The heat is on down at Collingwood after a shock loss to the Suns in round 7. Can they bounce back when they face the winless Kangaroos on Saturday afternoon or could it be Nathan Buckley’s last game as coach? Check out our full preview and betting tips for the clash below.
AFL North Melbourne vs Collingwood Betting Tips
Marvel Stadium, Saturday 8th May 4.35pm (AEST)
The 4.35pm timeslot on Super Saturday has thrown up some fantastic games so far this season and while this clash between the two bottom teams in the comp certainly doesn’t have the star power, it has plenty of intrigue surrounding it. This will likely be the most talked about game in the media through the week due to the fact that the biggest club in the league, Collingwood, are on the verge of a complete breakdown.
Match Prediction
There’s not a whole lot of positives to point out for either side so far this season, with the Roos yet to win a single game and the Pies recording just one win over the Blues all the way back in Round 2. It seems to be make or break time for Magpies coach Nathan Buckley, with some fans already calling for his head after the 1-6 start. If he fails to beat the bottom of the ladder Roos, this could well be his last game at the helm.
North Melbourne’s demise has been less surprising, but just as glorious. They remain winless in the 2021 AFL season and have a percentage of just 49.2 points. They were competitive in their game against the Demons on the weekend but still ended up going down by 30 points after a late flurry of goals by their opposition. It was the same case in their games against the Dockers, Cats and Crows as they played three quarters of competitive football only to be blown out in the last.
It’s hard to believe how bad the Pies have been considering how good their injury list has been for a while now. They are really only missing Jamie Elliot, Taylor Adams and Jeremy Howe from their best 22, all good players no doubt, but a drop in the ocean compared to the issues some other sides are having. The Roos are one of those sides. Unavailable for them this week will be Jed Anderson, Kyron Hayden, Luke McDonald, Jared Polec, Robbie Tarrant and Aidan Corr, while a bunch of other players are listed as questionable.
I don’t really like the look of this game at all. I think it could go in absolutely any direction, so I’m only confident staking a 0.5 unit play on it. The Pies could come out fired up and prove that the Kangaroos are just miles behind every other team in the comp or the Roos could show that competitive spirit but actually close out a game. There is much more value for the Roos in what I think is essentially a 50-50 game, so I’ll be backing them in a small play.
North Melbourne H2H (0.5 Units)
$3.36
Kangaroos Prop
Like the Roos to hit their over on total points at Marvel Stadium on Saturday. Marvel has been a pretty high scoring ground so far this season and the Pies have allowed 85.25 points per game over their last four games, all losses of course. The Roos are coming off a 73 point performance against the top side in the competition in Melbourne, their highest score for the season.
North Melbourne Over 72.5
$1.92
Collingwood Prop
In his last four games against the Roos excluding the shortened quarters clash last season, Brodie Grundy averages 19.25 touches per game, up on his career average due to the amount of extra work he has to put in around the ground playing on Todd Goldstein. In his last four games this season he has racked up numbers of 28, 20, 20 and 19. Back him to have 20+ on the weekend.
