Melbourne Demons vs Essendon Bombers: AFL live scores, blog

In a round of unusual fixtures, we see the first game of the Friday night double-header feature the reigning premiers, the Melbourne Demons, playing host to the Essendon Bombers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Join The Roar for live scores, coverage and analysis from 7:20pm (AEDT).

After a dominant comeback win in Round 1, the Demons were pushed right to the end of the fourth quarter by a brave Suns team, looking to win at home for the first time this year. However, the Demons proved to be too strong and came out of the match-winning by 13 points.

Christian Petracca continued his dominant patch of form with a massive output including 40 disposals, six marks, six clearances and three tackles. He is the key to the Demons’ success this year and has so far polled maximum votes across the first two rounds.

Luke Jackson is the envy of all clubs in the competition as he proves to be a perfect back up to Max Gawn, freeing up the captain to be flexible around the ground. He’ll be just as important in attack tonight, with spearhead Ben Brown ruled out due to COVID

The Bombers are yet to register a win in 2022 and will be without All Australian gun midfielder, Zach Merrett, for at least eight weeks after he suffered a syndesmosis injury in last weekend’s loss to the Lions. Darcy Parish continued his All Australian form last week with 35 disposals (15 contested) and six marks. Parish, Jye Caldwell and Sam Draper will drive the engine room through a tough encounter.

There have been giant ups and downs this week at Windy Hill with Dylan Shiel being added and Devon Smith being subtracted from the lineup for Friday night’s clash. The Bombers need to take this one to get their season back on track.

In the absence of Merrett and presence of Petracca, the Demons should be too strong here and take this one by 25 points.

Game information

Opening bounce: 7:20pm (AEDT)
Venue: MCG
TV: Fox Footy, Channel 7
Live stream: Kayo Sports, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go
Betting: Demons $1.19, Bombers $4.85 – odds via PlayUp

Melbourne
B: [24] Trent Rivers, [20] Adam Tomlinson, [1] Steven May
HB: [29] Jayden Hunt, [44] Joel Smith, [23] James Jordon
C: [32] Tom Sparrow, [5] Christian Petracca, [15] Ed Langdon
HF: [6] Luke Jackson, [25] Tom McDonald ,[7] Jack Viney
F: [31] Bayley Fritsch, [26] Sam Weideman, [9] Charlie Spargo
R: [11] Max Gawn, [13] Clayton Oliver, [36] Kysaiah Pickett
I/C: [4] James Harmes, [10] Angus Brayshaw, [17] Jake Bowey, [30] Alex Neal-Bullen
EMG: [12] Toby Bedford, [18] Jake Melksham, [26] Sam Weideman, [27] Luke Dunstan

IN: Sam Weideman
OUT: Ben Brown (COVID)

Essendon
B: [17] James Stewart, [15] Jayden Laverde, [29] Jake Kelly
HB: [27] Mason Redman, [21] Dyson Heppell, [19] Nick Hind
C: [1] Andrew McGrath, [6] Jye Caldwell, [12] Tom Cutler
HF: [25] Jake Stringer, [35] Matt Guelfi, [37] Nic Martin
F: [16] Archie Perkins, [20] Peter Wright, [40] Tex Wanganeen
R: [2] Sam Draper,[3] Darcy Parish,[22] Sam Durham
I/C: [14] Jordan Ridley, [9] Dylan Shiel, [33] Brayden Ham, [34] Andrew Phillips
EMG: [8] Ben Hobbs, [30] Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, [5] Devon Smith, [45] Alec Waterman

IN: Andrew Phillips, Dylan Shiel, Nic Martin, Tex Wanganeen (R2 medi-sub)
OUT: Aaron Francis (Omitted), Devon Smith (Omitted), Nik Cox (Injured), Zach Merrett (Injured)