Good Friday action in the AFL begins at Marvel Stadium with North Melbourne taking on Carlton. The Kangaroos are still searching for their first win of the season, while the Blues will be aiming to remain undefeated. It should be an entertaining clash and we have a full betting preview for you below.
Also, Before You Bet will be providing free previews and betting tips for EVERY game in the 2024 AFL season, so make sure to head over to out our AFL Tips regularly to keep up to date with all of our free content.
2024 AFL Round 3 Preview & Betting Tips
North Melbourne vs Carlton
Friday 4:20pm AEDT, March 29th, Marvel Stadium
Picking up where they left off, North Melbourne enter Round 3 with a 0-2 record. They kicked off the season by facing the Giants in Sydney, widely recognized as one of the toughest challenges in football currently, and suffered a 39-point defeat. This was followed by a home match against the Dockers, where they were unfortunately defeated by 26 points, further deepening their early season struggle.
North Melbourne have now lost 22 of their last 23 fixtures, with their only win during this stretch coming against the Suns in a dead rubber in the final round of 2023.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Kangaroos as they’ve blooded a couple of exciting first round draft picks already this campaign. Colby McKercher (#2 in the 2023 draft) and Zane Duursma (#4) both ooze class and have impressed over the first fortnight, while George Wardlaw and Harry Sheezel have also improved after their debut campaigns in 2023.
Coming off their early season bye which they entered at 2-0, Carlton will return to action in Round 3. Their season began with a thrilling comeback win against the Lions in Opening Round (86-85) before they repeated the dose in Round 1 with a narrow win against the Tigers (86-81).
Amazingly, each of the Blues last six wins have been by six points or less with a combined winning margin of 24 points.
There’s more great news for the Blues as All-Australian defender Jacob Weitering has now recovered from the calf injury that forced him out of the first two games. Key defender Caleb Marchbank is also available for selection for the first time this season, as is small forward Jesse Motlop. On top of that, Sam Walsh is now listed as only 2-3 weeks away from a potential return from his back injury.
Match prediction: It will be of no surprise to anyone to see Carlton priced as the overwhelming favourites to win their third straight meeting with North Melbourne. They kicked away in the second half of each of their last two clashes to win by an average margin of 36.5 points.
However, the Blues have been playing with their food a little bit lately and have shown the propensity to fall asleep in periods of matches, allowing lesser opposition to hang around and build belief.
Each of the Blues last six wins have been by a goal or less, and when coupled with the fact that North have shown some fighting spirit in both of their games in 2024, I give the underdogs a decent shot to cover the big handicap on Good Friday.
North Melbourne +35.5
$1.93 (1 Unit)
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Harry McKay 3+ Goals – He’s had his kicking boots on to start the season and has kicked three goals in each game. He now comes up against an undermanned and undersized North Melbourne defence which he should be able to take advantage of.
Nick Larkey 3+ Goals – Kicked three goals in Round 1 before a quieter one-goal performance last weekend. However, it should be a high scoring game if history repeats itself, and we know he’s more than capable of hitting the scoreboard when given the service.
SGM Odds: $4.20 at BoomBet
