Round 15 of the 2019 AFL Premiership Season kicks off on Thursday night with the Bombers hosting the Giants at Marvel Stadium. As always, we preview the match and provide our best bet. Check it out below and good luck to everyone following!
Don’t forget, Essendon vs Greater Western Sydney will be our focus today, but you can head to our AFL Tips Page for a bunch of content for Round 15 in the AFL including preview and tips for EVERY GAME.
AFL Round 15 Essendon vs GWS Betting Tips
Thursday 7:20pm AEST, Marvel Stadium
We’re back in Melbourne this Thursday to kick off what promises to be an exciting Round 15. The Bombers were really poor last time out and copped their fair share of flak because of it, while the Giants come to Victoria fresh off a bye last weekend.
Essendon Bombers
Essendon put in one of their worst performances of the season last Thursday night in Perth where they were defeated by the Eagles by 35 points. If you weren’t able to catch the game and only saw the 106-71 final score line you could be forgiven for thinking that it was an honourable loss. However, the Eagles had 36 scoring shots to the Bombers’ 16 and controlled the game from start to finish. There weren’t too many impressive Bombers on the night, although Heppell and Merrett both found their fair share of the ball with 30 disposals each.
The Bombers season hasn’t exactly gone to play so far as they come into Round 15 with a 6-7 record. They have a really important month of footy coming up that will either delete all hope of finals or put them right back in the mix. As it stands, they sit in 10thspot on the ladder and are four points and percentage outside the top eight.
GWS Giants
Greater Western Sydney were really impressive in their most recent fixture, which came against the Kangaroos in Round 13 at Blundstone Arena in Tasmania. They were able to hold off a determined North outfit in the first half, before blowing them out of the water in the third quarter with a flurry of goals. Gun midfielders Kelly, Taranto, Hopper, and Coniglio all found plenty of the ball, while Toby Greene kicked three majors.
The Giants have had their fair of injury struggles this season, which unfortunately seems to always be the case. However, they’ve managed to cover some key outs really well up until this point and will need to do the same again on Thursday. The Giants have a fantastic opportunity to improve their record to 10-4 with a win over the Bombers, potentially finishing the round in second spot on the ladder if other results fall their way.
History
These teams have played nine times since the Giants joined the competition in 2012. The Bombers won the first four meetings quite comfortably, but the Giants have won four of their past five meetings to trail the all-time head-to-head count 5-4.
Last five meetings:
2019 R1 – GWS (112) defeated Essendon (40)
2018 R10 – GWS (60) lost to Essendon (95)
2017 R11 – GWS (117) defeated Essendon (101)
2016 R13 – Essendon (90) lost to GWS (117)
2015 R19 – GWS (93) defeated Essendon (61)
Prediction
The Giants had the luxury of the bye in Round 14 and will enter this clash with some much-needed rest to their key players. On the other hand, the Bombers looked really flat last weekend and look void of a consistent goal-scoring threat up forward.
The Bookies have priced this match fairly even with the Giants only two-goal favourites over the Bombers. We’re pretty surprised that the line isn’t a lot bigger here, especially when you consider the Giants are coming off a week rest. We have them being far too strong for a Bombers side that’s currently low on confidence.
