The Cats and the Demons will collide at the GMHBA Stadium on Friday night with both teams desperate to turn their form around. The Cats lost a tough one against the Lions last week, coming off a surprise loss to the Saints, so they’ll want to even the ledger here. Meanwhile the Dees are in freefall with a 0-3 start to the season and haven’t looked close to their potential. The scoreboard doesn't matter when it comes to fantasy as we look to find you a few winners on Draftstars!
As always this is all about the daily fantasy and this massive Friday night game draws another massive $70,000 prize pool at Draftstars in it’s main contest. In addition, there are a variety of alternate contests:
AFL $70,000+ Cats vs Demons
AFL $5,000+ Cats vs Demons High Roller ($150 Entry)
AFL $3,000+ Cats vs Demons 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
Geelong ($1.21) vs Melbourne ($4.45)
Line: Geelong -28.5
Points: 174.5
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Additionally, we have a full Geelong vs Melbourne Betting Preview where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
Melbourne - Cloudy, 17 degrees
The weather is cooling in Melbourne but there shouldn’t be any rain on Friday night that will affect the game.
Where to Attack?
Melbourne have been poor all over the ground this season, but have given up big points to the opposition forwards. With the Cats nearly five-goal favourites in good conditions, you can expect to see their forwards pretty busy.
However both sides have been leaking points to opposition midfielders over the past two weeks. The Cats were mauled by the Saints and then the Lions, while Melbourne didn't have the legs to keep up with the speed of the Kangaroos and Suns. Perhaps they will negate each other a little with two slower midfields creating plenty of stoppages. Geelong do tend to share the load in the midfield while Melbourne will rely more on their big name mids. Hunt value.
Game Script – Geelong forwards
VALUE PLAYS
Harvey Langford ($8,350) enjoyed having a good crack at the big time last week with 26 disposals and 75 fantasy points in just his second AFL match. On a slate that doesn’t have a lot of great budget options, Langford looks a decent choice if the role remains for him this week.
Caleb Windsor ($8,750) comes back into the side after missing a couple of matches with a foot infection. Windsor showed enough last season to show he’s a young gun on the rise, and capable of hitting a good score with four 80+ scores and a high of 114 last season. Anything near that would be great value for that price.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Trent Rivers ($12,800) might see more midfield minutes in this one. Just a sneaky feeling I have that Melbourne has to try and change up something in the middle to start winning the ball. Rivers did a great job in the midfield last season but has been shunted to half-back this year with the big names back in action. However it simply hasn’t worked this season, so maybe the run of Rivers will be the change they need. Remember, he gave us a ceiling of 126 last season.
Bailey Smith ($13,900) is still well priced despite big ownership and scores of 126 and 112 in his first two games. Didn’t show too many problems with his calf last week, and isn’t having any problems finding the ball with the Cats. Should be the chalk of the slate.
Tom Stewart ($13,980) has missed the last two rounds with a knee injury but should return this week. Stewart was close last week but ended up as a late out, so just keep an eye on any funny business from the Cats with team announcements prior to the bounce. Looks underpriced thanks to his injury-hit score of 9 in Round 2 and should get a favourable role against the Dees.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Max Gawn ($15,590) has been under the microscope to start the season, with scrutiny both on and off the field. Perhaps it’s a little unjustified as Maxy has come up against two of the toughest opponents in the league over the last two weeks in Jarrod Witts and Tristan Xerri. This looks much easier with Geelong not playing a recognised ruckman, so I expect Max to bounce back and assert his authority pretty hard on a ground that's favourable for ruck contests. Remember, Rowan Marshall scored a 142 against the Cats two weeks ago. You’ll just need to find enough value elsewhere to fit Max in your lineups.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
