Match day guide and preview for the 2022 round 12 game between the Sydney Swans and Melbourne Demons.
Match details
Who: Melbourne Demons vs Sydney Swans
When: Saturday 4 June, 7.25pm
Where: MCG, Victoria
Weather: Min 9 Max 15. Chance of rain 70%, 1 to 3mm
Head-to-head record since 1980: Played 67. Swans 41 wins. Demons 25 wins. 1 Draw.
Teams
Swans
IN: Joel Amartey, Nick Blakey
OUT: Lance Franklin (suspended), Braeden Campbell (omitted), Matt Roberts (omitted)
The Swans lose superstar forward Buddy Franklin after he failed to have his one-match suspension overturned at the tribunal, while youngsters Campbell and Roberts have been dropped. Amartey comes in to play as the second ruck/forward while Blakey returns and Robbie Fox is in the 22 after being the medi-sub last week.
Demons
IN: Adam Tomlinson, Christian Salem, Ed Langdon, James Harmes, Tom McDonald
OUT: Steven May (injured), Jake Melksham (omitted), Luke Dunstan (medi-sub), Sam Weideman (omitted), Toby Bedford (omitted), Trent Rivers (omitted)
May is a big loss for the Dees, but they also have a number of handy inclusions. Premiership players Salem, Harms, Langdon and McDonald all return, while Tomlinson also comes back in.
Click here for complete team line-ups.
Season so far
Sydney Swans 7th – 118.8% | 1043 points for | 878 points against | 7 wins 4 losses | WLWLL
The Swans got a much-needed win over the Tigers last week and it has now set them up nicely at the halfway stage of the season.
With so many young players in the side, Sydney are still quite patchy within games, with yet another second quarter fade out almost costing them victory.
They need a big scalp if they really want to be condenters this season and it doesn’t get much tougher than Melbourne at the MCG who are coming off a loss.
Melbourne Demons 1st – 147.5% | 994 points for | 674 points against | 10 wins 1 losses | LWWWW
The Dees were flying along having won 17 straight matches until they were overrun by Fremantle last week.
May going down early clearly had an impact on their usually strong backline, while Max Gawn and Christian Petracca were both well down on their usual brilliance.
Despite the upset loss to Freo, they are still the team to beat in 2022 and you’d be brave to tip the Demons to lose two straight matches.
Key players
Sydney – Isaac Heeney
After a blistering start to the season that had him in All-Australian discussions, Heeney has dropped away over the last month.
He was hitting the scoreboard consistently over the first seven rounds, kicking 18 goals including a bag of five against the Cats, but has only kicked two in the last four matches.
There’s no denying Heeney has the ability to be an absolute star of the competition, but he just can’t seem to put a full season of top quality form together.
With Franklin out suspended, the Swans desperately need Heeney to be at his goalscoring best against this stingy Demons defence.
Melbourne – Max Gawn
Gawn has been the best ruckman in the AFL over the last five years and he’s rarely been beaten over that time, but he was last week.
Sean Darcy was a major reason the Dockers started to gain ascendency in the middle of the field and Gawn along with Luke Jackson struggled to wrestle the momentum back.
With the Swans missing number on ruckman Tom Hickey, the huge task of going up against big Max falls on the shoulders of Peter Ladhams.
While Ladhams was fantastic last week, facing Gawn is a huge step up and there’s no doubt the Melbourne skipper will be hurting from last week and desperate to lift his side to a win.
Last 5 meetings and MCG history
- 2021 round 8 – Demons 10.7 (67) defeated Swans 8.10 (58) at MCG
- 2020 round 15 – Swans 10.7 (67) defeated Demons 6.10 (46) at Cazaly’s Stadium Cairns
- 2019 round 22 – Demons 5.12 (42) lost to Swans 15.5 (95) at MCG
- 2019 round 4 – Swans 11.12 (78) lost to Demons 15.10 (100) at SCG
- 2018 round 21 – Demons10.18 (78) lost to Swans 13.9 (87) at MCG
The Swans hold a slender 3-2 edge over the last five matches, but the Demons were too good for them in their only encounter last year.
It was a low scoring affair in round 8 last year, with the Demons managing to stave off the Swans at the G.
They have met nine times at the MCG since 2010, Sydney lead the count 6-2 with a draw in 2011, John Longmire’s first game as head coach of the Swans.
Pre match predictions
Missing their Buddy: The Swans to struggle to kick more than 10 goals without their superstar forward.
Mighty Max: Max Gawn to have 25 touches and kick a goal in a best on ground display.
