The 2015 AFL season is shaping up to be epic and we can’t wait to get cracking offering weekly AFL betting tips all year long. The first of our official AFL articles begins with Before You Bet’s 2015 AFL season preview & betting tips. Read on and find out what we think 2015 has to offer, along with a full ladder prediction.
2015 AFL Season Preview & Ladder Prediction
It’s never easy to guess how a ladder will end up in any AFL season. So much can change in the five months it takes to play 23 rounds of footy. It’s also a completely subjective prospect and you will be hard pressed to find any two people in Australia who agree on the exact order. Regardless, the team at BeforeYouBet will be having a crack with their 2015 AFL ladder prediction!
There are plenty of reasons for punters to try and map out how they think the ladder will look at the end of the season. Firstly, it’s a good chance to start rating each team, thinking about their list and where you think they stand compared to other teams. This information is going to come in handy when handicapping games during the regular season.
Another great reason to predict the AFL ladder is so you can find some value in the futures betting markets. You can bet on everything from how many games you think each team will win, to where they will finish on the ladder. There is always plenty of money to be made betting on top eight and top four finishes.
Without further ado, here is Before You Bet’s 2015 AFL ladder!
Before You Bet’s 2015 AFL Ladder Prediction
1. Sydney
2. Port Adelaide
3. Hawthorn
4. Geelong
5. Fremantle
6. Nth Melbourne
7. Gold Coast
8. Richmond
9. Adelaide
10. Brisbane
11. West Coast
12. Essendon
13. Collingwood
14. GWS
15. Carlton
16. Melbourne
17. Western Bulldogs
18. St Kilda
Grand Final Winner: Port Adelaide Power
It’s important to now talk a little bit about why we have each team finishing where they do. Firstly, we had a look at the fixture and decided a game range of wins we think each team fits into. Then weighed that against some good old fashioned opinion and discussions between the team at Before You bet.
The 2015 AFL season really does look like another year of Sydney, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn being a tier above the rest. We wouldn’t at all be surprised if the order of these three changed.
The reason we have Sydney on top is because we believe they will have a similar year to last year – they are flashy and will get some momentum going and win as many games as they can. Port Adelaide will be similar, but think they may struggle a little more on the road against a few of the trickier sides.
Hawthorn, meanwhile, will likely have just as many wins as Sydney and Port, but we believe they have the tendency to focus on upcoming finals campaigns over regular season games so expect them to take the foot off the pedal and rest players towards the end of the season if they need to.
We think the next tier of teams – Fremantle, Nth Melbourne & Geelong - are the very interesting ones this year. The questions are: How much will Fremantle and Nth Melbourne improve and how much will Geelong fall off?
The Cats year will be the most interesting to watch. They did some solid recruiting over the summer and seem to be tracking well. It seems the footy world has been trying to ride this mob off for the last few years, but they have yet to fall from grace. We can see 2015 being another year that Geelong impresses.
After these teams the ladder gets even trickier to decipher.
We think Gold Coast & Richmond will fill spots 7 and 8, but wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Adelaide sneak in there. Brisbane, meanwhile, we rate as a sneaky chance to be the biggest improvers, while West Coast & Collingwood fans may need to prepare for a disappointing year.
There are too many question marks over Essendon to know where they will finish, so for now we have slotted them in pretty low on the ladder. However, if they get full teams onto the park, put all the mental anguish of the last few years behind them, then their list is good enough to make the top eight.
There isn’t too much to be said about the rest of the ladder.
Expect St Kilda to look woeful - they are practically locks for the wooden spoon; the Western Bulldogs will have a shaky year, especially with their midfield general Tom Liberatore out for the season. Melbourne will look better than last year for sure, but that’s not hard is it?; Who knows what they are doing down at Carlton; And we could easily see GWS coming under some scrutiny for not improving enough on last year’s efforts.
2015 AFL Futures Betting Tips
Here are some of the best value AFL betting futures betting tips out there. We haven’t included the Brownlow Medal here, as we will be posting a dedicated article previewing the Brownlow soon.
- Top Victoria Team: Hawks - $1.50 at CrownBet
- Gold Coast Over 10.5 Wins: $1.87 at Luxbet
- Nth Melbourne Make Top 8: $1.50 at Ladbrokes
- Geelong Make Top 8: $1.50 at Luxbet
- Brisbane Over 8.5 Wins: $1.87 at Luxbet
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Take note: Any of the tips in this article are simply the author’s opinion, so bet at your own risk and always gamble responsibly. Also be sure to check out the Before You Bet Twitter Page for all our thoughts in the lead up to bets! Happy punting!
