3 minute read

Racing and Sports will provide analysis of many games in the 2019 AFL Season.

We’ll endeavour to run through the form, incorporate appropriate stats and also supply a betting prediction which won’t always just be who will win.

GWS v ESSENDON

Of all the opening round games, the hype meter will be judged most accurately here in the best of the Sunday matches.

For some reason the love affair with Essendon and the ignorance of GWS was a real phenomenon from the moment trade season started.

It has continued all the way through until only the last fortnight when some realities may have come to the surface.

The Giants lost some names they have relied on in recent seasons such as Dylan Shiel and Rory Lobb plus Tom Scully although he was sorely missed most of last year with the ankle.

But the materiality is they still have the nucleus of a group that has taken them to two Prelims and a Semi Final in the last three years.

In Josh Kelly you have one of the best outside runners and that position looks to have been well bolstered by the new starting point/bounce rules. He will be missed this week.

In Stephen Coniglio you have a star who is not properly given credit for what he does amongst a team still of star names.

Toby Greene, for all his judiciary frailties, and Brett Deledio are match winners when injury does not force them into the recovery rooms – a place they have frequented too often.

It’s then the likes of Hopper, Ward, Taranto and Williams that need to add spice and grunt going forward but also stop the flow going back as they protect the ageing but well-renowned backline led by Shaw and Davis.

Jeremy Cameron has to get on the end of it but is certainly capable of that. He just needs to stay away from the Match Review Officer.

The group that face them has been the buzzword for months. Essendon were the team many felt would jump up and not just play finals but win them in 2019.

We all know what befell them over five years ago and it would take time to get over that. But that time has come and well and truly gone.

Again they drafted big names – ironically Shiel gets first taste against his former teammates. He is a good player no doubt but was he the tipping point?

The counter balance to that optimism came just this week with the knowledge that their main goal kicker Joe Daniher is out for an extended period with a calf strain.

However or whatever caused that is a talking point for the naval gazers. The reality is Essendon don’t have the focal point they believed was going to make life hard for their opponents.

It would have meant those role players such as McKernan, Brown and Stewart would have gone further down the food chain and created headaches for defences. Around them Devon Smith and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti would have been mopping up the scraps.

Happy to be tipping and backing GWS here. The fact it is at home is more a factor that Essendon are away. They aren’t the best travellers.

Match Selection: GWS by 18 points

Suggested Bet: GWS 1-39 @ $2.20