Former Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson expects Melbourne to take care of Brisbane easily in their Semi-Final matchup on Friday night at the MCG.
Having beaten the Lions by 64 and 58 points respectively in their two clashes this season, Sanderson expects the Demons to have similar success this time around.
“This could be a blowout,” Sanderson said on SEN’s Whateley.
“It feels like it could be a blowout, I think still Melbourne by about 30 points, but I think the margin will get out to be bigger than that.”
Sanderson is so confident that the Dees will build a buffer on their opponents that he’d have contingency plans in place if he were in charge.
With Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver carrying leg and thumb injuries into the game respectively, Sanderson would try to ease their workloads ahead of a potential Preliminary Final against Geelong.
“I think if I’m Goodwin, I don’t tell anyone this except my assistant coaches, if the game feels like it’s in control, that might take until the 15th-minute mark of the fourth quarter, that’s when I start to take off some of my (stars),” Sanderson said.
“First of all Petracca, he sits most of the last quarter if we’ve got a good lead, look for opportunities to try and rest up some of those prime movers for a Prelim.
“But you don’t tell anyone that, you secretly start to take players off in their normal rotations, but when Clayton Oliver comes to the bench, he sits for 10 or 12 minutes instead of three or four.
“Petracca comes off at the 15-minute mark, put a tracksuit top on, you’re done for the game.
“There could be some of their other prime movers as well, Max Gawn comes off at the 20-minute mark of the last quarter, you’ve got to get ready for the Cats the following week.
“There’s a lot of work to do before that, but it feels this game could blow out.”
The bounce for Friday’s big game at the MCG is set for 7:50 pm (AEST).
The winner will play Geelong in a Preliminary Final at the same venue and time the following week.