3 minute read
Racing and Sports will provide analysis of many games in the 2022 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 SYDNEY
Saturday 4 June @ MCG
A cracking game is in store but it could have been so much better had all the pieces fallen into place for the clash of the two biggest cities in Australia.
Sadly we lost Steven May and Lance Franklin for differing reasons after their last outing – ironically in the olden days neither would have missed given concussion rules and more lenient tendencies on a little jab behind play.
Last week ended the streak the Demons were cultivating going back to midway through last year and which obviously included a rather important game in September.
What is hidden there is that you could smell in recent fixtures they weren't atop their game. The odd critical cog was not on the park because of injury or protocols and the sharpness they've become renowned for was askew.
Run off half back, momentum flows and surges as we saw on Grand Final day just have been knocked back a peg. That isn't always easily switched back on immediately.
Missing Ed Langdon's wing running and Tom McDonald's contested marking pre-game were followed within it by the subbing of May and the first real down game in a while by Petracca with only 10 touches. You had a perfect storm.
That added to a brilliant second half by Fremantle, who utterly deserved the plaudits for their style of play, and the Demons had to settle for second spot.
Can they rebound and find that winning style again against a Sydney side who got back into the No 1 stall but only just at home against the Tigers?
Even then it took longer than four quarters to decide it. The post-game, final decision discussion has been hilarious. How any player, especially one who got whacked across the chops, be expected to hear a non-officiating umpire end the game from 40m away amazes?
Of course Chad Warner kicked it into the crowd which formed part of constituted delay of game except any player under those circumstances would have had zero idea it was in fact over/any foul had occurred unless it was actually TO HIM.
Perhaps all the hoo-ha papered over the cracks that Richmond were over 5 goals up and were run over. That very player Warner along with Rowbottom in the middle were able to get things back on track (remembering there was no Kennedy to restore parity).
However all that followed the move to have their star mid Callum Mills become a sweeper. It was a twofold move in that it made it harder for the Tigers to impact around the contest nearer the goals and also let Mills begin transition from the D-50.
Having Ladhams halving contests in the ruck was also critical and it will be even more so this week coming up against Gawn and Jackson. Hickey's availability/Reid's attempt to substitute for him would have been game changing.
This is no gimmee for Melbourne. While Sydney is a rung below, you often see when a team comes off a hot streak, they can take another week to rebound.
The Swans have a top record against the Demons as you may expect but since 2012, they have only lost twice and one was last year which was a top contest at this ground.
Don't write off a Sydney win here so they seem very big odds. But reality is Melbourne is still the benchmark and the away team cannot afford another of their slow start/bad quarters or it will get away fast.
The ins for the home side create plenty of fresh blood for them and as such taking Melbourne to win but it should be close.
Match Selection: Melbourne by 14 points
Suggested Bets: Sydney +25.5 @ $1.90