.
However, Max Gawn should dominate the ruck and give his quality midfield first use of the ball, allowing the Demons to kick away to a tenth victory for the season and hold their spot in the top eight for another week.
Melbourne by 23 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 4:35pm AEST.
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