AFL Friday, Crows vs. Eagles bookie bonuses and Eddie Betts tips

Friday, August 26, from 8.10pm AEST at the Adelaide Oval.

Ladder position:
Adelaide Crows: Second
West Coast Eagles: Sixth

Season record:
Adelaide Crows: 16-5
West Coast Eagles: 15-6

Last five games:
Adelaide Crows: LWWWW
West Coast Eagles: WLWWW

Head-to-head odds:
Adelaide Crows: $1.30 with CrownBet.com.au
West Coast Eagles: $3.55 with CrownBet.com.au

Line betting:
Adelaide Crows: -23.5 ($1.92 with Sportbet.com.au)
West Coast Eagles: +23.5 ($1.92 with Sportbet.com.au)

THE last few rounds of the AFL season have been prone to having some out and out stinkers as teams that can’t make their way into finals peter out, but you couldn’t say that about this game.

It has all the makings of a cracker, with plenty at stake – despite the fact West Coast has been all but incapable of winning games at any location other than their home fortress Domain Stadium, in Perth.

They will make the trip to Adelaide to take on the Crows on their home deck in what will be a huge test for the Eagles and could even end with Adelaide perched at the top of the ladder.

Both of these sides are in red hot form, the Crows stringing together four straight victories to give them a sniff of top spot, while the Eagles have been rolling, winning three in a row after a loss that had some surmising they could miss out on the finals if things went pear shaped.

That certainly didn’t happen and they had perhaps one of their best wins of the season on the weekend when they poleaxed a shell shocked Hawthorn at Domain Stadium.

Always hard to beat on their home deck, the Eagles outran, out hustled and out tackled the reigning premier, giving it a taste of its own medicine in a 25 point win, 13.14 (92) to 10.7 (67), that really flattered their opposition.

Josh Kennedy was clearly the different two teams, providing a hulking target t this end of the ground and booting five goals from his nine disposals and seven marks.

The other big fella in the Eagles forward line, Jack Darling, was also prolific, squeezing through three goals in a welcome return to form.

Speed machine Andrew Gaff was the best player on the ground, though, amassing a monster 38 disposals to help feed his team mates in the forward line, while Chris Masten (30) and Matt Priddis (29) were always on the prowl.

They would have also been happy with Mark LeCras return to form.

He booted four goals the week before and continued it with another two, to go with 24 disposals, his first time eclipsing 20 possessions since round 16.

This could be a red letter day for Kennedy.

He’s for so long been a victim of the theory that he is a flat track bully who only boots big bags against weaker teams and doesn’t stand up against the truly good AFL sides.

Well, if he was ever going to show it against a quality opposition, now is the time.

The Crows could well end up as minor premiers if he does not.

There’s no way you can make first goal scorer predictions without including him and it would almost be laughable if he was at the current $8 quote with Sportsbet.com.au, were it not for the fact the Eagles are going into foreign territory.

There was a time when you would never get anything better than $1.30 for Prides to have over 30 disposals. That time has passed and he is now a juicy $2.20. Considering he had 31 and 33 in consecutive weeks, before going for 26 and 29 his past two, he has been thereabouts. He had 29 last time out against the Crows and the Eagles will need him to find plenty of it again.

The Crows have been even more impressive than the Eagles in the past couple of weeks, putting down four on the trot and calming The Show Down against Port Adelaide on the weekends 15.9 (109) to 14.10 (94).

Matt Crouch was a cut above any other Crow on the ground, reeling in 33 disposals – 10 mire than the next best Adelaide player, Rory Laird, who had 23. He had six tackles to go with that to add to a brilliant performance and, at even money to eclipse 30 again, we reckon that is some good value. He’s had over 30 in four of his past five and is in hot form.

Eddie Betts, in his 250th game, slammed on five goals in a dominant performance for the Crows and he got great support from Mitch McGovern, with three.

Betts is perhaps the best small forward ever to play the game and he enhances that reputation every week.

He is our pick to kick the first goal for the Crows in this one.

Player props predictions

First goal scorer picks – Adelaide Crows:

Eddie Betts ($8 with Sportsbet.com.au)

First goal scorer picks – West Coast Eagles:

Josh Kennedy ($8 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Disposal picks – Adelaide Crows:

Matt Crouch to have 30 disposals or more ($2 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Disposal picks – West Coast Eagles:

Matt Priddis to have 30 disposals or more ($2.20 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Match predictions

Match results: Adelaide Crows to win ($1.30 with CrownBet.com.au)

Line betting tip: Adelaide Crows -23.5 ($1.92 with Sportsbet.com.au)

Both teams are in good form, but there is far too much of a gulf between West Coast at home and West Coast on the road The Crows would love to finish on top and a big win would solidify their position.