Friday night footy for Round 1 of the 2025 AFL season is here and once again we are at the home of football on the MCG for a game between old foes Hawthorn and Essendon! The Hawks already have a huge win under their belt from the Opening Round where they beat Sydney at the SCG and will continue their fairytale season last year. Essendon on the other hand will be kicking off their season in this matchup and would love to beat their old rival as they look to make a make a finals campaign this year.
As always though, this is all about the daily fantasy and this huge Friday night clash draws another massive $75,000 prize pool at Draftstars for the main contest. In addition, there are a variety of alternate contests:
AFL $75,000+ Hawks vs Bombers
AFL $5,000+ Hawks vs Bombers High Roller ($150 Entry)
AFL $3,000+ Hawks vs Bombers Mini ($2 Entry)
The AFL Star contest is back again for 2025 and Draftstars are once again offering the biggest prize pool in Australian DFS history with a $1 million guaranteed final with $250,000 top prize! There are qualifiers and satellites running for every AFL match.
Betting Markets
Hawthorn ($1.32) vs Essendon ($3.40)
Points: 168.5
Line: Hawthorn -21.5
If you’re looking to bet on the AFL this season, then you can bet with PlayUp by using the same account that you have at Draftstars. PlayUp are Australian owned and offer a strong range of AFL betting markets and offers, including Same Game Multis.
Additionally, we have a full Hawthorn vs Essendon Betting Preview where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
27 degrees and partly cloudy. Another warm Melbourne night on Friday with no real risk of rain impacting the game.
Where to Attack?
Both sides were relatively stingy last season, however if you are looking to attack a position, the Bombers were generally leaking above average points to forwards and inside midfielders through 2024. This will link up with the game script where the Hawks are strong favourites and you can expect Hawthorn game stacks to be a popular play.
On the flip side the Hawks allowed above average points to opposition backs.
Game Script – Hawthorn midfielders and forwards, Essendon backs
VALUE PLAYS
Josh Ward ($9,160) will look to finally get an opportunity at his natural position as an inside midfielder this week with James Worpel out injured. Keep a monitor to make sure he isn’t the sub but Hawthorn will likely need him on the inside. He has flashed fantasy scoring capability in the past averaging 72 points from 14 games in his first year and then 75 points from 16 games in his second year.
Zach Reid ($6,000) has played just one game at AFL over the last two seasons but is coming into 2025 fit and ready to fire. He will play across the back line and at a minimum price, on a hard single game slate, offers value potential. He has shown big scoring potential at the VFL posting two 100+ point games from his last four matches at that level in 2024.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Elijah Tsatas ($10,440) has finally broken into Essendon midfield with an exceptional preseason and he will likely take the place of Darcy Parish who will be out injured to start the season. Tsatas was reported as best in the majority of the Bombers match simulations and then in their only preseason game, he racked up 31 disposals, attended a team high 26 centre bounces and converted this into 88 fantasy points.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Will Day ($15,180) showed what all the preseason hype was about last week with a best-on-ground performance against Sydney racking up 129 fantasy points that included kicking three goals. He was still being used on the inside as a midfielder and this will likely remain with Worpel going out of the side.
Dylan Shiel ($13,460) is another player that has had a role change during the summer, being moved to half back for the Bombers. In a surprising move, Shiel has taken this role and run with it, quite literally. He is spear heading all the Bombers drives out of half back and looked elite in their only preseason game where he racked up 102 fantasy points from 26 disposals.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
