FOOTY MANIA IS HERE! On Wednesday night, Round 9 of the AFL season gets underway and with it, 33 games are set to be played across 19 consecutive days. The Western Bulldogs and Richmond Tigers will kick off the smorgasbord of footy action from 7.10pm on Wednesday night and we have a full preview and betting tips for the clash below.
We will be posting a new article EVERY DAY during footy mania, so make sure you regularly check our AFL Betting Tips page for tips on the games of the day.
AFL Western Bulldogs vs Richmond Betting Tips
Metricon Stadium, Wednesday 7.10pm (AEST)
It will be a battle of 6th vs 9th on Wednesday night as the Dogs ‘host’ the Tigers from Metricon Stadium. The two teams have been on similar paths in 2020 and will both be desperate for a win in the opening game of Round 9 to consolidate a spot in the top eight.
Western Bulldogs
The Dogs captured a clutch win over the Suns in the opening game of Round 8. Jack Macrae was dominant in the 5 point win, racking up 29 touches while Bailey Smith continued his impressive start to the season with a 22 touch, 1 goal performance.
The Dogs injury list is pretty extensive at the moment and they’ll be without some key players in Lachie Hunter, Josh Dunkley, Lin Jong, Aaron Naughton, Tory Dickson and Bailey Dale for their clash against the Tigers.
Bailey Smith has been arguably the Dogs most influential player throughout the season so far and racked up 22 touches and a goal the last time these two teams met. He has a much bigger role in the Dogs midfield now, especially with Hunter and Dunkley on the sidelines. Good value on him to surpass 25 touches this week.
Smith 25+ Disposals
$2.00
Richmond
The Tigers will be disappointed with their Round 8 loss to the Giants after winning three games on the trot. They’ll be desperate to bounce back here and regain their spot in the top eight, but will need to do so without a host of their core players, who are still absent from the team hub in Queensland.
David Astbury, Josh Caddy, Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards, Bachar Houli, Toby Nankervis and Dion Prestia will likely all miss the clash with the Bulldogs this week, leaving the Tigers relying heavily on just a few key players.
In his last three games against the Dogs, Jack Riewoldt has botted 11 goals and although he hasn’t been hitting the scoreboard much this season, will likely play a deeper role this week given his recent dominance against the Dogs. Perfefct conditions on Wednesday night up north should make for a pretty free flowing game, we expect the score to be high and Riewoldt to kick multiple goals.
Prediction
If the Tigers had have gotten over the line last week against the Giants we would have declared them officially back and have no problem siding with them here. However, they looked a little sluggish at times and come up against a Dogs side that has been clinical in good conditions this season.
Staying away from either side here and opting to take the over on total points. The Dogs and Suns duked out a low scoring game in wet conditions last week but we expect this one to be much higher scoring in perfect weather. The average total points in the last 10 games between these two teams has been 174.4. Take away 20% for the shortened quarters and you’d still be left with 139.5, well over the line here.
Over 117.5 Total Points
$1.91
