Today’s first match of Round 4 of the AFL 2013 season is between Melbourne Demons and Greater Western Sydney Giants. The opening bounce is set to commence at 1:10pm local time with the game to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The home team Melbourne Demons are the current favourites in a game both teams will be looking for their first wins. View the preview and teams for the game between Melbourne Demons and Greater Western Sydney Giants.

Round: Round 4 1:10 PM April 21, 2013
Stadium: MCG
Weather: 21° Cloud increasing.

Featured Bookmakers:

Melbourne Demons $1.47 vs Greater Western Sydney Giants $2.75 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

Melbourne Demons $1.44 vs Greater Western Sydney Giants $2.85 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison:

Melbourne Demons	1.47	1.45	1.44	1.45	1.47	1.47
Greater Western Sydney Giants	2.75	2.75	2.85	2.75	2.75	2.75

Preview:

Where to start in this game?

Combined, these two sides have lost their past twelve matches and from a punting point of view, you wouldn’t go near it with borrowed money.

It is D-day for the Demons who have lost their three matches (against Port, Bombers and West Coast) this season by a collective 321 points!!

The GWS have lost their three matches (Sydney, Port and Adelaide) by an average of 52 points.

Only because the future of the club relies on it, the Demons to win, I don’t want to think of the ramifications for the club if it doesn’t.

Teams:

Melbourne Demons:
B: Jack Watts, James Frawley, Dean Terlich
HB: Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Colin Garland
C: Jack Trengove, Jack Grimes, Jack Viney
HF: Aaron Davey, Mitch Clark, Jeremy Howe
F: Luke Tapscott, Max Gawn, Shannon Byrnes
Foll: Mark Jamar, Colin Sylvia, Nathan Jones
I/C (from): Jimmy Toumpas, Cam Pedersen, Jams Sellar, Michael Evans, Jake Spencer, Rohan Bail, Matt Jones

IN: Spencer, Watts, Gawn
OUT: –

Greater Western Sydney Giants:
B: Adam Kennedy, Tim Mohr, Phil Davis
HB: Tomas Bugg, Stephen Gilham, Nick Haynes
C: Tom Scully, Callan Ward, Rhys Palmer
HF: Jacob Townsend, Jeremy Cameron, Sam Reid
F: Liam Sumner, Setanta O’hAilpin, Sam Frost
Foll: Jonathan Giles, Adam Treloar, Dylan Shiel
I/C (from): Stephen Coniglio, Tim Golds, Toby Greene, Anthony Miles, Lachie Plowman, Adam Tomlinson, Lachie Whitfield

IN: O’hAilpin, Palmer, Miles, Golds, Tomlinson, Townsend, Frost, Haynes
OUT: Brogan (suspension), Hampton, Hoskin-Elliott, Smith (suspension), Patton (knee)

Demons linked in drug scandal

Melbourne’s club doctor has stood down while the AFL and ASADA probe the Demons’ links with the man at the centre of the Australian sports anti-doping investigation.

The Demons confirmed on Friday night that Dan Bates had stood down voluntarily.

Bates was among Melbourne officials grilled by the AFL and ASADA earlier in the day after a series of text messages between him and former Essendon sports scientist Stephen Dank were revealed.

The AFL is urgently seeking answers from the Demons about what it calls “inconsistencies and omissions” in Melbourne’s story to the league when initially quizzed about dealings with Dank.

The Demons had denied employing Dank – both publicly and to the AFL.

But the ABC’s 7.30 program claimed to have text messages between Bates and Dank stretching back to mid-2012.

Several Demons players were named in the messages, which suggest a supplements regime at the club that Dank was involved in.

None of the substances mentioned in the Melbourne text messages is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

But AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou admitted to being angry over the situation, which came after the league had maintained for weeks Essendon was the only club with concerns over supplement use by players.

Now the big question is whether the Demons fully disclosed everything about the club’s involvement with Dank to the AFL.

“I’m more concerned about the issue of the omissions of things that have been told to us and also concerned about the inconsistencies of things that have been told to us,” Demetriou told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday.

“That is a very, very serious matter.”

Demetriou said once Essendon was embroiled in the Australian sports doping row in February, all AFL clubs were asked the extent of any involvement with Dank.

He refused to disclose which Melbourne officials the AFL had quizzed on the matter.

“We asked the specific question that the media had asked: ‘Was Stephen Dank approached or did Stephen Dank approach Melbourne or was there discussion around employment at the Melbourne Football Club?’.

“We got the same answer the public got.

“We know who we asked. I can tell you the people we asked are people in authority who didn’t give us the answers.”

Melbourne president Don McLardy said on Friday night the club felt it was appropriate Bates stand aside while the details of the supplement program and the circumstances under which it was administered were independently reviewed.

“We have sufficient concerns about an identified breakdown in reporting protocols that we believe it is appropriate that Dr Bates stands aside until these matters are further investigated,” McLardy said, adding Bates had offered to stand down.

Melbourne admitted Bates and Dank had been in communication prior to the launch of ASADA’s investigation into Essendon, though Bates always had the final say in any treatment for Demons players.

The ABC alleges the text messages between Dank and Bates continued until the day Essendon fronted a media conference to reveal they had concerns over their supplements program and Dank’s work at that club.

Melbourne has had a wretched start to the AFL season, losing the first three matches by huge margins and facing a critical game against fellow strugglers GWS Giants at the MCG on Sunday.