Round 13 of the 2024 AFL Premiership Season will wrap up with the traditional King’s Birthday clash between Collingwood and Melbourne at the MCG. Both sides are sitting lower than anyone would have expected by this point in the season with Collingwood in 9th and Melbourne in 10th, but this just puts even more weight on the contest as both teams will be desperately fighting to get into the top 8.
Draftstars continue to offer massive prize pools with the Thursday night main being worth $50,000 along with their usual variety of alternate contests:
- AFL $50,000+ Magpies vs Demons
- AFL $5,000+ Magpies vs Demons High Roller ($150 Entry)
- AFL $2,000+ Magpies vs Demons Fiver
- AFL $3,000+ Magpies vs Demons Mini ($2 Entry)
The AFL Star contest is back for 2024 and Draftstars are offering the biggest prize pool in Australian DFS history with a $1 million guaranteed final with $250,000 top prize! There are qualifiers and satellites running for every AFL match, while there will also be a sprinkling of qualifiers across other sports such as NRL and NBA.
Meanwhile the 1000 AFL Target contests are set to return to Draftstars for the first time since 2018. Enter the contest and hit the 1000-point barrier with your team to scoop the jackpot!
Betting Markets
Collingwood ($1.88) vs Melbourne ($1.92)
Points: 162.5
Line: Collingwood -1.5
If you’re looking to bet on the AFL this season, then you can bet with PlayUp by using the same account that you have at Draftstars. PlayUp are Australian owned and offer an strong range of AFL betting markets and offers, including Same Game Multis.
Additionally, we have a full Magpies vs Demons Betting Preview for the game where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
15 degrees and chance for a late shower. Noting to impact this afternoon contest. Let’s play!
Where to Attack?
Melbourne have had a history of conceding points to opposition defenders and this trend has continued through 2024 with them being slightly above average for fantasy points to all areas of the back line. Collingwood outdo them here significantly, however, giving up over 9 points above league average to the designated kicker, which is the second highest amount in the AFL.
An area that is quite surprising is that Melbourne are giving up over 5 points above average to their opponents forward line, both key forwards and general forwards. Melbourne’s identity during the run they have had over the past two seasons has been their lock down defence led by Steven May, but this year holes have appeared and with Jake Lever out they have struggled significantly to hold opponents down.
Game Script – Melbourne designated kickers, Collingwood forwards
VALUE PLAYS
Beau McCreery ($8,180) The Magpies midfield has been totally decimated by injury this season, with Jordan De Goey, Scott Pendlebury and Tom Mitchell all out currently. As a result, the Magpies are looking everywhere for players to play through the middle and Beau McCreery has been one they have liked to use through the centre bounces. Last week he attended his highest number all season at 55% and this resulted in a return of 81 fantasy points. I like this play again with this role at this price point as he will also have every chance to hit the scoreboard while up forward in this matchup given how leaky Melbourne’s defence has been this season.
Sub Watch
Finlay Macrae ($6,000) Continuing on with the trend of the Magpies needing midfield help wherever they can find it, we have several minimum price options that are worth rostering but we just need to dodge the dreaded sub. Macrae has been spruiked all season as moving into the Magpies midfield and there would be no better time than now with all their outs. If he ends up as the sub though it will be easy to transition this play to Jack Bytel ($6,000) who managed 56 points last week and was recruiting to support their inside midfield.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Steele Sidebottom ($9,560) has been getting roles across half back in recent weeks as the Magpies on field lineup continues to adjust for the injuries. He took 3 of the team’s kick-ins last week, which was equal highest with Jeremy Howe and returned 81 fantasy points. A few weeks earlier he had a 90+ game playing across half back. As noted above the Demons do leak points to defenders so on a slate where mid-value pricing can be hard to find I love Sidebottom in this role.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Steven May ($12,160) is the clear designated kicker for the Demons and as we noted at the top, they have been giving up the second most points in the league to this role this year. May took 7 kick ins last week and has shown huge upside this year as the main option for move the ball out of half back with season high scores in the 119 point range.
Jack Crisp ($14,150) has moved back to the midfield to cover the Magpies injuries and has absolutely ripped the game apart from a fantasy perspective. Getting back to his old form he has reeled off four straight games of 105+ including two games over 123 fantasy points. For this role and form he is still under prices at $14k and makes for an obvious roster on a single game slate, especially if you are looking to stack the Magpies.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
Cheat Sheet
