Footy is back! Round 1 of the AFL season continues on Friday night with a highly anticipated clash between the Magpies and Bulldogs from the MCG from 7.50pm! We’ll be bringing you a dedicated preview and betting tips for EVERY game in the 2021 season so be sure to check our AFL Betting Tips page regularly for updates.
Check out our breakdown for the Friday night clash between Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs, courtesy of our resident AFL expert PuntingInDanger, below.
AFL Round 2 Collingwood vs Western Bulldogs Betting Tips
MCG, Friday 19th March 7.50pm (AEDT)
These two teams met on the Friday night of Round 1 last season in what was a comfortable win for the Magpies. This game will have some extra spice though, as former Pie midfielder Adam Treloar faces off against his old side in his first game for the Dogs.
Match Prediction
Controversy surrounded the trade of Treloar to the Western Bulldogs, with many claiming that Collingwood handled the midfielder’s departure extremely poorly. Regardless, Treloar has new home with the Western Bulldogs and will combine with the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Josh Dunkley, Jack Macrae and Bailey Smith to make up arguably the deepest and most talented midfield in the AFL.
Treloar was just one of a host of departures in the off-season for the Magpies, who were in the papers for the wrong reason on what seemed like a far to regular occurrence. Tom Phillips, Ben Reid, Tom Langdon, Travis Varcoe and Jaidyn Stephenson all departed the club for various reasons and the Pies didn’t recruit a single player from another club, replacing all of their departures through the draft. The off-season spelled rebuild for the Pies, which is interesting given they travelled to Perth and won a elimination final against West Coast last season.
It was a different story for the Western Bulldogs, who brought in some established talent in an attempt to capitalise on their current premiership window. Along with Treloar, the Dogs also brought in ruckman Stefan Martin from the Lions and small forward Mitch Hannan from Melbourne. They also had the No.1 pick in the draft, which they used on exciting prospect Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
The Doggies start as slight favourites here and without any form to go off; it’s hard to look past them on paper. They have lost their last four in a row against the Magpies but they got better in the off-season while their opponents got considerably less experienced. The line for this game is currently at just 3.5 points but I think that drafts to almost 10 by game time. Back the Doggies to win this one and get their season off to a solid start.
Bulldogs -3.5 (1.5 Units)
$1.90
Magpies Prop
Disposal markets will be interesting for the Magpies this season. Over the past four seasons with full length quarters, Adam Treloar has averaged over 29.0 disposals per game and last season he still managed to rack up 26.9 in shortened periods.
That time in the midfield and those possessions have to be going somewhere this season and the most likely recipient looks to be Taylor Adams. Adams averaged a monster 29.5 touches per game back in 2017 but has since just averaged 27.0, 24.4 and 22.6 over his last three seasons where he has split time in the midfield and across half-back. With the departure of Treloar, Adams should be back in the guts full time this season.
Adams 30+ Disposals
$2.70
Bulldogs Prop
Josh Bruce kicked 2+ goals on just two occasions last season, in Round 9 against the Tigers and in Round 5 against the Kangaroos, when he booted six. Another pre-season in a Dogs uniform will no doubt have him more comfortable in the forward line setup and I think he could be the big improver in their front six.
In his last season with the Saints, he kicked 2+ goals on 10 occassions, which was the last season when there were full length quarters. We are predicting a comfortable Doggies win on Friday night so back Bruce to kick multiple goals.
