Mumford ready for battle of the AFL bulls

Greater Western Sydney star Shane Mumford says he’s relishing the chance to do battle with a fellow “old bull” in Melbourne’s Mark Jamar, but knows it won’t be easy.

The veteran ruckmen will go head-to-head at Star Track Oval in Canberra on Saturday, as both sides chase back-to-back wins to start the 2015 AFL season.

After dominating St Kilda’s Billy Longer in the opening round, Mumford is preparing for a different challenge this week.

While the former Swan has a few kilos on Jamar, little else separates the pair.

“He’s one of the better ruckmen in the competition and has been All Australian in the past,” Mumford said on Wednesday.

“We probably won’t be winning as many hitouts as we did on the weekend, but obviously I love the challenge – and that’s what it will be, a big challenge for us.

“He rucks a lot more like me, so it’s just going to be two bulls going at it, locking horns and away we go.”

Coach Leon Cameron said the Mumford-Jamar battle wouldn’t be the only show to watch on Saturday, which he sees as a match-up between the AFL’s two most promising outfits.

“All over the ground where you look, there’s going to be some fantastic duels,” he said.

“Jeremy Cameron will probably come up against (Tom) McDonald, who’s a very very good key defender for Melbourne.

“(Heritier) Lumumba, (Bernie) Vince, (Dom) Tyson against (Ryan) Griffen, (Callan) Ward, (Adam) Treloar.

“I just think it’s going to be one of those games that’s going to come down to te wire.”

If the Giants win, it’ll be their first 2-0 start to a season since joining the AFL in 2012.

If the Demons win, it’ll be their first in a decade.

“We started off this journey with a lot of young kids, and as the years have gone on we’ve added some mature players, and Melbourne are exactly the same,” Cameron said.

“There’s so much young talent on display. Both sides play a fantastic brand of footy, so you can clearly see we’re making inroads.

“We want to come off the bottom of the ladder, and when two young sides come together it’s a really good game of footy. Starting 2-0 is clearly better than starting 0-2.”

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