The 2nd game of the Friday double header in the AFL sees Fremantle taking on North Melbourne at Optus Stadium from 8.40pm! As always, we have you covered with a full preview and betting tips for the clash below.
Remember to head to our AFL Tips page for previews for all of the Round 8 games.
Fremantle vs North Melbourne Betting Tips
Optus Stadium, Friday 6th May, 8.10pm (AEST)
Fremantle
Injuries Matt Taberner, Nat Fyfe, Matthew Johnson (Out) Black Acres, Travis Coyler, Sean Darcy, Neil Erasmus, Joel Hamling, Rory Lobb, Joel Western (Test)
The Dockers will still be without star midfielder Nat Fyfe and key forward Matt Taberner for the Friday night clash. COVID is also starting to spread through the Dockers, with a few listed as questionable through the heath and safety protocols at the moment. To see the full list of injuries, check out our detailed AFL injury list here.
What a ride it has been for the Dockers so far this season. They dropped an early game to the Saints back in Round 2, but apart from that they have been impeccable. They recorded an absolutely brilliant win over the Cats in on the weekend, their first win in Geelong since all the way back in 2015.
The prospect of getting Fyfe back into this Dockers team will no doubt be an exciting one for coach Justin Longmuir, the star is still a few more weeks away, but the fact that they are 6-1 and now look like real premiership contenders without him is a testament to their depth.
North Melbourne
Injuries: Eddie Ford, Josh Goater, Aaron Hall, Jared Polec, Phoenix Spencer, Tristan Xerri, Ben Cunnington (Out) Miller Bergman, Aidan Corr (Test)
The Roos will be without key players in Aaron Hall and Jared Polec through innjury but they'll also be missing tall forward Nick Larkey, who was suspended for tunneling in the Round 7 loss to the Blues.
Like the Dockers, the Roos had spent the better part of a decade in AFL obscurity, the Dockers are now fighting their way back into relativeness, but North Melbourne are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. They currently sit in 2nd last place on the AFL ladder with a 1-6 record and have been smashed by an average of 59.3 points in their last three games.
In those three games, they have conceded an average of over 18 goals and allowed an average of 124.6 points. Their defence has been near non-existent over the last few weeks and I struggle to see how they will have improved on just four five days break.
Match Prediction
Fremantle will win this game, deciding on the margin of victory is the hard part. The line is currently around 39.5 point in favour of the Dockers, which actually seems a little low given that they'll be at home and the Roos have been so poor of late.
Instead of backing the Dockers at that line, however, I'm going to be taking the over here. The total stands at 157.5, a number that has been cleared easily in the last three Roos games solely due to their abysmal defence. Back the Dockers to put up 100+ here or the total to go over.
Fremantle Over 98.5
$1.90 (1.5 Units)
Prop Bets
Andrew Brayshaw has had a stellar start to the season, racking up 29.9 touches per game. The Roos allow the 5th most disposals per game at 376.1 and last time he played North Melbourne, Brayshaw had 31 touches.
Andrew Brayshaw 30+ Disposals ($1.80 at BetRight)
Sam Switowski has been one of the standout performers for the Dockers so far this season and had a great game in the win over the Cats, racking up 18 touches and a goal. He has had at least 17 touches in 5/7 games this season.
Sam Switowski 17+ Disposals ($1.83 at BetRight)
