Friday’s only AFL Round 16 match is between Collingwood Magpies and Adelaide Crows with the game to be played at MCG. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:50pm local time with home team Collingwood Magpies currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Collingwood Magpies and Adelaide Crows.

WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, Friday 12 July, 7:50pm

[iframe_loader width=”690″ height=”530″ src=”https://sportsnews.com.au/afl/match.php?id=3130130″]

Opening odds comparison:

Collingwood Magpies	1.21	1.20	1.20	1.20	1.21	1.22
Adelaide Crows	4.40	4.50	4.50	4.50	4.40	4.40

Preview:

Round 16 of the AFL swings into action this weekend, with the first game on Friday night between Collingwood and Adelaide at the MCG. Collingwood will be full of
confidence after their 41 point thrashing of the Blues last week, and Adelaide will have to watch out if they want to avoid a similar fate. The Crows went down to the
Eagles last round, as they continue to struggle as the season progresses. Most of the money will be on the Magpies this week, with their on-field momentum getting
stronger as we get closer the the finals.

Teams:

Collingwood Magpies:
B: Nathan Brown, Nick Maxwell, Ben Reid
HB: Clinton Young, Heath Shaw, Marley Williams
C: Steele Sidebottom, Brent Macaffer, Luke Ball
HF: Jamie Elliott, Jarrod Witts, Dane Swan
F: Dayne Beams, Travis Cloke, Josh Thomas
Foll: Ben Hudson, Scott Pendlebury, Jarryd Blair
Int: Andrew Krakouer, Ben Sinclair, Paul Seedsman, Sam Dwyer
Emerg: Ben Kennedy, Tyson Goldsack, Lachlan Keeffe

In: D.Beams
Out: B.Kennedy

Adelaide Crows:
B: Ricky Henderson, Ben Rutten, Luke Brown
HB: Brodie Smith, Daniel Talia, Rory Laird
C: Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield, Bernie Vince
HF: Matthew Wright, Thomas Lynch, Richard Douglas
F: Jason Porplyzia, Josh Jenkins, Brad Crouch
Foll: Sam Jacobs, Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson
Int: Jarryd Lyons, David Mackay, Matthew Jaensch, Andrew Otten
Emerg: Mitchell Grigg, Ian Callinan, Luke Thompson

In: D.Mackay, J.Lyons
Out: S.McKernan (suspension), A.Riley (leg)

Ball says Magpies have O’Brien’s back

Collingwood’s Luke Ball says he hopes football can help their troubled AFL teammate Harry O’Brien heal.

O’Brien will miss the Magpies’ clash with Adelaide at the MCG on Friday night, which is Ball’s 200th AFL game.

Collingwood is consulting with experts about the best way to manage the defender after the club was contacted by Victorian police over the alleged murder he witnessed.

The Brazilian-born O’Brien revealed on Tuesday that while in Rio de Janeiro in 2011 he heard gunshots and watched a man die and had struggled to come to terms with the experience.

“Some contact has been made (from police) to the club and that contact has been made on a very respectful basis which is, how appropriate is it for Harry to be dealing with this,” said Magpies chief executive Gary Pert.

“In a lot of ways that’s going to be determined by Harry’s support team.

“Harry certainly needs to be in a mind-set to deal with everything going on.

“This would be another layer so we’ll be taking expert advice on that.”

Collingwood don’t have a time-line for his return to football and Ball said it was important that his teammates didn’t judge O’Brien.

“It’s all about supporting him … and also letting him know that hopefully the way out is to play footy and to do what he does best,” Ball said.

“From a selfish point of view we need him out there playing well because he’s probably having his best year and when he’s playing well we’re a better team.”

Ball said he was aware of O’Brien’s issues and praised his courage in making it public.

“Hopefully that takes a bit of pressure off him and he’s able to go and deal with his issues the best way he can.

After playing just nine games in the past two seasons, Ball’s milestone match has been a long time coming.

The 29-year-old midfielder admitted last year’s serious knee injury had caused him anxiety over his playing future.

“There was a period last year where you have little bits of doubt over how you’re going to come back,” he said.

Ball said he had been inspired by his former St Kilda teammate Lenny Hayes, who returned from a knee reconstruction to win a best and fairest.

Ball is set to be joined in the midfield by Copeland Trophy winner Dayne Beams in his first senior game this season after a troublesome quad injury.

“He has been a little bit of a forgotten man,” Ball said of Beams.

“For him to have not have played has really hurt us so that will be nice.”