The third game in the Super Saturday in the AFL sees the Gold Coast Suns facing the Carlton Blues at Metricon Stadium from 7.25pm. Both sides are 1-2 on the season so far and will be hunting wins to put them back into the hunt for the eight. Catch our full preview and betting tips for the clash below.
AFL Gold Coast vs Carlton Betting Tips
Metricon Stadium, Saturday 7.25pm (AEST)
The Suns are 1-0 at Metricon Stadium so far this season and they will be looking to keep their perfect record alive as they host the Blues on Saturday night. The bookies have opened up this game close to a pick’em and we are finding it pretty tough to split these teams.
Match Prediction
What a week it was for the Blues in Round 3 as they smashed the Dockers to the tune of 45 points at Marvel Stadium. They will be back on the road this week as they travel to Metricon, where they have a 3-3 lifetime record against the Gold Coast Suns.
The Suns have one win in season 2021 which came in Round 2 by 59 points against the Roos. They were unable to back it up on the weekend, going down to a gritty Crows side by just 10 points at Adelaide Oval.
The Suns and the Blues have been pretty competitive in all three of their matches so far and are both probably a touch better than their 1-2 record suggests.
On the injury front, the Blues lost Oscar McDonald and Zac Williams in their win over the Dockers. Those two will join a long list of players including Charlie Curnow, Tom De Koning, Caleb Marchbank, Jack Martin, Nic Newman and Zac Fisher on the sidelines for the Blues.
The injury woes are just as bad a the Gold Coast. They are still without star midfielder Matt Rowell while captain Jarrod Witts was dealt a season ending knee injury in their loss to the Crows on the weekend. Add the likes of Connor Budarick, Sam Day, Elijah Hollands, Zac Smith, Jacob Townsend and Rory Thompson to that list and the Suns problems become extremely evident.
Given the sheer quality of player that is sitting on the sidelines for the Suns, it’s hard to back them this weekend, even at home. Sure they had a solid win against the Roos in Round 2 but playing North Melbourne has effectively been the bye so far this year. The Blues start as slight favourites and I’m happy to back them at the 1-39 margin.
Carlton 1-39 (2 Units)
$2.37
Suns Prop
With Jarrod Witts coming out of the Suns line-up, young forward/ruck combo Chris Burgess will move permanently into the ruck, which should free up some space in the forward line for the mid and tall Suns forwards to operate. Really like the odds of Alex Sexton to kick 2+ on Saturday night. He was goalless in Round 3 and will be keen to bounce back. Booted 3.0 last time he played the Blues.
Blues Prop
Sam Walsh has been at his accumulating best through the first three games of the season. He has led the Blues in disposals in all three games so far and led the entire game against the Dockers on the weekend. The Suns don’t really have a ball magnet to the calibre of Walsh, so I think $3.30 is great value for the Blues midfielder to top Group 1 in touches.
Walsh Most Disp. Gr1
$3.30
