The West Coast Eagles will take on the Essendon Bombers in the sole Saturday night clash of Round 11 after the Suns-Hawks game was postponed. Check out our full preview and betting tips for the game from PuntingInDanger here.
AFL West Coast vs Essendon Betting Tips
Optus Stadium, Saturday 29th May 7.40pm (AEST)
West Coast and Essendon will take centre stage on Saturday night in what should be a thrilling affair as the standalone game of the night. Can the Bombers cause another upset to put them back in the eight?
Match Prediction
The Eagles continued their inconsistent season in Round 10 as they travelled to Sydney and went down to the Giants. They have been absolutely fantastic at home this season, racking up a 5-0 record playing at Optus Stadium, but away from home they are a dismal 1-4, with their only win coming against the Hawks at the MCG.
The Bombers had the proverbial bye in Round 10 as they recorded a very comfortable win over the Kangaroos. The midfield trio of Darcy Parish, Andrew McGrath and Zach Merrett were dominant, recording 98 touches between them in the win.
West Coast are still hampered by some injuries to key players in the likes of Luke Shuey, Liam Duggan, Alex Witherden and Daniel Venables but could get a massive inclusion this week as Elliot Yeo is in contention to make a return. The Bombers injury list is still long, including the likes of Jye Caldwell, Michael Hurley, Dylan Shiel and Devon Smith but Jake Stringer could return to the side to face the Eagles.
The Eagles start as 25.5-point favourites against the Bombers and it’s hard not to like them given how good they have been at home this season. In their 5-0 record in Perth, they have an average winning margin of 36.5 points.
Essendon have been fiest of late though, having lost just two of their 10 games by more than 16 points. I think they keep this relatively close and the Eagles win by 1-39.
Eagles 1-39 (2.10) 1.5 Units
Same Game Multi
Liam Ryan returned to the Eagles outfit on the weekend after six weeks on the sidelines. He didn’t kick a goal but looked ominous at times and hit the scoreboard with a point. The Eagles have been desperate for the small forward to return to compliment their array of bigs, back him to hit the scoreboard here.
Shannon Hurn also made his return to the Eagles on the weekend and picked up right where he left off. Apart from the game where he got injured and had just 1 disposal, Hurn has surpassed 20 touches in every one of his four games this season, and will resume his duties of taking the kickouts for West Coast on the weekend.
Zach Merrett has passed the 25+ disposal mark in all but one game this season. He is our safe bet to do so again this week to get our multi over the all-important $2.00 barrier.
Liam Ryan 1+ Goal
Shannan Hurn 20+ Disp.
Zach Merrett 25+ Disp.
WC vs ESS Same Game Multi
$2.00
