AFL 2018 round 1: Melbourne Demons v Geelong Cats; Match preview and teams
WILL HE OR WON’T HE? Well that question was answered on Thursday as Patrick Dangerfield was ruled out of playing in the Cats’ round one clash with the Demons at the MCG this Sunday due to a hamstring injury. Gary Ablett who rejoined the Cats in the summer also had a hamstring complaint but will definitely line up. Joining Ablett as ‘new’ players are Tim Kelly, Esava Ratugolea and Lachie Fogarty though all three were initially named on the seven man interchange. Charlie Constable was also named in the initial squad of 28 but didn’t make the final cut. Rhys Stanley was originally named at centre half forward but was also left out, replaced at CHF by Ratugolea.
The Demons named two newbies in Jake Lever and Bayley Fritsch – Lever recruited in the off-season from Adelaide, presumably not wanting to be associated with the Crows again after their Grand Final embarrassment against Richmond. Skipper Joel Selwood will play his 250th game while Cory Gregson returns after not playing a game in 2017 due to a horror run of injuries. No Nakia Cockatoo though, he has had a calf complaint but was pronounced fit earlier in the week. In a quirk we will take a while to get used to there are now four emergencies being named, in the past it’s been three.
AFL ROUND 1 2018
MELBOURNE DEMONS V GEELONG CATS
SUNDAY 25 MARCH 2018, 15:20 AEST
MCG
|
GEELONG CATS
|
MELBOURNE DEMONS
|
|
IN: TBA |
IN: – |
|
GEELONG CATS
|
MELBOURNE DEMONS
|
|
IN: – |
IN: – |
| B: J Kolodjashnij, H Taylor, Z Tuohy HB: M Blicavs, S Stewart, J Bews C: C Guthrie, J Selwood, M Duncan HF: C Gregson, E Ratugolea, J Parsons F: D Menzel, T Hawkins, B Parfitt FOLL: Z Smith, G Ablett, S Menegola IINT: T Kelly, M O’Connor, L Fogarty, Z Guthrie EMER: C Constable, J Cunico, J Murdoch, R Stanley |
B: Michael Hibberd, Jake Lever, Neville Jetta HB: Jayden Hunt, Oscar McDonald, Nathan Jones C: Bernie Vince, Jordan Lewis, Christian Salem HF: Christian Petracca, Cam Pedersen, James Harmes F: Bayley Fritsch, Jesse Hogan, Jeff Garlett FOLL: Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Alex Neal-Bullen INT: Jake Melksham, Mitch Hannan, Corey Maynard, Josh Wagner EMER: Angus Brayshaw, Dom Tyson, Sam Frost, Tom Bugg |
AUSTRALIAN TV COVERAGE (LOCAL TIMES)
Melbourne Seven / Fox Sports 3 (LIVE – 15:20)
Adelaide Seven / Fox Sports 3 (LIVE – 14:30)
Perth Fox Footy (LIVE – 12:00)
NSW (Sydney) Fox Footy (LIVE – 15:00)
Queensland (Brisbane) 7mate / Fox Sports 3 (LIVE – 14:00)
ACT Fox Sports 3 (LIVE – 15:00)
NT (Darwin) Southern Cross / Fox Footy (LIVE – 13:30)
Tasmania Southern Cross / Fox Sports 3 (LIVE – 15:00)
AFL RADIO COVERAGE (LOCAL TIMES)
Melbourne KROCK, MMM, 3AW, ABC
Adelaide MMM, 5AA, ABC
Perth ABC
Sydney –
Brisbane –
Canberra –
Darwin ABC, AFL Nation
About The Author
Ben Jensen
THE CATTERY started out as a labour of love, and remains that, by creator and principal contributor Ben Jensen in mid season 2002. His aim was to make the best 'Unofficial' Geelong Football Club site on the net. A consultant by day and webmaster by night, he created his first website back in 1996 whilst at the time studying Engineering and Science at Deakin University in Geelong.