Sunday’s second AFL Round 14 match is between North Melbourne Kangaroos and Greater Western Sydney Giants. The opening bounce is set to commence at 3:20pm local time with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The home team North Melbourne Kangaroos are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between North Melbourne Kangaroos and Greater Western Sydney Giants.

Round: Round 14 3:20 PM June 30, 2013
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Weather: 15° Sunny

Featured Bookmakers:

North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.01 vs Greater Western Sydney Giants $15.00 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.01 vs Greater Western Sydney Giants $16.00 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

North Melbourne Kangaroos	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01	1.01
Greater Western Sydney Giants	15.00	15.00	16.00	15.00	15.00	15.00

Preview:

North’s agonising season should get some reprieve this weekend as they take on the winless GWS Giants.

North recorded the second successive loss, their fourth from the past five weeks when only amassing 29 points to Fremantle’s 67 last week.

The loss gives them a season record of 4-8 and sees them three wins outside of the eight in thirteenth spot on the ladder.

The Giants are still looking for their first win – still looking to be competitive for that matter and the closest they’ve got to an opponent in the past six weeks, is 57 points.

There’s nothing positive one can offer up for the Giants at the moment, it’s just a question of getting the winning margin of North right.

Given that it has been a hard season for the Kangas, expecting them to really enjoy not having the pressure on today and rack up a decent total.

Teams:

North Melbourne Kangaroos:
B: Lachlan Hansen, Scott D. Thompson, Aaron Mullett
HB: Taylor Hine, Nathan Grima, Jamie Macmillan
C: Sam Gibson, Ryan Bastinac, Shaun Atley
HF: Daniel Wells, Drew Petrie, Brent Harvey
F: Lindsay Thomas, Aaron Black, Levi Greenwood
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell
Int (from): Brad McKenzie, Leigh Adams, Taylor Garner, Jordan Gysberts, Ben Jacobs, Michael Firrito, Robbie Tarrant

In: R.Tarrant, J.Gysberts, J.Ziebell, B.Jacobs, T.Garner
Out: L.Anthony, S.Wright

Greater Western Sydney Giants:
B: Curtly Hampton, Stephen Gilham, Adam Kennedy
HB: Aidan Corr, Tim Mohr, Callan Ward
C: Lachie Whitfield, Adam Treloar, Sam Reid
HF: Devon Smith, Jeremy Cameron, Will Hoskin-Elliott
F: Taylor Adams, Adam Tomlinson, Liam Sumner
Foll: Jonathan Giles, Toby Greene, Tom Scully
Int (from): Zachary Williams, Joshua Bruce, Jacob Townsend, Nicholas Haynes, Setanta O’hAilpin, Dylan Shiel, Shaun Edwards

In: S.Gilham, S.O’hAilpin, S.Edwards, L.Sumner, N.Haynes
Out: S.Coniglio, L.Plowman

North coach tells AFL to protect players

North Melbourne AFL coach Brad Scott says if Fremantle’s Ryan Crowley tried his pinching tactics on Brent Harvey in the 1980s, justice would have been swiftly dealt.

Crowley would have been decked and that would have been the end of the matter.

Five-time club champion Harvey complained to the umpires during last weekend’s round-13 match in Perth and gave Crowley a spray moments after the siren.

Crowley was handed a $1200 fine at the tribunal on Tuesday, after Fremantle mounted what Scott labelled as a pretty ordinary defence.

“If that was 30 years ago and he was subjected to what he was subjected to on the weekend, he would have just dropped Ryan Crowley,” Scott told reporters on Thursday.

“The umpires had a chance at the start of the game when ‘Boomer’ (Harvey) was put down off the ball to pay a free kick and set the tone for the game and they didn’t take it.

“‘Boomer’ didn’t want to go on with it (at the tribunal).

“‘Boomer’ would prefer that 30 years ago he could just react the way that he reacted in the final last year (against West Coast in Perth).

“But we’re not prepared to have him sitting on the sidelines for six weeks.

“The player has either got to be protected by the umpire or he has got to have the right to protect himself,” Scott added.

“He (Harvey) gave away a 50-metre penalty which cost us a goal directly so there was one occasion where he wasn’t able to keep control.”

Scott took a swipe at Fremantle’s tribunal tactics.

“When he was pushed and pushed and pushed, ‘Boomer’ had no option but to say ‘look, if you’re asking me what happened, this is what happened’,” Scott said.

“That sunk Ryan Crowley’s case.”

Another sore point regarding North’s dealings with umpires and tribunals in 2013 has been midfielder Jack Ziebell, who returns from a three-match suspension for Sunday’s clash with bottom side Greater Western Sydney at Etihad Stadium.

“We don’t want him suspended and so we’ll work on a couple of things to make sure he gives himself a better chance to hit the ball instead of the player. And then we’ll address those things with the AFL at the end of the year,” Scott said of Ziebell, who was banned following his bump on Adelaide’s Jarryd Lyons in round nine.