BEWARE the wounded Roo.
That’s the message from Melbourne coach Tom Wilson ahead of Friday night’s hotly anticipated clash between his ladder-leading Demons and North Melbourne, who is fresh off its first loss in 35 matches.
Back-to-back premier North suffered the shock loss to Hawthorn in Cairns during round six, leaving the Dees as the last undefeated side in the competition.
But Wilson is expecting the Roos to be back to their best when they meet the Dees at Ikon Park under lights on Victoria’s Grand Final Eve public holiday.
“I have no doubt that they would be wanting to get back on the winners list,” Wilson told AFL.com.au.
“So we are preparing for their absolute best and we know that the challenge in front of us is a great opportunity and we are looking forward to that opportunity as well.
“That program has been a benchmark for a long period of time. They've lost one game in a 1000 days. They're a very, very good side.”
The Demons were the only side to threaten the Roos during the 2025 season, giving them a scare during the preliminary final before a burst of Jasmine Garner brilliance saved the Roos’ day.
Despite this and the Demons’ red-hot start to the season, Wilson is adamant his side isn’t feeling the heat.
“No, no pressure from our end. We approach it like we approach every opposition,” he said.
“We want to be process driven. And we will, we've gone through the process this week around how we've approached it every other week before, before this week.
“So we understand and we respect the noise around the game. But in terms of what that impact that has on us inside the four walls doesn't really change our process.”
In the blink of an eye, the Roos have gone from 34 games without a loss to staring down the barrel of two in a row, but coach Darren Crocker is unfazed.
“I’m not nervous or anxious, it’ll be what it’ll be,” Crocker said.
“It’s just really nice to come up against a team that’s obviously in tremendous form.
“We were pretty disappointed with our performance last week and even though the Hawks were really good, there were definitely areas of our game that we didn’t feel we got right and now it’s a great opportunity for us to respond."
It's been a long time between losses, with the Roos' undefeated streak stretching back to round one, 2024, and Crocker admitted he didn't enjoy the feeling of losing after so long without it.
“I know that feeling wasn’t great when we dropped it last week; I prefer the other feeling, it had been happening for a while," he said.
“But you have to be a realist. In elite-level sport you’re not going to go through undefeated for your entirety. We’ve had an amazing journey. I’m into my seven season now, I’ve loved the journey, I’ve loved putting this list together with a group of really great people supporting me and different coaches and high performance staff along the way.
“We’re going to continue to enjoy the journey.”
The flu tore through the North Melbourne camp during the week, but coach Darren Crocker is confident his side is through the worst of it.
“Everyone’s come out hopefully the other side of it,” he said.
“Everyone’s feeling really excited about the prospect of taking on Melbourne.”
Melbourne and North Melbourne face off at Ikon Park on Friday, September 25 at 7.15pm. Tickets available here
