Melbourne will look to make it consecutive wins when it faces off with Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
The Hawks (0-1, 77.6%) will meanwhile be hoping to bounce back from a Round 1 loss to Essendon — a game it’s made no changes from in a sign Sam Mitchell was pleased enough with his side’s effort.
Having comprehensively beaten the Western Bulldogs by 45 points, the Demons (1-1, 115.3%) have made just one change, with Harrison Petty coming in for his first game of 2024 at the expense of Taj Woewodin (omitted).
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Petty returns after an injury-altered 2023 campaign, with the Demons sorely missing the South Australian’s goalkicking impact at the pointy end of last year.
Hawthorn, meanwhile, enter Saturday twilight’s game unchanged from its competitive loss to Essendon in Round 1.
This match gets underway at 4:35pm AEDT from the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) or stream via Kayo from 4:30pm AEDT.
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MATCH UPDATES
There are no late changes an hour out from the opening bounce. Jack Gunston (Hawthorn) and Marty Hore (Melbourne) are the starting substitutes.
North Melbourne champion David King flagged the “Double Demon” tandem of Steven May and Jake Lever as one of the keys to Melbourne’s cause on Saturday,
“I think they’re the greatest challenge in the game right now, getting past these two guys to score,” King told the Fox Footy broadcast.
Melbourne goals to Kysaiah Pickett and Bayley Fritsch got the scoring underway as the Demons jumped out to a swift lead.
Hawthorn dominated the uncontested marking category in the first term, but it wasn’t conducive to scoring to begin, as a stellar Pickett major extended Melbourne’s advantage to 19 points.
A Jai Newcombe bump on Clayton Oliver ignited a small spot-fire to grow the “friction” between the two sides.
“And it’s on again!” exclaimed Anthony Hudson on Fox Footy.
“’Clarry’ Oliver got treatment again,” Gerard Healy said, observing Oliver’s attention from Finn Maginness.
A second Fritsch goal and a Jack Billings major made for a 32-point quarter-time lead for the Dees.
“The target’s been Clayton Oliver,” King said at quarter-time.
“He’s certainly in the sights of all the Hawthorn players today, Clayton Oliver, but he’s off to a good start.”
“They’ve been going after him all day, I think sometimes when you’ve got a young team they can take every message too literally. Hanging onto the ball, maintaining possession, not bombing it to May and Lever — zero intercepts for those two for the quarter, but they’re bleeding everywhere else.”
After Pickett nabbed his third major, Connor Macdonald kicked Hawthorn’s first goal early in the second term from a set shot.
Source Agencies
