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Melbourne Demons vs Fremantle Dockers: AFLW live scores, blog

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3rd February, 2019
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The Melbourne Demons host the Fremantle Dockers in an opening round clash at Casey Fields on Sunday Afternoon. Join The Roar for a live blog and scores at 3:05pm AEDT.

The season has finally arrived for two teams blooding a total of 11 combined debutants for this clash on Sunday afternoon.

For the Demons, it will be the start of a foreign season – star Daisy Pearce will not be taking part in this year’s edition of AFLW due to family reasons.

Perhaps the most exciting debutant for Melbourne will be last year’s pick six, Tyla Hanks, who excelled in the state championships as an exciting half-forward flanker.

Strength all over the ground is still present for the Demons despite the absence of Pearce, with Karen Paxman and Meg Downie in the defensive half, Elise O’Dea and Lily Mithen through the midfield and Kate Hore and Shelley Scott in attack.

It’s a lot to deal with for a Fremantle team needing to travel across to the eastern side of the country, in its first competitive game with a new coach.

Kiara Bowers, a five-time WAWFL best-and-fairest, will finally make her debut after her first two seasons of AFLW were ruined by a knee injury.

It gives a boost to an already powerful midfield anchored by the likes of Dana Hooker and Kara Donnellan, two of the competition’s best inside midfielder.

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In a big call, Parris Laurie will play as the one-out ruck for the first game of the season, despite only playing the sport for two seasons.

By all reports, she was a dominant force in the pre-season and really impressed in the ruck and with her athleticism around the ground.

A match-up against Lauren Pearce is exactly the type of contest that will show her mettle.

Tayla Bresland’s return to full fitness will be super important in this matchup for the Dockers, after the defender’s 2018 was ruined due to injury.

She’s the best pure defender in the team and will have her hands full immediately.

Prediction
This will be an entertaining game, that is likely to be made more interesting by the extreme heat in Melbourne on Sunday.

The Demons will like their chances to get off to a good start, but conditions and the ground don’t exactly hurt the Dockers.

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Overall, the Demons seem to have an edge in quality at both ends of the ground, making up for the slight gap in midfield depth.

It should be an exciting season and this will certainly be a good start.

Melbourne by 14 points.

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