The much celebrated Gather Round for the 2025 AFL Premiership season will get underway this Thursday night with the hometown team Adelaide hosting Geelong at Adelaide Oval. This will be a massive contest as the Crows will look to rebound form their first loss last week after a 3-0 start, while Geelong will be keen to maintain their spot in the top 8 and get above .500.
As always this is all about the daily fantasy and this massive Thursday 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+ Crows vs Cats
AFL $5,000+ Crows vs Cats High Roller ($150 Entry)
AFL $3,000+ Crows vs Cats 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
Adelaide ($1.56) vs Geelong ($2.44)
Points: 180.5
Line: Adelaide -10.5
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 Adelaide vs Geelong Betting Preview where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
29 degrees and sunny. Perfect conditions for football, let’s play some fantasy.
Where to Attack?
Geelong continue to be a team to target with inside midfielders, a trend that aligns with last years stats as well. Through four games the Cats are giving up the second most points in the league to the position at 9 points per game above league average. In addition, Geelong continue to get beaten by rucks by over 12 points per game above league average, which is the fourth highest mark in the league.
Adelaide on the other hand have been one of the hardest teams in the league to score against. They are below average for fantasy points conceded at every position through this small sample size part of the season.
Game Script – Adelaide inside midfielders, forwards and ruck
VALUE PLAYS
Taylor Walker ($9,370) has been in ripping form to start this season as he remains one of the better key forwards in the league at 34 years of age. He has posted over 82 points in three of his four games this season, and the only game he didn’t was a blow out where they subbed him off to manage his body. At this price point a return in the 80s for a single game slate would be top tier value and while Geelong have a solid back line, you can expect the most attention to go to big Riley Thilthorpe who is also in career best form to start this season.
SUB WATCH - Zac Taylor ($6,270) we need to keep an eye on. There is big sub potential here, but it is worth highlighting in the event he starts on the ground. On a single game Thursday night and at near minimum price Taylor makes for a great value option as last year we saw him top 60 fantasy points in four of his seven full games.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Tom Atkins ($11,140) has been an absolute tackling machine this season while playing a midfield role as the Cats are without Bruhn. Atkins is attending 67% of the Cats centre bounces through four games returning an 88 point average with a low score of 80 points. This creates a ripping floor for his price point on a single game slate with an upside of 100+.
Reilly O’Brien ($12,660) draws what has consistently been an elite matchup for rucks in past years and continues to be this season with the Cats giving up the second most fantasy points to the position at over 12 points per game above league average. O’Brien has been far from dominant to start the 2025 season, however he is still taking attending 87% of the Crows centre bounces and has demonstrated 120 point upside in the past. His price point is nicely in the mid-range point and while he takes the sole ruck role, Geelong will be splitting it amongst potentially three players in Stanley, Blicavs and De Koning.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Matt Crouch ($15,140) returns this week after a game off last round. This is an elite matchup for Crouch as the Cats continue to be get beaten by inside midfielders at over 9 points per game above league average. Crouch brings a massive 120+ point upside as we saw in Round 2 where he racked up over 130 points against Essendon.
Suggested Draftstars Team
