Friday’s only AFL Round 19 match is between North Melbourne Kangaroos and Geelong Cats. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:50pm local time with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The away team Geelong Cats are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between North Melbourne Kangaroos and Geelong Cats.
Round: Round 19 7:50 PM August 02, 2013
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Weather: 15° A few showers developing.
Featured Bookmakers:
North Melbourne Kangaroos $3.45 vs Geelong Cats $1.31 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match
North Melbourne Kangaroos $3.45 vs Geelong Cats $1.31 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match
Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:
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| North Melbourne Kangaroos | 3.45 | 3.50 | 3.45 | 3.50 | 3.45 | 3.50 |
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Geelong Cats
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1.31 | 1.30 | 1.31 | 1.30 | 1.31 | 1.32 |
Preview:
After two more agonising losses to add to this season’s tales of woes against Brisbane and Carlton, North supporters had something to smile about last week when the Kangas demolished Melbourne by 122 points.
With their win and the West Coast Eagle’s loss to Western Bulldogs, North now sits in tenth spot on the ladder but still being three wins off eighth placed Port, Kangaroos must keep winning and this week, that won’t be easy.
The face a Geelong outfit who themselves, suffered a surprise and narrow defeat to Adelaide before coming out last week, and righting the wrongs of that performance with a 102 point trouncing of St. Kilda.
The Adelaide defeat – only their third of the season might’ve come at the right time for Geelong as the focus is now on finals football.
They’ll need to keep this focus as North have pushed the Cats all the way in round 2 of this year (112 – 108) and defeated them (131 – 114) in 2012.
North’s losses this year have been well documented and unfortunately, even if they do find themselves in a position to win this game come the final quarter, the ghosts of this year and a Geelong outfit, will be too much for them to bear.
Teams:
North Melbourne Kangaroos:
3 Ryan Bastinac
5 Ben Jacobs (INT)
6 Lachlan Hansen
7 Jack Ziebell
8 Daniel Wells
10 Ben Cunnington
12 Lindsay Thomas
13 Leigh Adams (INT)
15 Luke Delaney
16 Scott D. Thompson
18 Shaun Atley
19 Sam Wright (EMG)
20 Drew Petrie
22 Todd Goldstein
24 Levi Greenwood (EMG)
25 Robbie Tarrant
26 Taylor Hine
29 Brent Harvey
31 Cameron Delaney
34 Jamie Macmillan (INT)
35 Aaron Black
38 Majak Daw (EMG)
41 Aaron Mullett
43 Sam Gibson
In: Luke Delaney ,Ben Jacobs
Out: Nathan Grima (Back), Andrew Swallow (Achilles)
Geelong Cats:
1 Mitch Brown (EMG)
2 Billie Smedts (INT)
3 Jimmy Bartel
4 Andrew Mackie
5 Travis Varcoe
7 Harry Taylor
8 Josh Hunt
9 James Kelly (INT)
11 Joel Corey
12 Trent West
13 Tom Lonergan
14 Joel Selwood
19 Taylor Hunt (INT)
20 Steve Johnson
22 Mitch Duncan
23 Josh Caddy
26 Tom Hawkins
27 Mathew Stokes
29 Cameron Guthrie
30 Nathan Vardy
32 Steven Motlop
33 George Horlin-Smith (EMG)
34 Josh Walker (EMG)
44 Corey Enright
46 Mark Blicavs (INT)
In: Josh Hunt ,Jimmy Bartel ,Trent West ,Mark Blicavs
Out: James Podsiadly (Suspension), Dawson Simpson (Knee), Mitch Brown (Omitted), George Horlin-Smith (Omitted)
Atley confident North on right AFL path
Extending his contract with North Melbourne was a no-brainer for Shaun Atley at the start of the AFL season.
He says it remains so now, even though North’s season appears destined to be a case of so close, and yet so far.
Despite a year which promised finals but will probably just fail to deliver, defender Atley says there’s a sense something great will eventually come out of perhaps the AFL’s most heartbreaking season of close losses.
“The sort of feeling around the club is success isn’t too far away,” Atley told AAP, reiterating his decision to extend his contract to 2015 before this season started was the right one.
“Whether it’s this year, next year or the year after, you can sense it around the club with the younger guys getting older, and the older guys sticking around.
“It gives the boys a lot of confidence knowing we can go into games and match it or at least win, as opposed to the last couple of years when we were getting beaten by 100-plus points.
“In that sense, we’re going in the right direction.”
After five losses this season by less than a goal, North tuned up for Friday night’s battle with flying Geelong at Etihad Stadium with a 122-point belting of uncompetitive Melbourne last weekend.
The Cats also come off a triple-figure win – theirs over St Kilda.
One of North’s close losses came the last time they played the Cats in round two.
But 20-year-old Atley, who has blossomed since moving to the half-back line last season, is confident the Kangaroos still have plenty to play for.
He says they have not having given up entirely on making finals despite needing an unlikely amount of favours to do so.
“It is hard when you lose those close ones because you contemplate ‘what if’.
“We could be far higher up the ladder if we’d got over those close ones.
“We’ve copped a bit for that, but that just brings us closer and gives us something to prove for the end of this year and going into next year.”
The North-Geelong match is also set to raise awareness of Greenaid – an innovative charity which fights poverty and works to free slaves by raising funds through selling sticking plasters.
North will be without skipper Andrew Swallow, who suffered a serious Achilles injury last weekend and defender Nathan Grima (back).
Geelong have included ruckmen Trent West and Mark Blicavs, while Jimmy Bartel returns from suspension.