Round 1 for the 2025 AFL season is upon us and that means we get our first full round of games after last weeks little teaser! Things get underway this Thursday night with the traditional clash between Richmond and Carlton. While these two big long standing clubs will always bring some excitement at the MCG, it is a battle between two clubs with wildly different expectations in 2025. Carlton will be aiming for a premiership while Richmond are looking to develop their young talent with an eye to more high draft picks next year.
Even more excisting than the game itself will the daily fantasy contests at Draftstars, with the this huge Thursday night clash drawing a huge $75,000 prize pool in it’s main contest. In addition, there are a variety of alternate contests:
AFL $75,000+ Tigers vs Blues
AFL $5,000+ Tigers vs Blues High Roller ($150 Entry)
AFL $3,000+ Tigers vs Blues 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
Richmond ($10.50) vs Carlton ($1.05)
Points: 178.5
Line: Carlton -49.5
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 Richmond vs Carlton Betting Preview where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
25 degrees and cloudy. Should be a nice and warm Melbourne night this Thursday with no real risk of rain impacting the game.
Where to Attack?
The Blues were one of the top fantasy scoring teams in the league in 2024 and I don’t expect that to change this season. On the flip side the Tigers were the second lowest scoring team. In this matchup the betting market is showing you the expectations with Carlton just under 50 point favourites, meaning it is time to stack up their forward line completely. I would expect the Blues to totally dominate the possession count in this game as well, which means full game stack where I would only be focussing on Tigers players if there is an obvious value play or loading up on Tigers backs expecting they will get opportunity with the ball being in the Carlton forward line on a regular basis.
Game Script – Carlton midfielders and forwards, Richmond backs
VALUE PLAYS
Nick Haynes ($9,350) looks well priced coming into the Blues back line, a team that loves to possess the football across this part of the ground. This should be an elite matchup for all positions at Carlton with the expectation that Carlton will win the game and win big and through that dominate the possession count. In the Blues preseason game Haynes racked up 83 fantasy points from 21 disposals.
Lucas Camporeale ($6,700) was an absolute standout in the Carlton preseason game racking up 88 fantasy points from 20 disposals in their preseason game playing off a wing. With Elijah Hollands out for personal reasons you can expect Camporeale to have plenty of opportunity in that high half forward / wing role in a game that the Blues are expected to win by a significant margin. Note there is a potential SUB WATCH risk here, so in that case I would look to pivot to Cooper Lord ($8,160) who was also a standout in the preseason game and can expect to see some midfield time in this matchup.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Oliver Hollands ($10,580) is set for a significant position shift this season after training all preseason at half back. We got a look at Hollands in this role to end last season and he finished off the last three matches of the regular season posting 98, 105 and 94 fantasy points. Things continued on in the preseason matchup where he notched up an 80 point game. In this role his price point to open the season is too low, especially in a matchup where we can expect Carlton to dominate the possession count.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Jayden Short ($13,460) should have a bounce back fantasy season in 2025 as he is given the keys to the half back line, as an area where the ball will likely spend a lot of time for the Tigers. In the Tigers preseason game Short had 88 fantasy points with 25 disposals and was taking the kickouts for Richmond. We’ve seen what Short is capable of in this role previously where he averaged over 90 fantasy points per game for three of the last four seasons.
Adam Cerra ($14,150) should also be set for his best fantasy season yet. When healthy he is capable of huge fantasy scoring output averaging 96 points per game during the 2023 season. Expect his price point to increase to the $15k range as this season goes on and this is an elite matchup for Cerra in Carlton game stack.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
