Dees expect a hard clowder of Cats
Paul Roos has topped up his Melbourne squad with three gusty players to compete against the Cats
Ahead of Saturday’s clash at the MCG, Melbourne’s senior coach Paul Roos says you can bank on Geelong to pull out something ‘pretty spectacular’ after weeks of scrutiny.
With Geelong’s string of marginal wins and a low clearance count, Roos expects the Cats to make it their mission to hit the ground hard and proud against the Dees.
“Geelong have clearly been a benchmark team, as soon as you write Geelong off, from a media point of view, they jump up and do something pretty spectacular,” Roos told www.melbournefc.com.au
Much like the Cats, the Demons will be looking to maintain the pressure from start to finish.
“I still rate them as a top four-five team in the competition,” Roos said.
“We need to come out and play really really well. We played well last week for 50 minutes but we need to do it for 120 minutes and that’s the challenge for us.
“They’re a big midfield like Freo were and if you don’t compete at the contest and win your fair share of contested footy, it makes it hard to beat the Cats.”
Due to injury setbacks, the Dees will bring in their solid bodied midfielder Luke Tapscott for the first time this season.
Roos has also added former Crow Aidan Riley into the middle and defender Neville Jetta, who was out on a one-week suspension.
“Nev will come back. He’s been really good for us and played some good footy and he’s hard. We need some real hard, big bodies – that’s something we probably need to look at going into this week,” Roos said.
“Riley’s been in really good form, Tapscott has been in good form and they’re bigger bodies, so they’ve got to be a chance to play against Geelong.”
The Cats and the Dees will kick off at the MCG this Saturday at 1:45pm.