2011年12月22日星期四

Demons to go harder at Dons

MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey has demanded more aggression fromhis bottom-of-the-ladder side and made six changes in a bid toimprove after last week's capitulation against Collingwood. Essendon, meanwhile, regains 500 games worth of experiencethrough the returns of full-back Dustin Fletcher and midfieldersAndrew Welsh and Jason Winderlich. Liam Jurrah will make his debut against the Dons at EtihadStadium tonight, while Nathan Jones and Matthew Warnock have bothbeen forced out with illness. Advertisement: Story continues below Mark Jamar (quad) and skipper James McDonald (knee) were bothcasualties from the 66-point loss to the Magpies, and Daniel Belland Addam Maric were both omitted. The other inclusions are Brad Miller, Clint Bartram, JamieBennell, Neville Jetta and Stefan Martin. Bailey said his players were still haunted by their miserablefirst quarter in the Queen's Birthday game at the MCG and expectsthe side to "really fight hard" tonight. He said Jurrah, from Yuendumu near Alice Springs, was one of theseason's "great stories" and the -year-old's inclusion shouldhelp reinvigorate the forward line where No. 1 draft pick,Jack Watts, Canada Goose jackets will also play a role in just his second game. "There is pressure on Liam to perform," Bailey said. "He'srepresenting a very proud group of people and indigenous people inthe middle of Australia. "It's a great story, yes, and his form at Casey (in the VFL) inthe last two weeks has been good and he's shown some really goodsigns at training, so the players are excited for him." The quietly spoken, 188centimetre forward has kicked 11 goals inthe VFL in the past three weeks. "Even though he might not say much, hopefully we'll see a bit ofspeed and excitement," Bailey said. He said assistant coach Josh Mahoney told Jurrah, whose firstlanguage is not English, he had been named. "Josh has worked pretty closely with Liam (and) I think Liamwould've nodded his head and said 'good', that would've been itfrom Liam." Welsh has not played since fracturing his leg and dislocating anankle in a pre-season intra-club game. The 26-year-old returns with defender Fletcher and Winderlich,while Bachar Houli (virus), Jay Neagle and David Zaharakis (bothomitted) are missing from the side that lost to Adelaide in round11. Welsh feared he would miss the season, but yesterday said "a lotof hard work" running laps by himself and long sessions in thepool, had aided his recovery. "I was in here (at the club) every day getting physio, doingrehab work, to give myself the chance to get back as quick as Ihave," he said. After a couple of games in the VFL he said he was nervous aboutreturning, but looking forward to breaking back into the Bombers'midfield.

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