The first ‘Battle of the Bridge’ will take place this Saturday afternoon from the SCG and will pit the 4-0 Sydney swans against the resurged Giants, who claimed their first win of the year in Round 4. As always, PuntingInDanger has you covered with his preview and best bets for the clash below.
AFL Sydney vs GWS Betting Tips
SCG, Saturday 4.35pm (AEST)
How good have the Swans been in 2021 so far? They can make it a 5-0 start the season when they host the Giants in the firs Sydney Derby of the year on Saturday afternoon.
Match Prediction
The Swans have already taken some scalps in 2021 through four rounds. They opened the season with a fantastic road win over the Lions and in Round 3, they defeated the Tigers by 45 points at home. They have a perfect 4-0 record, sitting in third place on the AFL ladder and have a great chance to move to at least 6-0 with really winnable games against the Giants and Suns in the next two weeks.
The Giants were on the verge of disaster in Round 4, staring down the battle of a 0-4 start to the season as they travelled to the MCG to take on the Magpies. They were too good for the battered Pies though, claiming a 30 point win on the back of a brilliant performance by stand in captain Toby Greene.
The Giants are still without a bunch of key players including skipper Stephen Coniglio as well as Phil Davis, Matt de Boer, Tom Hutchesson, Adam Kennedy, Daniel Lloyd, Harry Perryman, Braydon Preuss and Lachie Whitfield.
The Swans also have a few injury concerns, with Isaac Heeney going down in the win over the Bombers on the weekend and Dane Rampe breaking his finger at training a few weeks ago. As proven through the early parts of the season though, the Swans have incredible depth with their youngsters taking the rising star nominations in all of the first three rounds.
With the sheer amount of injury issues the Giants have at the moment, it’s hard not to like the Swans to cover a pretty small 15.5 point line. They have won their two games at the SCG by an average of 18 points and won their last game against the Giants by 41 points. Back them to cover here.
Swans -15.5 (1.5 Units)
$1.90
Swans Prop
Josh Kennedy had a quiet start to the season with just 17 touches in Round 1 against the Lions. Since then he has averaged 25.3 touches in the Swans next three games. He averages 27.06 touches per game in an 18 game career against the Giants and is good value to surpass the 25 touch mark on Saturday.
Giants Prop
The Swans play tight defence at the smaller Sydney Cricket Ground, they have done so for years. While their style of play is certainly a lot more attacking this season, they should still be able to put the squiz on a Giants side that has struggled to kick goals this year. GWS averages just 73 points per game this season and against the last time they played their cross town rivals they scored just 25 points.
GWS Total Und. 78.5
$1.91
