The following are previews with betting tips for Round 19 of the 2015 AFL season.
Friday, August 7
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Adelaide vs Richmond7:50PM AEST, Adelaide Oval |
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A massive crowd at the Adelaide Oval on a Friday night is a fitting stage for such an important game of football. It’s a must win game for both teams. Adelaide must win if they want to play finals this year. The Tigers must win if they want to challenge the Swans for a top four spot. It should be a ripping game of football. The Tigers are probably playing the better footy at the moment, but the Crows do have the home crowd advantage and at their best are good enough to beat just about anyone.
I reckon this will be a really close contest, but think the Tigers might just pip the Crows at the very end.
Betting tip: 1 unit – Tigers by 1-24 @ $3.35 (UniBet)
Saturday, August 8
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Collingwood vs Carlton1:45PM AEST, MCG |
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Collingwood and Carlton clashes have historically been some of the biggest games on the AFL calendar. Not this one, however. With both teams struggling, it’s hard to find the usual excitement for this one, and you’d expect that the crowd that turns up will be nowhere near as big as expected if they were both travelling OK.
The Blues have been poor all year, while the Pies, who were going along swimmingly, have suddenly stumbled into a very deep hole and have been unable to claw themselves out ever since. Apparently they’ve lost the confidence to be able to win games, but you’d think they’d be able to find it again this week against the Blues, who are easily one of the worst teams in the competition.
Betting tip: 1 unit – Pies by 25+ @ $1.72 (Luxbet)
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Western Bulldogs vs Port Adelaide2:10PM AEST, Etihad Stadium |
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This game has the potential to turn into a free flowing, high scoring, and very entertaining game of footy. Both teams play at their best when they’re attacking and taking risks, so hopefully that’s the way it turns out at Etihad on Saturday arvo and the fans get a real treat.
The loss of Ollie Wines for the rest of the season is obviously huge for Port and really dents any chance they had of miraculously making finals. This might give the Dogs an advantage in this one. Whichever team is able to win the midfield battle should get the four points, although dominance off the half back line will also play a big part, with both teams able to start scoring chains from deep in defence. I’m going with the Dogs, I think they’ll get home at Etihad and just about cement their spot in the final top 8.
Betting tip: 1 unit – Dogs to win @ $1.72 (Pinnacle)
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Brisbane vs Gold Coast4:35PM AEST, The Gabba |
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The Q Clash is one game that the AFL would dearly love to get off the ground and become a massive event, but it’s not going to start here. Both teams are out of sorts, although the Gold Coast would be quite happy with their efforts last week even though the Eagles didn’t play very well at all. Can’t help but think this will be a dull game to watch, and not one that will be all that easy to pick a winner in. I guess you have to go with the Gold Coast on recent form, not because they’ve been playing good footy, but just because the Lions have been incredibly bad. So I’m going with the Suns by default.
Betting tip: 1 unit – Suns to win @ $1.63 (Matchbook)
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West Coast vs Hawthorn7:40PM AEST, Patersons Stadium |
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Huge game of footy. Easily the biggest game of the round, and one I can’t wait to sit down and watch. The prize for winning this game is the chance of playing a home final. Both teams are coming off a disappointing weekend. The Hawks would have expected to beat the Tigers, and the Eagles would have felt similarly about the Suns. If the Eagles win this one, they’re locked in for a home final, which would be an absolutely huge result. If the Hawks can win, the battle is on, and either team could land it, depending on their results for the rest of the season.
I’m genuinely not sure who’ll win this game, I reckon it’ll be really close but I’m going to stick with the reigning premiers to bounce back from last week and confirm their premiership favouritism once again.
Betting tip: 1 unit – Hawks to win @ $1.78 (Betfair)
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Geelong vs Sydney7:20PM AEST, Simonds Stadium |
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In one sense, this will be a strange game of football, as for probably the first time, all eyes will be the crowd instead of the players. All ears, more accurately. The return of Adam Goodes will hopefully bring cheers rather the boos he was getting used to. I think the Geelong crowd will really welcome him and it’ll turn out to be a great night that will be celebrated in the media.
In terms of the actual game, I think the Swans will be too good for the Cats, regardless of their patchy form as of late. I just don’t think the Cats have enough depth to challenge the Swans for a full four quarters of footy. It should be close, but in the end the Swans will prevail.
Betting tip: 2 units – Swans to win @ $2.01 (Matchbook)
Sunday, August 9
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Melbourne vs North Melbourne1:10PM AEST, MCG |
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Melbourne will be hoping that this weekend they can emulate their game against the Pies last Saturday, in which they not only won, but won convincingly. The opposition will be tougher, with the Kangaroos charging full steam ahead to a spot in the final eight. The Dees will want to close this one down and try to win it in an arm wrestle, but I don’t think they’ll be able to contain the Kangaroos for the whole game. It could be one of those games that’s tight until half time and then the Kangaroos come out and pile on the goals in the second half. That’s what I’m thinking, anyway. Kangaroos comfortably in the end.
Betting tip: 1 unit – Kangaroos by 25+ @ $2.00 (Sportsbet)
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GWS Giants vs Essendon3:20PM AEST, Spotless Stadium |
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The Bombers are really, really struggling. An 87 point loss to the Bulldogs doesn’t help their cause at all and James Hird and all the players will be feeling even more pressure than usual. At this rate, they won’t win another game this year. They probably won’t even get within 5 goals of anyone. It’s not a good place to be at the moment, down at Bomberland. Maybe we’ll see a spike in effort after the debacle last week, but more likely than not, the players are defeated and are just hobbling to the finish line, so more of the same will be dished up. Meaning GWS should win easily.
Betting tip: 1 unit – GWS by 25+ @ $1.85 (Centrebet)
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St Kilda vs Fremantle4:40PM AEST, Etihad Stadium |
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Freo have top spot all but sewn up, so now their sole focus is on priming themselves for finals. Last year they were spent by the time finals came round, bowing out in straight sets. They won’t want a repeat of that this year. Luckily, they’ve got the luxury of being so far ahead on top of the ladder that they can take the risk of losing a game and resting some players who might be a little sore. Could that happen this week? Maybe, but it’s probably more likely in another week or two. Either way, they should be able to take care of the Saints at home. I reckon they’ll win by at least 6 goals to wrap up the weekend.
Betting tip: 2 units – Dockers by 25+ @ $2.65 (Centrebet)