Melbourne will face off against Sydney in one of the games of Round 8 from the MCG on Saturday night. PuntingInDanger is here to give you a full preview as well as his best bets for the clash below.
AFL Melbourne vs Sydney Betting Tips
MCG, Saturday 8th April 7.25pm (AEST)
The Demons will look to remain undefeated in season 2021 while the Swans will be hunting another win that could see them potentially jump into the top three on the AFL ladder on Saturday night.
Match Prediction
How good have the Demons been so far this season?! They were dealt a little scare by the Kangaroos on the weekend, trailing at half time to the bottom team in the competition but they showed their class in the second half, piling on 10 goals to just two to claim a 30 point win. Christian Petracca continued his solid form and was rewarded through the week, signing a seven year deal reported to be worth around $7 million.
After winning their first four games of the season, Sydney had a bit of a slide in Rounds 5 and 6, losing back to back games to the Giants and Suns. They bounced back in terrific fashion on the weekend, defeating the Cats by two points in arguably the game of the year so far. Youngster Oliver Florent was fantastic in the win, racking up 26 touches and kicking two goals while Tom Papley booted the all-important goal to put the Swans in front with less than a minute on the clock.
Big news coming out of the Swans camp through the week could be the potential return of Lance Franklin, Dane Rampe and George Hewett for the clash against the Demons. If all three return, the Swans will be near full strength, with only Sam Reid, Sam Naismith and Ben Ronke missing from their potential best 22.
The Demons still have a few injury concerns but it hasn’t caused them any problems to date so we don’t see why it would this week. They’ll be without Jack Viney, Aaron vandenBerg, Adam Tomlinson and Marty Hore for this clash.
What an incredibly tough game to call between arguably the best side in the competition in Melbourne and a side that has proven that they can beat absolutely anybody on their day in the Swans. Rain is forecast for Saturday through the day and night so this one could be a bit sloppy.
The Swans have played just one game at the G this season and contrary to their recent history, I think the bigger ground actually suits them more than the smaller SCG this year. They put up 117 points at the MCG against the Tigers in a 45 point win earlier this season and the last time they played Melbourne, they recorded a 21 point win. I love the Swans getting 22.5 points here. I think they can win on their day and even if they are a little off, I like the weather to keep this one relatively close.
Swans +22.5 (1.5 Units)
$1.91
Demons Prop
Ben Brown is $1.07 to kick a single goal on the weekend and $1.67 to kick 2+. I’ve seen Brown play in enough games in wet weather to know that he is an absolute zero when the ball gets a little slick. One game that sticks out in my memory was Round 1 of 2018 in wet weather against the Suns. The tall forward had just come off a 63 goal season and was the favourite for the Coleman Medal. He had four touches and didn’t even look like kicking a goal in the rain as the Roos were beaten easily. PuntingInDanger has requested a special BYO market at Sportsbet for Brown to kick under 1.5 goals, let’s see what type of odds they give us!
Bet Coming Soon
Swans Prop
On the contrary, I think someone like Tom Papley could thrive in the wet weather. He is so classy at ground level and he has already booted 12.8 for 20 total scoring shots through seven games in 2021 so far. Kicked two goals against the Cats on the weekend and I think he’s great value to do so again this week.
