Saturday night footy in Adelaide will see one of the premiership fancies in the Power take on the young Hawks who are coming off a Round 1 win. Jake Smit runs you through his best spread and player prop bets for the game right here!
As always, we have you covered with a full preview and betting tips for the game and remember to head to our AFL Tips page, where you can catch our coverage of all the Round 2 action.
Port Adelaide vs Hawthorn Betting Tips
Adelaide Oval, Saturday 26th March, 7:40pm (AEDT)
Port Adelaide
Injuries: Aliir Aliir (ankle), Tom Clurey (knee), Charlie Dixon (ankle), Orazio Fantasia (knee), Robbie Gray (knee), Kane Farrell (knee).
The Power will be without a number of key players on Saturday night. Robbie Gray picked up a knee injury and will miss, while Aliir Aliir joins Tom Clurey, Charlie Dixon and Orazio Fantasia as other notable absentees.
Port Adelaide had a fantastic first half against the Lions in Round 1, but they went into their shell a bit in the second half and let the opposition run over the top of them. Dan Houston was immense with 36 touches and a couple of goals and was clearly the best player on the ground. Zak Butters looked at home in the midfield with 27 touches but needed a few more friends on the night.
Despite a really poor debut game for the Power, Jeremy Finlayson will suit up again this weekend for his home debut, although youngster Jackson Mead wasn’t quite as lucky and will miss. It’s unfortunate that Robbie Gray has to miss through injury, but the likes of Connor Rozee and Steven Motlop will be hoping for better performances as the team’s small forwards.
Hawthorn
Injuries: Connor Downie (hamstring), Jarman Impey (ankle), Max Lynch (concussion), Lachie Bramble (foot)
The Hawks have been pretty lucky on the injury front in recent times and will only miss Jarman Impey and Lachie Bramble from their best 22. Max Lynch and youngster Connor Downie are the others nursing injuries.
North Melbourne had the Hawks on the ropes in the second quarter in Round 1, but the latter managed to wrestle back the momentum and go onto record a good win. James Sicily was immense in his first game in a couple of years, while Mitch Lewis, CJ and Jack Gunston were others who had some really good games.
Selection for this week’s game would’ve been relatively easily for Sam Mitchell and co. due to the team’s good performance and lack of injuries. Importantly, star duo Ben McEvoy and Luke Bruest have been thrown into the team for this weekend, while Liam Shiels and Max Lynch are the unlucky ones.
Match Prediction
This is my only AFL game I’m covering this weekend, but honestly, it was a really easy one to make a play on. The Power may be coming off a loss and the Hawks a win, but the former are the far stronger team in this contest and will be extremely confident of posting a good result back on their home deck. I have them getting the chocolates by a very comfortable margin and am happy to make a play on them to cover the spread at three units here.
Port Adelaide -24.5
$1.90 Sportsbet (3 UNITS)
Prop Bets
It’s hard to make a case for Rozee after his five-disposal one-goal performance last week, but here I am backing him into jag two on Saturday night. The young gun kicked 21 goals last season and gets a home again against a team I expect to finish in the bottom four this season. I see him as really good odds to kick a couple this round.
Connor Rozee 2+ Goals ($2.10 Ladbrokes)
I back in Houston for 20+ and 25+ disposals last weekend and he certainly didn’t disappoint with his 36 touches. It’s like he won’t reach that high mark again this weekend, but I still love him to get at least 25 disposals.
Dan Houston 25+ Disposals ($1.85 Ladbrokes)
Bit of a left field pick this one. However, SPP kicked 10 goals from his 16 outings last season and jagged one against the Lions last weekend. He had a fantastic pre-season and should be good for one goal against a Hawks team that I expect the Power to put a fair few goals past.
Sam Powell-Pepper Anytime Goal Kicker ($1.95 Ladbrokes)
