Saturday’s third AFL Round 17 match is between Gold Coast Suns and Collingwood Magpies. The opening bounce is set to commence at 4.40pm local time with the game to be played at Metricon Stadium. The away team Collingwood Magpies are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Gold Coast Suns and Collingwood Magpies.

Round: Round 17 4:40 PM July 20, 2013
Stadium: Metricon Stadium
Weather: 19° Showers, rain at times.

Featured Bookmakers:

Gold Coast Suns $4.55 vs Collingwood Magpies $1.17 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

Gold Coast Suns $5.65 vs Collingwood Magpies $1.14 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

Gold Coast Suns	4.55	4.75	5.65	4.75	4.55	4.70
Collingwood Magpies	1.17	1.18	1.14	1.18	1.17	1.20

Preview:

Whilst the Suns have been competitive this year, their only win for them over the past seven weeks has come over North Melbourne (66 – 51) five weeks back.

Last week, the Suns led for the majority of the first half in their clash against Richmond played Cairns. However in tough windy conditions that saw both teams only kick two goals apiece in the second half, Richmond’s seventeen behinds were enough to see them home (53 – 44).

Gold Coast return home for this game where they’ve won two of their last three and even in their defeats at Metricon, they’ve been more than competitive.

They’ll need to produce their best though this week if they are to trouble Collingwood who have won five of their last six.

Comfortable victories in the last two rounds over Carlton and Adelaide have seen Collingwood climb back inside the eight and to seventh position. With Richmond up against Fremantle this weekend, a win here could see the Magpies potentially climb a further spot.

Head to head, these sides have met twice before with Collingwood winning both by margins of 54 and in the most recent clash last year, 97 points.

They’ve been asked to cover 28.5 this weekend and whilst there’s no doubting the Suns are an improved outfit, especially at home, if the Pies fancy themselves as legitimate contenders for the title, they should be able to cover that margin.

Teams:

Gold Coast Suns:
B: Trent McKenzie, Sam Day, Seb Tape
HB: Greg Broughton, Rory Thompson, Jarrod Harbrow
C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Luke Russell
HF: Andrew Boston, Steven May, Aaron Hall
F: Campbell Brown, Josh Hall, Jared Brennan
Foll: Tom Nicholls, Danny Stanley, Jaeger O’Meara
Int: Dion Prestia, Maverick Weller, Harley Bennell, Alex Sexton
Emerg: Jacob Gillbee, Tom Murphy, Joel Wilkinson

In: Weller Sexton
Out: Murphy Swallow (knee)

Collingwood Magpies:
B: Nathan Brown, Nick Maxwell, Ben Reid
HB: Tyson Goldsack, 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, Andrew Krakouer
Int: Ben Sinclair, Paul Seedsman, Sam Dwyer, Caolan Mooney
Emerg: Lachlan Keeffe, Ben Kennedy, Adam Oxley

In: Goldsack Mooney
Out: Young (hamstring) Blair (calf)

Magpies to rest O’Brien again

Collingwood’s troubled former All-Australian defender Harry O’Brien will be given a third weekend off from AFL football to focus on his personal problems.

Coach Nathan Buckley on Wednesday ruled out recalling O’Brien for seventh-placed Collingwood’s round-17 clash with with Gold Coast (14th) at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

O’Brien didn’t play in round 15 against Carlton on July 5 because of an ankle injury but he’d also reportedly had an argument with Buckley, which the coach didn’t deny.

The Brazil-born O’Brien returned to training the following week and shocked waiting media by talking openly about personal issues which were troubling him.

O’Brien’s concerns include witnessing a murder in Brazil in 2011 and the suicide of his stepfather in 2009.

Buckley said the Magpies were determined to give O’Brien all the time he needed to deal with his concerns.

“Harry won’t play this week,” Buckley said.

“As a club we support him absolutely. Along with the experts and the people he’s working with and our doctors, we’ll find the right time for him.

“It’s not really a time-frame issue. It’s just about when our players are right to play.

“It’s easy if you’ve got a calf (injury) or if you’ve got a hamstring.

“But there are other issues you need to get to be ready to play four quarters of intense football, ups and downs, the resilience required.

“We’re supporting Harry through the period at the moment and respect the fact that football might actually be the thing that he needs to be doing right now.”

Buckley said personal issues were more widespread in football than people might realise.

“All you ever see is the facade. We deal with a lot of things internally that don’t come out and shouldn’t come out,” Buckley said. “This has.

“Players all through the league, they deal with issues.

They’re humans. They’re not robots.

“They’re more than footballers and we treat them as such.”