Preview: Melbourne v North Melbourne

VENUE & TIME: MCG, Sunday 27 July, 2.10pm AEST.
HEAD TO HEAD: Played: 146: Melbourne 83, North Melbourne 62, Drawn 1
LAST TIME: North Melbourne 18.19 (127) d Melbourne 11.13 (79) at the MCG, Round 4, 2008

WALKING WOUNDED: The Demons will hope to regain dual best and fairest winner James McDonald from a groin injury but Brad Green is likely to miss another week with a hamstring injury while a host of key players are out for the rest of the season in Jared Rivers (abdominals), Brent Moloney (shoulder), Russell Robertson (Achilles) and Brock McLean (ankle). The Kangaroos' are still without tall trio Hamish McIntosh (knee), Aaron Edwards (broken leg) and Jesse Smith (hamstring) and lost Ben Ross (ankle) last week but Daniel Pratt, who also injured his ankle in the win over the Magpies, is expected to play.

FORM: The Demons recent form had not been too bad, despite sitting last on the AFL ladder, prior to last week's disastrous loss to 14th-placed Fremantle in Perth. A win over Brisbane had been followed by a gallant effort against the second-placed Dogs but the Demons were woeful in Perth last week allowing a five goal lead at quarter-time to slip as they went down by 46 points. The Kangaroos meanwhile moved back into the top eight with their second successive win, after coming from 13 points down at half-time to overrun Collingwood by 18 points at Telstra Dome.

WHO'S HOT: Kangaroos' ruckman Drew Petrie played arguably the best game of his 147 game career last week when he destroyed the Magpies in a best afield performance. Petrie, in a rare rucking appearance, not only had 26 hit-outs but also gathered 20 disposals, took 11 marks and kicked two goals in a match winning performance. Melbourne had little to smile about in Perth but Chris Johnson continued his impressive development this season in gathering 25 touches - the third successive week he has exceeded 20 disposals in a game.

WE THINK: The Kangaroos may have performed heroically against the leading teams this season and struggled to put away poor sides - as evidenced by their shocking loss to Fremantle in round 12 - but surely the Roos have too much to play for to slip up against the last-placed Demons here. Melbourne will be far more competitive this week on home soil than they were last week in Perth but the Demons don't have the manpower or indeed the motivation to match it for four quarters with a Kangaroos' side playing for a finals berth. North Melbourne by 27 points.