There is a theory that the story behind "The Wizard of Oz" was inspired by Australia. After all, we know the country is often colloquially referred to as "Oz" and in the book upon which film was based, Oz is an island continent somewhere to the west of California with inhabited regions bordering on a great desert. That iconic movie was the inspiration that moved young people of a generation or two to dare to dream, to overcome adversity and to triumph in hard times.
The theme of dreaming for better times must have a familiar ring for Demon fans after experiencing a decade of despair but in recent weeks, the skies seem to have cleared, turned to blue and produced rainbows all around. Suddenly, their team's season has come alive.
The road map to the finals is very much a straight line. They need to beat Carlton this Sunday at the MCG, prevail at the Cattery a week later and hope that the two New South Wales teams beat the currently eighth-placed North Melbourne by enough to turn around the Kangaroos' narrow percentage advantage of 3.7 per cent. That's all.
It sounds so simple and by no means a fantasy, but this is real life and dreams don't always come true.
Standing between the Melbourne Football Club and the dreams of its fans this week is Carlton. Since that groundbreaking end of season contest in late 2007 that came to be known as the Kreuzer Cup, the Demons have struggled against the Blues and there have been some disastrous results for them over those years. Carlton has emerged victorious in eight of the last nine matches between the clubs and four of those wins have been by more than 50 points.
Despite their poor record, Melbourne came into their last encounter at around the this time last year as firm favourites but they couldn't raise a gallop. They were terrible.
This time around, Carlton is struggling, having lost nine on the trot, while Melbourne's season is just gathering momentum. They have the competition's dominant ruckman, an emerging midfield with Dom Tyson striking a rare vein of great form and the team is chockfull of young running footballers who don't stop. And things can only get better if Jesse Hogan, who has been battling for the past month, hits his straps.
This is the moment for the Demons. There are no happy little bluebirds around to spoil their dreams - it's their turn to fly.
Melbourne by 23 points
THE GAME
Carlton v Melbourne at MCG Sunday 21st August, 2016 at 1.10pm.
HEAD TO HEAD
Overall Carlton 116 wins Melbourne 89 wins Drawn 2
At MCG Carlton 49 wins Melbourne 49 wins
Past five meetings Carlton 4 wins Melbourne 1 win
The Coaches Bolton 0 wins Roos 0 wins
MEDIA
TV - Fox Footy Channel Live at 1.00pm
RADIO - Triple M 3AW
THE BETTING
Carlton to win - $4.10 Melbourne to win - $1.24
THE LAST TIME THEY MET
Carlton 12.6.78 defeated Melbourne 7.13.55 at the MCG Round 21, 2015
At one stage late in the second quarter, Carlton held a 53 point lead and had kicked 10 goals to a single Demon goal. Some might have found consolation in the comeback that saw the team score five goals to Carlton's two in the second half and to finish with a slender advantage in scoring shots over the Blues but in truth, their performance was rubbish.
THE TEAMS
CARLTON
B: Zach Tuohy, Sam Rowe, Jacob Weitering
HB: Dylan Buckley, Lachie Plowman, Sam Docherty
C: Kade Simpson, Sam Kerridge, Ed Curnow
HF: Jack Silvagni, Liam Jones, David Cuningham
F: Matthew Kreuzer, Levi Casboult, Matthew Wright
FOLL: Andrew Phillips, Patrick Cripps, Bryce Gibbs
I/C (from): Dennis Armfield, Blaine Boekhorst, Andrejs Everitt, Nick Graham, Liam Sumner, Dale Thomas, Simon White
IN: Andrejs Everitt, Nick Graham,
Liam Sumner
OUT:
MELBOURNE
B: Sam Frost, Tom McDonald, Neville Jetta
HB: Jayden Hunt, Oscar McDonald, Tomas Bugg
C: Christian Petracca, Bernie Vince, Dom Tyson
HF: Angus Brayshaw, Jack Watts, Aaron vandenBerg
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Dean Kent
FOLL: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney
I/C (from): James Harmes, Viv Michie, Alex Neal-Bullen, Clayton Oliver, Cameron Pedersen, Billy Stretch, Sam Weideman
IN: Viv Michie, Alex Neal-Bullen, Sam Weideman
OUT:
I have a feeling another Gold Coast-like performance is coming :-X
Yeh, but, didn't you say that last week? :P
Comfortable win for you lads tomorrow, got too much to play for with a glimmer of finals hope still alive