Rovers export Judd McVee playing back in home state as Demons take on the Eagles

Geraldton product Judd McVee will be back in the west this week when Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) host Narrm (Melbourne) in their round 10 clash on Sunday. It will be the second time the Rovers product plays in his home State at the top level, with the first being in round four of last year. McVee and the Demons will look to redeem themselves after a one-point loss to Carlton last week, with the visitors heavily favoured against the Eagles. Last weekend, the Eagles’ recent fortunes took a dive when they went down by 66 points to reigning premiers in Collingwood in Melbourne. After kicking at least one goal in every game to start the season, Northampton’s Jamie Cripps was kept quiet on the scoreboard for a second straight week in the loss. While Liam Ryan got one as he kicked 1.2 in the loss, as he still looks to find his footing back at AFL level after missing a big chunk of footy due to injuries. Teammate Tim Kelly is confident Ryan will rediscover his best form. “At times, it looks like he’s not far off as well, so, we’ve just got to keep encouraging him,” he said earlier this week. “It’s going to come no doubt and hopefully he can turn it on this week. I’d love to see it.” Kelly said it was understandable Ryan would need time to readjust to AFL given the length of time he was out of the game with hamstring injuries. “He’s been out of the game for a while, probably is a little bit of self doubt, worrying about doing it again or whatnot,” he said. “Each week in terms of his running and stuff like that, he is levelling up.” Friday night will see another clash of Mid West products, with Sydney hosting Carlton. Coleman Medal hopeful and former Coorow-Latham Magpie Logan McDonald had just one goal in round nine win but has managed to score in every game so far, with 18 on the season. They will face the Blues who got through by the skin of their teeth last week with the win. Captain and Northampton Ram Patrick Cripps continues to make his case for the All-Australian side, putting up 35 disposals, seven clearances and kicking a goal in the win. Through nine games, Patrick Cripps is just behind the pace for the numbers he put up in his Brownlow winning season in 2022. This year he has averaged 27.7 disposals, 6.6 clearances, 2.9 marks and 5.6 tackles while in 2022, he averaged 28.1 disposals, 7.6 clearances, 3.6 marks and five tackles. Towns’ Jack Martin made his season debut last week after battling injury, but is out of the side again for this week after suffering calf tightness at training. Chapman Valley’s Jack Carroll has been out of the Blues side since round seven, when he was the sub, but injuries could see him be called back up. Carlton will be without Adam Cerra for the next three matches and Carroll could be looked to come up after his recent performances in the VFL, being among the best midfielders last week with 23 disposals, five tackles and one goal. Saturday night features Walyalup (Fremantle) taking on Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) as Dongara product Jaeger O’Meara has been in form recently. After a slow start from injury and featuring as the sub for the first few rounds, O’Meara has been hitting his stride in the past few rounds, putting up a solid performance despite the Dockers big loss to the Swans in round nine. West Coast will be known as Waalitj Marawar for Sir Doug Nicholls Round, while Fremantle will be known as Walyalup, Melbourne will be known as Narrm, and St Kilda will be known as Euro-Yroke.