Melbourne is aiming to crash Dom Cassisi’s farewell party, says skipper Nathan Jones

NATHAN Jones refuses to believe Port Adelaide is vulnerable — but says Melbourne has no problem wrecking Dom Cassisi’s farewell on Sunday.

19/07/14 - Melbourne training run at Adelaide Oval before tomorrows clash with Port Adelaide. Demons captain Nathan Jones (middle). Photo Tom Huntley

NATHAN Jones refuses to believe Port Adelaide is vulnerable — but says Melbourne has no problem wrecking Dom Cassisi’s farewell on Sunday.

The Demons take on a Power side stumbling after four losses in its past five games, at the same Adelaide Oval venue where they stunned Adelaide by three points in Round 7.

Port Adelaide has vowed to respond for former skipper Cassisi’s retirement — but Jones was aware that his Demons rained on Richmond’s tribute game to legend Tom Hafey in Round 9.

“We did have that for the Richmond game earlier this year, and that is something Port Adelaide has to control in terms of dealing with the emotion,” Jones said.

“For us, it’s not really something we address.

“We just attack the game as we would any other and we’ll be doing our best to play to the standard that we’re trying to get to.

“If we can do that we’ll give ourselves the best chance of being in the game and hopefully get a result.”

Jones said despite the Power’s recent slump, the Demons maintained healthy respect for the former ladder leader.

“Vulnerable? I don’t think so,” he said.

“We’re going to have to play at our best to challenge them and give ourselves a chance.

“They’re in the position they’re in (on the ladder) for a good reason, they’ve got some good talent and a great system, they work really hard.

“We really respect the way they play. We had a great outing against them in Alice Springs and unfortunately couldn’t get over the line.

“We’re hoping for another hard contest, a lot of hard running both ways, and you never know.”

Originally published as Melbourne is aiming to crash Dom Cassisi’s farewell party, says skipper Nathan Jones