Saturday’s first AFL Round 11 match is between Greater Western Sydney Giants and Geelong Cats with the game to be played at Skoda Stadium. The opening bounce is set to commence at 1:40pm local time with away team Geelong Cats currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Greater Western Sydney Giants and Geelong Cats.

WHERE AND WHEN: Skoda Stadium, Saturday June 8, 1:40pm

Opening odds comparison:

Greater Western Sydney Giants	21.00	19.00	31.00	19.00	21.00	21.00
Geelong Cats	1.001	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.001	1.01

Preview:
The first Saturday game of Round 11 is between the GWS Giants and Geelong Cats, in a highly uneven match that is unlikely to pull any surprises. Taking place at 1.40pm at Skoda Stadium, the Cats are big, big favourites to take victory. While the Cats have been far from consistent from quarter to quarter in 2013, they have still managed a 9-1 record and should face little resistance against a Giants side in serious trouble.
Teams:

Greater Western Sydney Giants:
B: Stephen Gilham, Tim Mohr, Adam Kennedy
HB: Curtly Hampton, Joshua Bruce, Adam Treloar
C: Lachie Whitfield, Dylan Shiel, Stephen Coniglio
HF: Devon Smith, Jonathan Giles, Adam Tomlinson
F: Rhys Palmer, Jeremy Cameron, Gerald Ugle
Foll: Dean Brogan, Tom Scully, Callan Ward
Int: Taylor Adams, Jacob Townsend, Toby Greene, Lachie Plowman
Emerg: Zachary Williams, Sam Reid, Aidan Corr

In: D.Brogan, S.Gilham, G.Ugle, L.Plowman
Out: S.O’hAilpin, M.Buntine, N.Wilson (calf), A.Corr

Geelong Cats:
B: Andrew Mackie, Tom Lonergan, Corey Enright
HB: Cameron Guthrie, Mitch Brown, Josh Hunt
C: Jordan Murdoch, Jimmy Bartel, Jesse Stringer
HF: Mathew Stokes, Steve Johnson, Mitch Duncan
F: Allen Christensen, Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly
Foll: Trent West, Joel Selwood, James Kelly
Int: Jackson Thurlow, Joel Corey, Billie Smedts, Nathan Vardy
Emerg: Jordan Schroder, Jed Bews, Josh Walker

In: J.Podsiadly, B.Smedts, J.Stringer, J.Thurlow, J.Murdoch
Out: H.Taylor (rest), S.Motlop (knee), J.Schroder, G.Burbury (quad), M.Blicavs (rest)

Swans, Cats a cut above Bombers, says Hird

Essendon coach James Hird admits his AFL side has work to do before they can challenge the league’s premiership favourites.

Reigning premiers Sydney pulled away late to beat the Bombers by 44 points at the SCG on Saturday, while Geelong ended Essendon’s undefeated start to the season in round seven.

“The Swans, Geelong and probably Hawthorn are the three teams that look to be the best three in the competition,” Hird said after his side’s loss to Sydney.

“I think against both Geelong and the Swans we’ve come up a bit short.

“That’s a developing thing, we need to get more games into our players. Practice our gameplan and I think that will come.

“But right at this moment, we’re just a little bit off those top three teams.

“We need to do a few things (to catch up with them) … we need to get a few more games into our players and make sure we can compete for the whole quarter, not just 20 minutes of a quarter.”

But Hird was far from alarmed ahead of his side’s Friday night clash with rivals Carlton at the MCG.

With the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) interviews out of the way and a few key players back from injury, Hird was upbeat about his side as they approach the halfway mark of the season.

“We’ve got things to work on and things to change, but at 7-3 we’re pretty happy with our position at the moment,” he said.

“We’ve just got to keep going ahead. I truly believe our second half of the year will be better than our first half with the injuries we’ve got, or haven’t got.”