After a bit of a lacklustre opening round, the AFL seems like it is officially underway this week and Sunday offers a tasty three game slate to sink our teeth into. The opening game of the day sees the Saints traveling to Adelaide to take on the Crows and we have you covered with a full preview and betting tips for the clash below.
Also, Before You Bet will be providing free previews and betting tips for EVERY game in the 2025 AFL season, so make sure to head over to out our AFL Tips regularly to keep up to date with all of our free content.
Adelaide vs St Kilda
Location: Adelaide Oval
Date: Sunday 16th March
Time: 12:35pm AEDT
Odds: Adelaide ($1.35) vs St Kilda ($3.20)
Line: Adelaide -16.5
Points: 159.5
Odds and lines provided with thanks to Dabble. Note that odds and lines can fluctuate throughout the week, and are correct at the time of writing.
Match Preview
It’s been a tough pre-season for the Saints, who are battling injuries to a bunch of key players leading into Round 1 which will severely affect their team makeup for the trip to Adelaide. Missing from the potential line-up will be Dan Butler, Liam Henry, Dougal Howard, Max King, Mitch Owens, Mattaes Phillipou and Cooper Sharman.
The loss of Howard in particular, combined with the departure of Josh Battle in the off-season leaves the Saints severely depleted down back, and will be relying on undersized key defender Cal Wilkie to carry the bulk of the load. They’ll also be struggling for height at the other end of the game, with regular key forwards King and Sharman ruled out.
Off-season recruit Jack Macrae is set to make his debut in the red, white and black, and should offer some much-needed grunt and class in the midfield.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Crows come into the season as arguably the healthiest team in the league and should have basically a full strength side for their opening game. The Crows were relatively busy during the off-season, picking up GWS pair Isaac Cumming and James Peatling while also adding former Demon Alex Neal-Bullen through a trade.
Many are predicting the Crows to be one of the big movers in season 2025 but I’m not sure I’m believing the hype at the moment. They were expected to do so last year after being gifted one of the easiest draws in the league and they failed to live up to the hype, finishing 15th on the ladder with a 8-14 record.
What was even more concerning for the Crows was their inability to really take advantage of their strong home field advantage. They were just 5-1-6 at home last season and just 5-7 against the spread.
The Crows do, however, have a dominant record over the Saints at home, having won seven of their last nine games by an average margin of 53.5 points. Back them to cover the 16.5 point spread, which I think is a little low at the moment given the contrasting health status of both teams
Adelaide -16.5
$1.90 (2 Units)
Same Game Multi
Throughout the 2025 AFL season we’ll be putting together a fun same game multi for every match at BoomBet using their BetShare feature.
To follow our multi, just click on the BoomBet BetShare button below and our same game multi selections will be added straight into your bet slip on BoomBet. You can then enter how much you wish to wager, and with a single click, your bet has been placed!
Adelaide H2H – Pretty confident in the Crows covering the 16.5 point line, so really like them to salute in the H2H market here. I’m semi-bullish on the Saints this year when fit, but with this many out on the road, I can’t see them winning.
Jack Macrae 25+ Disposals – The once ball magnet fell out of favour with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge last year, spending the majority of his time in the forward line and averaging 18.4 touches per game, his lowest tally since his rookie season. I think he goes back into the midfield full time at the Saints though, where he was once the best accumulator in the league.
Mark Keane 15+ Disposals – Intercepting defenders generally have a field day against the Saints, and it’s probably even more likely to happen given they will be depleted for key forwards this week. Keane had 15+ in 13/21 games last season and averaged 16.8 for the year.
SGM Odds: $2.37 at BoomBet
