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Melbourne midfielder Angus Brayshaw says the Demons will be seeking to silence the “ferocious” West Coast home crowd in Saturday’s Preliminary Final.
The Eagles supporters are set to play a key role in the clash, with St Kilda coach Alan Richardson thinking the umpires will have a challenge dealing with the atmosphere the home crowd creates.
Brayshaw has confirmed the noise made by West Coast fans definitely makes an influence, saying neglecting their impact is something Melbourne hopes to do.
LISTEN to Saturday's West Coast v Melbourne Preliminary Final LIVE on 1116 SEN with Anthony Hudson, Jack Heverin and Terry Wallace from 2:00pm AEST
“There is a lot to that (the crowd) and especially West Coast…the West Coast crowd is ferocious,” Brayshaw told SEN’s Time On.
“They kicked in front of us with a couple of minutes to go (last time we played them) and they were one point up and the noise then versus a couple minutes later when we kicked a couple of goals, it’s so different.
“It’s hard to quantify it, how much it makes a difference, but certainly when you’re out there and you got 60,000 people roaring hatred at you versus 60,000 people sitting there because we have kicked a few goals and they got nothing to cheer about, it’s a huge difference.
“I feel like it plays on your emotions a little bit, if you can silence a crowd, you’re feeling good about yourself and off you go.
“If the momentum is building for the other team, then the crowd is getting up and about, you can sense that a bit as well.
“It’s going to be a West Coast crowd and if we can silence them, it will probably be to our betterment.”
Brayshaw also has put the onus on the midfield group to shorten the supply Eagles forwards Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling receive.
When the Dees defeated West Coast in Round 22, Kennedy didn’t play and Darling was knocked out of the match in the opening half.
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“Having it kicked in there half the time gives them half the opportunities, that’s one way to go about it,” Brayshaw said.
“You look at guys like Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney, we have got a group that loves playing together and loves competing.
“We connect really well around stoppages and I think certainly if we can do a good job of winning a heap of contested ball and clearances, it will help curb the influence of Kennedy, Darling and those sort of guys.”
Listen to last night’s edition of Time On with Sam McClure in the player below