Round 2 action in the AFL is headlined by a monster Friday night clash between the Sydney Swans and Geelong Cats. Both teams had impressive wins in Round 1 and will be looking to stay undefeated at the SCG from 7.50pm.
Andy Rosos is back on deck with his full preview and betting tips for the clash below, and remember to head to our AFL Tips page for regular updates throughout the season.
Sydney vs Geelong Betting Tips
SCG, Friday 25th March, 7.50pm (AEDT)
Sydney
Injuries: Tom Papley, Lachlan Rankin, Joel Amartey, Marc Sheather (Out), Callum Mills (Test)
Not a lot to report on the injury front at Sydney. The Swans will likely regain the serviced of both Jake Lloyd and Chad Warner, who missed Round 1 in the AFL's health and safety protocols. Tom Papley remains a few weeks ago.
The Swans put out an impressive performance in Round 1 against their cross town rivals, downing the Giants by 20 points. It was a bit of a weird performance in the fact that there was no real standout player for the Swans outside of midfielders Luke Parker and Isaac Heeney.
In fact, the Giants had five of the top leading disposal getters on the ground but the Swans defence was rock solid throughout. Lance Franklin was on a mission to kcik his 1,000th goal, needing five in the game to achieve the feat, however, the Giants were able to hold him to one and stave off the milestone for at least one more week.
Lloyd and Warner should both come back into the line-up on Friday night. Angus Sherlock and Sam Wicks are a few that could be on the chopping block.
Geelong
Injuries: Sam De Koning, Gryan Miers, Jonathon Ceglar, Gary Rohan (Out) Jeremy Cameron, Sam Menegola, Mark O'Connor (Test)
Plenty of news on the injury front at Geelong. Jeremy Cameron will be a test for Friday's clash after scans cleared him of any serious damage from his incident on the weekend. Sam Menegola and Mark O'Connor could both be available for selection after missing Round 1, while Mitch Duncan will definetely be back in the line-up.
The Cats put in the most complete performance of Round 1, smashing the Bombers by 66 points to finish the weekend on top of the ladder. Tyson Stengle was arguably best on ground in his first game for the Cats, accumulating 20 touches and booting four goals in the win.
Patrick Dangerfield, Brandon Parfitt, Joel Selwood and Cam Guthrie were impressive through the midfield for the Cats and that core will be strenghtened this week by the return of Mitch Duncan.
Match Prediction
The Swans start as slight favourites at home but I'm finding this one pretty tough to call either way. This just has the feeling of a close game, with both sides likely going to be pushing for top four spots at the end of the season.
The average winning margin in the last six games between these two teams has been just 14.3 point and the last two have resulted in 6 and 2 point margins. I think this will be another close, defensive minded clash.
Either Team by Under 15.5
$2.30 (1 Unit)
Prop Bets
Isaac Heeney looks like he is going to be playing a littl emore midfield time this season with Luke Parker spending more time up forward. He had 25 touches on the weekend and I like the odds for him to do so again on Friday.
Isaac Heeney 25+ Disposals ($2.30 at Sportsbet)
Tyson Stengle got his Cats career off to a brilliant start in Round 1, booting four goals to lead his team. While a lot of the Cats small forwards in the likes of Dalhaus, Parfitt and Close spend time in the midfield but it looks as though Stengle will be the constant in the Geelong fowrard line.
Tyson Stengle 2+ Goals ($2.50 at Sportsbet)
Both of these teams put up big scores in Round 1 but I think the scoring comes down significantly in this clash. only 1 score over 100 has been recorded by either team in their last seven meetings.
Under 142.5 ($1.88 at Sportsbet)
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