Sunday’s first AFL Round 9 match is between Hawthorn Hawks and Gold Coast Suns. The opening bounce is set to commence at 1:10pm local time with the game to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The home team Hawthorn Hawks are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Hawthorn Hawks and Gold Coast Suns.

Round: Round 9 1:10 PM May 26, 2013
Stadium: MCG
Weather: 15° Shower or two

Featured Bookmakers:

Hawthorn Hawks $1.01 vs Gold Coast Suns $16.00 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Hawthorn Hawks $1.01 vs Gold Coast Suns $19.00 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

Hawthorn Hawks	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.02
Gold Coast Suns	16.00	17.00	19.00	17.00	16.00	16.00

Preview:

Unlike Saturday night’s game at the “G”, this one should be far easier to predict.

Hawthorn’s only loss this season remains the defeat to Geelong in the opening round of the season, where Geelong’s Tom Hawkins kicked a goal after the siren to secure the victory.

Since then, the Hawks have accounted for three sides in the current top eight and last week, handed GWS an 87 point flogging.

The Suns strung together back-to-back wins for the first time in the club’s history when accounting for Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs in the past fortnight.

Whilst this form will see their confidence up, they’ll struggle against the might of Hawthorn who have won each of the previous three clashes between the two sides, the most recent by 64 points.

Expect that trend to continue and star forward Buddy Franklin to be out to put a rough week off the field behind him.

Teams:

Hawthorn Hawks:
B: Ben Stratton, Brian Lake, Brent Guerra
HB: Sam Mitchell, Josh Gibson, Grant Birchall
C: Isaac Smith, Luke Hodge, Liam Shiels
HF: Paul Puopolo, Lance Franklin, Jordan Lewis
F: Jack Gunston, Jarryd Roughead, Luke Breust
Foll: Max Bailey, Brad Sewell, Shaun Burgoyne
Int (from): Kyle Cheney, Michael Osborne, Taylor Duryea, Sam Grimley, Matt Spangher, Jonathan Simpkin, Bradley Hill

In: J.Gibson, K.Cheney, S.Grimley, B.Hill
Out: D.Hale (ankle)

Gold Coast Suns:
B: Trent McKenzie, Jack Hutchins, Danny Stanley
HB: David Swallow, Rory Thompson, Tom Murphy
C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow
HF: Greg Broughton, Tom Lynch, Jesse Lonergan
F: Campbell Brown, Steven May, Aaron Hall
Foll: Sam Day, Jaeger O’Meara, Dion Prestia
Int (from): Jared Brennan, Tom Nicholls, Kyal Horsley, Luke Russell, Daniel Gorringe, Joel Wilkinson, Brandon Matera

In: T.Murphy, K.Horsley, J.Wilkinson, T.Nicholls, D.Gorringe
Out: Z.Smith (knee), H.Bennell (hamstring)

Hawks star Franklin defends bar outburst

Hawthorn AFL star Lance Franklin says he was verbally attacked by the woman who accused him of rude, intimidating behaviour in a Melbourne bar.

Former fashion designer Nicky Rowsell called Franklin an “absolute disgrace of a human being” after a confrontation on Saturday night.

She said that Franklin had stood over her and yelled in her face.

After she contacted the Hawthorn AFL club, Franklin reportedly phoned Rowsell to apologise.

He used Twitter to defend himself and said there were two sides to the story.

“Maybe the @Heraldsun should ask Nicky and publish why she approached me and what she said,” he wrote.

“I am not for one minute saying how I reacted was right but when someone comes up and verbally attacks me and the people I care about for no apparent reason I think its only natural to defend yourself.

“But I guess that’s not an appealing story is it.”