IN ONE week’s time, Melbourne’s AFL team will be gearing up for their first hit-out of 2022.

The Demons are set to face North Melbourne on Thursday 24 February, with the match scheduled for 11am (AEDT).

While it will be a long-awaited opportunity for the players to showcase their pre-season work, GM of AFL Football Performance Alan Richardson said the side was particularly looking forward to playing in front of Melbourne-based fans for the first time since in over six months.  

“Our practice match next Thursday will be brilliant for our fans, with them being able to come along and watch their team,” Richardson told Melbourne Media.

“We’ve had a couple of functions that our Melbourne fans have been able to attend, but they haven’t been able to watch their team play since last year.”

Thursday’s hit-out will see the Demons host the Kangaroos at Casey Fields, with supporters encouraged to come down and enjoy the game live.

For those who aren’t able to make it to Casey, Kayo Sports has been confirmed as the official streaming partner, allowing fans at home to tune in.

Kayo to stream Melbourne practice match

The practice match won’t be an official game in the league’s AAMI Community Series, meaning the format, such as the number of players, the number of quarters and the quarter length, will be determined by the clubs involved.

“It’s a practice match that we organise with North Melbourne, so we could play six quarters, or we could play eight quarters, and we’re still working through that,” Richardson explained.

“It depends not only on our list, but it depends on how healthy they are and how many quarters we’re both looking for.”

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Training | Match Simulation

Watch as the boys ramp up their training to prepare for the season ahead.

Following a solid two-month block of pre-season, the Demons will be itching to get out and put their work to the test.

The team has been utilising their pre-season sessions with high-intensity training and match simulation, preparing them for this first step of the year.

“We’re really looking forward to the game, the guys have worked hard and they’re at that stage now where they just want to play against other opposition,” he said.

“We’ll look to make sure that we get everything you normally want to get out of a practice match, and that is the high intensity, the work rate, the same sort of rotations that would prep us for the season.

“Synergy is also important to us, so it’s very likely that there will be a more experienced squad in the first period of the game and then it’s likely to be a less experienced squad for the back end.

“While we’ve still had really intense training sessions, there’s nothing like playing against opposition, so we can’t wait.”

Game format and teams will be confirmed closer to Thursday, with young defender Harrison Petty the only player so far to be ruled out of the game.

“Harrison got a corky during a bit of match sim last Friday and it was a pretty severe one,” Richardson said.

“We gave it a week off to try and let things settle down, but unfortunately that didn’t happen, so he had to have surgery.

“The surgery went really well, the surgeon’s very optimistic that we’re going to get the outcome that we’re after.

“We’re thinking anywhere between four to six weeks before he’d be right to go again, so that’s pretty disappointing for him."

Richardson explained that Petty’s unfortunate injury was a small hiccup in an overall fit Melbourne squad.

“The rest of the list is really healthy, so we’re in a really good spot,” Richardson said.

“From a conditioning perspective, with a combination of endurance, speed, strength, just about everyone has improved.

“We’ve been rapt with the attitude and commitment they’ve had to their off-season programs and have seen them come back in really great shape.”