Round 19 of the AFL season kicks off this Thursday night as we see the injury ravaged Essendon host one of the hottest teams in the AFL right now, the GWS Giants, at Marvel Stadium. The Giants are surging towards the finals, currently sitting in 7th and looking to break their log jam with five other teams to get into the four. Meanwhile Essendon are limping to the end of the season with so many injuries that just fielding a team is looking like a success at this point.
As always, this is all about the daily fantasy and this Thursday night slate draws another massive $50,000 prize pool at Draftstars in their main contest, plus more qualifiers for the $1 million AFL Star contest! In addition, there are a variety of alternate contests:
AFL $50,000+ Bombers vs Giants at Draftstars
AFL $5,000+ Bombers vs Giants High Roller ($150 Entry) at Draftstars
AFL $3,000+ Bombers vs Giants Mini ($2 Entry) at Draftstars
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AFL Daily Fantasy Lineup Tips: Round 19 Bombers vs Giants
AFL Round 19 Bombers vs Giants: Where to Attack?
Essendon, Essendon, Essendon. The Bombers look to have been giving up the most points in the league over the last 10 games. Essendon have been giving up above average fantasy points to every position in the game, spear headed by the backline where they are giving up over 13 points above league average to the designated kicker (second most in the league) and over 7 points per game to general defenders (most in the league).
In the midfield they are giving up over 5 points per game to inside midfielders, which is the fourth most in the league over that period and they also giving up above average points to key forwards and general forwards making full GWS game stacks a real option on this slate.
Game Script – GWS Giants stacks
AFL Round 19 Bombers vs Giants: Our Value Fantasy Picks
Vigo Visentini ($8,430)… the only position that GWS give up points to is the ruck where the Giants have conceded over the 7 points per game above league average over the last 10 games (fourth most in the league). A great strategy for game stacks given you have to roster one player from the Bombers will be go for this value play in a elite matchup in the ruck and then load GWS Giants across the other positions. Alternatively, Kieren Briggs ($13,240) also has an elite matchup against the inexperienced Visentini, so rostering him and leveraging a Bombers value play elsewhere given their injuries also makes a lot of sense.
Archie Perkins ($8,090) is the other obvious value play for the Bombers as he should get plenty of opportunity through the midfield given the Bombers are now without Caldwell, Martin, Tsatas and Setterfield. Perkins has shown ability to score in the right role with upside of 120 fantasy points in past seasons. The other obvious play here at a more mid-priced range is Dylan Shiel ($11,010) who should get plenty of inside midfield time this week and had a run of three straight games over 90 points earlier in the season.
AFL Round 19 Bombers vs Giants: Our Mid-Priced Fantasy Picks
Aaron Cadman ($10,280) is looking right in the midst of a career breakout with two scores over 100 points from his last four games and 16 goals over this stretch. This week he is facing up against Essendon who are lacking for key backs and the Giants are over 45-point favourites. Also to help his case, the Giants other main target up forward, Jesse Hogan is out, meaning all of the Giants play will directed towards Cadman.
AFL Round 19 Bombers vs Giants: Our Premium Fantasy Picks
Lachie Ash ($15,590) averaging a career high 104 points per game this season and is typically the Giants designated kicker along with Lachie Whitfield ($15,970). This means these two have the second best matchup in the league for their role and will be obvious options for stacking up the Giants backs. You can either spend all the way up here on both or look to pair one of them up with a value option up back as the Giants always love possessing the football through this part of the ground to setup their attack.
Finn Callaghan ($15,610) has posted six 100+ point games from his last nine matches including scores of 120 and 113 from his last three weeks. This matchup is elite for all of the Giants midfielders but I love that Callaghan will get his points both on the inside and outside in this matchup as it lines up well with a full GWS Giants game stack, especially the backs.
Heres our Suggested Draftstars Lineup for AFL Round 19 Bombers vs Giants
Weather Report Thursday July 17th 2025
Melbourne - Partly cloudy, 13 degrees.
Weather is always perfect at Marvel – let's play!
AFL Betting Markets Round 19 Essendon vs GWS Giants
Essendon ($10.25) vs GWS Giants ($1.05)
Line: GWS Giants -45.5
Points: 170.5
Also, be sure to check out our full AFL Preview and Betting Tips for each match. Our experts break down each individual game and highlight some key bets that you can follow!
