AFL: Can Essendon and Adelaide Defy The Odds?
March 17th, 2014 by TJ DilferWe’re right in the middle of a fantastic start to the 2014 AFL season, and the Round One games we’ve seen so far have got us whipped into a frenzy of excitement for another year of great footie action. Port Adelaide literally powered past the Blues (see what we did there?) in an incredible season opener that their fans will be reliving for months if not years – we would have said that they’re the happiest fans in the country right now, except for an historic win by GWS over Sydney that will mean more to Giants fans than almost any other result over the course of the season, barring of course a pennant win…
Elsewhere, Collingwood were on the wrong side of a great Freemantle performance, and the Suns set the bar high for the 2014 season with a win over Richmond in game one. And the action just keeps coming over this split Round One: Thursday night sees Geelong and Adelaide opening their seasons up, and we’ll be tuning in for more of the same if the first four games are anything to go by. All eyes for Geelong will be on skipper Joel Selwood’s fitness, as the Cats will be reluctant to go into the season opener without him – he’s on the way back from a hamstring issue and is, at the moment, on the team sheet. There’s a feeling that this season could be made or broken for Adelaide, too, by the injury roster – if just a couple of key players, Taylor Walker amongst them, were to go down injured, then it would turn a potentially promising season into a struggle. Conversely, of course, if the Crows can put out a full side in the majority of their games, they can threaten against any opposition. Geelong are the strong favourites, though, at $1.33, and Adelaide will have to upset $3.30 odds to come away with the win…
Friday night’s addition to the festival that is this year’s Round One is a clash between North Melbourne and Essendon. North Melbourne can rightly set their sights high this season, and a finals berth will be seen as a decent return by their fans in 2014. Essendon, on the other hand, start the season under a cloud, and it remains to be seen if their players and coaches can pull of the difficult task of keeping themselves focussed on what’s happening on the pitch when there’s so much uncertainty off it. Still, there’s no better way to keep spirits up than chalking up a win, and Essendon are a $2.18 bet on Friday to North Melbourne’s $1.68.
Check out the rest of our Round One odds by following the link, and make sure you head over to Sportsbet for your up-to-the-minute odds and betting markets…
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