Round 11 of the 2019 AFL Premiership Season kicks off on Friday night with North Melbourne hosting Richmond at Marvel Stadium. As always, we've previewed the fixture and provided our prediction and best bet! Good luck to everyone following!
Don’t forget, North Melbourne vs Richmond will be our focus today, but you can head to our AFL Tips Page for a bunch of content for Round 11 in the AFL including preview and tips for EVERY GAME.
AFL Round 11 North Melbourne vs Richmond Betting Tips
Friday 31stof May 7:50PM (AEST), Marvel Stadium
We’ve got an interesting game on our hands to kick off Round 11. North Melbourne are playing their first game in the post-Brad Scott era, while the Tigers are hoping to continue on their recent winning ways. There’s certainly been a lot of build up to the clash, so let’s hope it lives up to the hype!
North Melbourne
An emotional Round 10 saw Brad Scott finish his tenure as North Melbourne’s head coach on a high. They Kangaroos played with increased intensity as they ran on top of the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, defeating them 115-90. Todd Goldstein played an absolute blinder, collecting 28 disposals, taking seven marks, and having 57 hit-outs. Shaun Higgins was also back to his best with 34 disposals, while Ben Brown, Nick Larkey, and Mason Wood each kicked three goals.
With Brad Scott no longer in charge at Arden Street, Rhyce Shaw will step up as interim head coach. The 37-year-old is fairly fresh on the coaching scene and has stated that the main difference between him and Scott will be his personality, which he described as “quirky”. It’ll be interesting to see how North’s players respond after such an emotional week. History says they’ll either be extremely competitive or not show up at all, let’s hope for their fan’s sake that it’s the former.
Richmond
There’s far less drama going on at Punt Road with the Tigers absolutely flying at the moment, despite having an injury list that goes on for days. They come into this match against the Roos fresh off a 23-point win against the Bombers in the Dreamtime match at the MCG last Saturday night. Dustin Martin looked back to his scintillating best, notching up 35 touches (26 kicks) and eight clearance, while Baschar Houli found the ball 37 times and disposed of it with 75% efficiency.
The Tigers win last weekend was their third in a row and sixth from their last seven games, with the loss against the Bulldogs being their only blemish during that time. More great news for the Tigers is the expected return of skipper Trent Cotchin, who comes back from a hamstring injury that has forced him out of the side since Round 3. The Tigers have a fairly difficult run until their Round 14 bye, so it’s important they take care of the ‘easier’ fixtures like this one represents.
History
North Melbourne lead the head-to-head with Richmond 37-24 since 1980, as well as 7-3 in their last 10 meetings. Richmond, however, have won the past two meetings, such has been their dominance during the last two seasons.
Last five meeting:
2018 R8 – North Melbourne (72) lost to Richmond (82)
2017 R11 – North Melbourne (66) lost to Richmond (101)
2016 R11 – North Melbourne (124)defeated Richmond (54)
2015 EF – Richmond (88) lost to North Melbourne (105)
2015 R23 – Richmond (108)defeated North Melbourne (67)
Prediction
No one’s really sure what to expect from North Melbourne on Friday night after such an emotional week. On the other hand, we know exactly what we’re going to get from the Tigers, that being their ferocious attack on the ball and relentless pressure around the stoppages.
The bookies have the Tigers at around three goal favourites early in the week, which we feel they should cover if they play anywhere near their best footy. They have a list that is far superior to that of North Melbourne’s and should be able to take advantage of them during this trying period. All things considered, we feel a play on the Tigers line is the best way to go on Friday night.
Richmond Tigers -16.5
$1.90
