The Melbourne Demons need to take a win over the Hawthorn Hawks to prove they’re a serious finals contender in 2017.
The Demons have had a good start to the year in patches but haven’t always gotten wins on the board – as it is, they’re a 3-3 team, but they’re better than that.
They come into this match after claiming a comfortable 38-point victory over Essendon last week, their grind and grunt just too much for the Dons to gun past.
They’ll be looking to do the same thing this week to a team known for their class in Hawthorn.
The Hawks may have been the game’s most dominant side of the modern era but you wouldn’t know it watching them this year, they’ve been horrendous.
Aside from their big win over a woeful West Coast in Round 5, they’ve lost every other match they’ve played and looked completely uncompetitive at times.
Last week they were smashed by St Kilda in Launceston, going down by 75 points when the final siren blew.
It’s clear that their star is falling while Melbourne’s is on the up – the Demons have no excuse not to get the win here.
Jesse Hogan is back for the Demons this week in a significant boost, and they’ve also brought back Josh Wagner. Jake Melksham and Alex Neal-Bullen have both been dropped.
Hawthorn have two stars back in the mix, Grant Birchall and Cyril Rioli. To make way they’ve dropped Kaiden Brand and Will Langford.
On form Melbourne are the clear favourites in this game and $1.53 is very good value for them to win when you consider how much better a team they have looked this season than the Hawks.
Hawthorn’s last three losses have all been by big margins so Melbourne to win by 40+ points for $3.75 looks potentially good value.