Saturday’s third AFL Round 12 match is between Essendon Bombers and Gold Coast Suns with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:40pm local time with home team Essendon Bombers currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Essendon Bombers and Gold Coast Suns.
WHERE AND WHEN: Etihad Stadium, Saturday 15 June, 7:40pm
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Opening odds comparison:
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| Essendon Bombers | 1.19 | 1.20 | 1.18 | 1.20 | 1.19 | 1.20 |
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Gold Coast Suns
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4.75 | 4.60 | 5.10 | 4.60 | 4.75 | 4.80 |
Preview:
Essendon play the Gold Coast on Saturday, 7.40pm at Etihad Stadium. The Bombers had a great week beating Carlton last round, coming from 31 points behind to charge home and beat the Blues by 5 points. Their confidence will be high this weekend, although the Gold Coast are far from down and out themselves. The Suns have troubled a few teams over the last few weeks, and they just might pull off an upset here if they’re lucky. This is shaping up to be a killer match, although the momentum of the Bombers after last week should be enough to see them through.
Teams:
Essendon Bombers:
B: Tayte Pears, Jake Carlisle, Mark Baguley
HB: Brendon Goddard, Cale Hooker, Michael Hibberd
C: Brent Stanton, Jobe Watson, Dyson Heppell
HF: Jason Winderlich, Michael Hurley, Stewart Crameri
F: Nick Kommer, Joe Daniher, Alwyn Davey
Foll: Patrick Ryder, Heath Hocking, David Zaharakis
Int: Jackson Merrett, Jake Melksham, Ben Howlett, David Myers
Emerg: Tom Bellchambers, Elliott Kavanagh, Kyle Hardingham
In: T.Pears, J.Merrett
Out: W.Hams, D.Fletcher (groin)
Gold Coast Suns:
B: Trent McKenzie, Sam Day, Joel Wilkinson
HB: David Swallow, Rory Thompson, Tom Murphy
C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow
HF: Liam Patrick, Tom Lynch, Aaron Hall
F: Campbell Brown, Daniel Gorringe, Timmy Sumner
Foll: Tom Nicholls, Danny Stanley, Dion Prestia
Int: Jack Hutchins, Michael Rischitelli, Luke Russell, Jaeger O’Meara
Emerg: Jacob Gillbee, Steven May, Maverick Weller
In: D.Gorringe
Out: C.Dixon (ankle)
Bombers can’t ignore AFL starts: HirdEssendon coach James Hird expects his AFL side’s belief to grow as a result of Friday night’s thrilling comeback win over Carlton.But he says they can’t afford to ignore their poor first half.Essendon recovered from as many as 30 points down in the third quarter, kicking eight of the last 10 goals to win 11.11 (77) to 10.12 (72) in front of 82,639 fans.It’s the third time this season Essendon have overcome a big first-half deficit and won, having also done so in thrilling fashion against Fremantle in round three and, more predictably, against Greater Western Sydney in round six.
They also recovered from a poor first term to down Adelaide in the opening round.
Hird, whose club sit inside the top four on an 8-3 record, says those types of wins breed valuable confidence, particularly for younger players.
“They need confidence – they need learning experiences that they get from games like that,” he said.
“We didn’t play our best football. We were well beaten for half the game.
“But the continual experience our players get from playing in big occasions in front of 82-83,000 people, learning how to come back from not playing well and playing well is invaluable.”
But he also said Essendon were fortunate not to have fallen further behind given their first half.
“We were beaten in the contests, we were beaten for tackles and we weren’t brave with the ball,” he said.
“If you don’t get those three things right, it’s very hard to win a game of football.
“So as happy as we are with the win, we have to go back and look at why that first half was the way it was.”
Carlton coach Mick Malthouse was disappointed the Blues didn’t make more of their early control.
But he said his side fell away in the final term and he needed to work out who could stand up in critical moments.
All of the Blues’ five wins this season have been by less than three goals and Malthouse said his side continued to have costly down patches.
“What I’m trying to learn is who can stand up when the pressure gets applied to play the right card at the right moment,” he said.
“We’re trying to track our best 22 who can make the right decisions at the right times under that sort of pressure.”
