3 minute read
Racing and Sports will provide analysis of many games in the 2021 AFL Season.
We'll endeavour to run through the form, incorporate appropriate stats and also supply a betting prediction which won't always just be who will win.
MELBOURNE V CARLTON
Sunday 16 May @ MCG
The storylines are assured going into and potentially coming out of the Sunday feature as the unbeatens take on the up and downers.
Most know a few Demons fans, some think they really know a Demons fan but none will know a Demons fan if they continue this march. Having suffered the slings and arrows for decades, they'd just love some outrageous fortune.
Still, try mentioning a time of decay to Carlton fans who despite many flags through into the 90s, haven't been the old dark Blues but more the old dark times.
Melbourne had a hard slog in a high quality match against Sydney last week. Older Melbourne teams would have lost that. It was tough from the start, they didn't exactly win out of the centre and yet held their nerve when the Swans made one last raid in the final stanza.
No doubt the likes of Petracca and Oliver garner much attention, but the prior bit part players like Harmes and Langdon add to the depth and then Tom McDonald pops up with his best game in several years.
He is showing right now what several teams could have had and boy there are a few who could use him in this form right now.
But what cannot be lost is the solidity out the back. When May and Lever hold firm in the last line, everyone has a sense of confidence. Tomlinson is a loss longer term but they look like covering him for the now.
9 and 0 looks a formality unless Carlton bring their best. Can they sustain it for four periods? Things looked so rosy as they turned for home last week. Four goals up and the Dogs were not picking up.
Then the switch was flicked and there was no response. Carlton offered nothing defensively. Sam Walsh has been their best player all year but when he could 'only' muster 24 the rest didn't make up the difference.
Cripps seems crippled at present. Not even starting on the ground at a crucial time, did he have an unstated issue or was it a mistake? Whatever the circumstances, the game was there to be taken. His former glorious self would charge out of the centre and rip it to shreds.
As of now, the trade terms back to Perth are being sprouted by those who delve into that airspace.
Besides McKay up front showing great signs and Eddie plucking one from the archives with five goals, there wasn't much else.
Carlton are another of those noted momentum teams. Things go their way and the scoreboard does too. When it doesn't, boy don't the goals pile up. Their coaches can't pull the shutters down and control the ball even for five minutes like great teams do.
If Melbourne remain unrelenting, it's hard to see Carlton having the certitude to withstand. That said we've seen so many swings this season that another roundabout would only make you laugh.
With every game the Dees are one closer to that loss but it's hard to see it in this. The last couple between them have been under a goal so a close game is not without question. But this is a match of differing components 2021 style.
Surely Melbourne finds a way. It would likely send the Blues into the oblivion officially for 2021 and raise the spectre of yet another coaching change – especially with the likes of Ross Lyon in the wilderness.
He has the cred to get any job that he gets asked for but would Carlton be one he would want? The drums may start beating.
Match Selection: Melbourne by 42 points
Suggested Bets: Melbourne 40+ @ $3.20