The second week of the bye rounds is upon us, which means there’s just three games on Saturday for AFL Round 13. They aren’t the sexiest of fixtures either with just one top eight team (Port Adelaide) featuring. However, there’s still money to be made on the punt, so we’re here to provide some winners! Check out our preview and best bet for each Saturday fixture below and good luck to everyone following!
Don’t forget, AFL Saturday will be our focus today, but you can head to our AFL Tips Page for a bunch of content for Round 13 in the AFL including preview and tips for EVERY GAME.
AFL Round 13 Saturday Betting Tips
Gold Coast Suns vs St Kilda Saints (1:45pm AEST, Riverway Stadium)
First up on Saturday we’ve got a match up in Townsville between the Suns and the Saints. The Suns come into this game off a 27-point loss at home to North Melbourne last weekend, which they never really looked like winning. Brayden Fiorini collected another 31 disposals in what’s turning out to be a breakout year for him. That loss was the Suns eighth on the spin and leaves them in second last spot on the ladder with a 3-9 record.
The Saints had their mid-season bye in Round 12 and will be looking to improve on what was a poor first half of the season. Their last game came in China against the Power in Round 11, where they were dominated from start to finish. The Saints have had a similar season to the Suns in many ways. They started off strong with a couple of early wins but have since faded, losing five of their last six.
Fairly tough game to call here with both teams in really poor form coming in. However, we do favour the Suns at ‘home’ here due to all the injuries over at St Kilda. They’ve made seven changes to the team that lost in China, with a lot of them really inexperienced. We’ll be taking the Suns at the plus line here.
Gold Coast Suns +8.5
$1.90
Fremantle Dockers vs Port Adelaide Power (4:35pm AEST, Optus Stadium)
Second up we’ve got the potential for another close game with the Dockers set to host the Power at Optus Stadium. The Dockers are coming off a week’s rest thanks to a bye in Round 12, but prior to that they had their best win of the season, defeating the Magpies by four points at the MCG in Round 12. Michael Walters (24 disposals, two goals) was the hero for the second straight week with a goal in the dying seconds, while Brad Hill was arguably best afield (29 disposals, two goals).
The Power also had the bye in Round 12 and like the Dockers, they had one of their best performances of the season in the week prior. They defeated the Saints by a whopping 70 points in China in a dominant performance that propelled them back inside the top eight. Travis Boak was awarded best on ground for his 33 disposal, two goal performance.
These two teams have had very similar seasons to date and are separated only be percentage on the ladder. This had led to the bookies pricing this one as a 50/50, which we don’t entirely agree with. The Dockers have been a force at home this season with four wins and one loss from five games and should be too strong for an inexperienced Power outfit.
Fremantle Dockers -3.5
$1.91
Carlton Blues vs Western Bulldogs (7:25pm AEST, Marvel Stadium)
Last on the Saturday slate we head to Marvel Stadium where the Blues will play host to the Bulldogs. The Blues were finally able to get their second win of the season when they defeated the Lions at Marvel Stadium in Round 12. Early on it looked like they were going to get blown out of the water when they trailed 40-3, but it wasn’t to be the case as Patrick Cripps (38 disposals, four goals), played one of the all-time great matches to give his side a much-needed win.
The Bulldogs are another side that had the bye in Round 12, which came at the perfect time for them. They had lost three on the spin entering the break, with their most recent loss coming at the hands of the Eagles by 61 points. It’s been a tough first half of the season for the 4-7 Dogs, although they can get their second half of the season off to a good start with a win over the lowly Blues.
This fixture definitely won’t be breaking any attendance records for a Saturday night slot, although it does have the potential to be close. The Blues will be looking to go 2-0 in their post Brendan Bolton era, while the Dogs will be hoping to make a push towards the finals. While it would be great to see the Blues notch back-to-back wins for the first time in years, we expect the Dogs to be the much better team here and continue their recent dominance over their Melbourne rivals.
Western Bulldogs -13.5
$1.91
