The fourth game on Saturday for AFL Round 17 is between St Kilda Saints and Port Adelaide Power. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:40pm with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The favourite for the match is away team Port Adelaide Power. View our preview and teams for the game between St Kilda Saints and Port Adelaide Power.
Round: Round 17 7:40 PM July 20, 2013
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Weather: 11° Shower or two.
Featured Bookmakers:
St Kilda Saints $1.96 vs Port Adelaide Power $1.84 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match
St Kilda Saints $1.97 vs Port Adelaide Power $1.83 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match
Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:
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| St Kilda Saints | 1.96 | 2.00 | 1.97 | 2.00 | 1.96 | 1.98 |
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Port Adelaide Power
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1.84 | 1.80 | 1.83 | 1.80 | 1.84 | 1.86 |
Preview:
Port Adelaide sit in eighth spot on the ladder, one win ahead of West Coast and Carlton and a win here, at best, would see them create a two win break from the bottom half of the competition.
With their next games at home at AAMI, Port have a real opportunity here to ensure their spot in the eight and, create good momentum at the back of the season.
They had strung three wins together, including victories over Sydney and Collingwood but, in the past fortnight, have found the might of Essendon and Hawthorn too much and have lost by 30 and 45 points respectively.
Nevertheless in those losses, Port were competitive for the majority of the event and can take positives out of each performance.
St. Kilda languishes in sixteenth spot on the ladder with only the three wins thus far this season.
One of those wins come back in round 13 over Melbourne however, three subsequent matches have resulted in defeats to Richmond (64 points), Fremanlte (30 points) and last week, Carlton (30 points) who were only able to get the upper hand in the final term kicking five goals to the Saints’ one.
Again, despite being a loss there was enough good performances in the match to suggest that they’ll provide stiff opposition for Port and that’s reflected in a tight betting market.
What may tip the scales in Ports’ favour is that there’s a lot more at stake for them than the Saints who, from six matches against top eight sides this year, haven’t been able to register a win.
Head to head, St. Kilda have two of the past three with the most recent, being way back in round 1 of last year, resulting in a narrow win to Port 89 – 85.
Expect another close one here.
Teams:
St Kilda Saints:
B: Tom Simpkin, James Gwilt, Sean Dempster
HB: Farren Ray, Dylan Roberton, Jack Newnes
C: David Armitage, Lenny Hayes, Jimmy Webster
HF: Clint Jones, Nick Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna
F: Stephen Milne, Tom Lee, Trent Dennis-Lane
Foll: Ben McEvoy, Nick Dal Santo, Jack Steven
Int: Tom Hickey, Josh Saunders, Rhys Stanley, Tom Curren
Emerg: Sebastian Ross, Brodie Murdoch, Sam Dunell
In: Simpkin Webster Curren
Out: Geary (leg) Milera Murdoch
Port Adelaide Power:
B: Cameron O’Shea, Alipate Carlile, Tom Jonas
HB: Matthew Broadbent, Jackson Trengove, Sam Colquhoun
C: Chad Wingard, Travis Boak, Jasper Pittard
HF: Robbie Gray, John Butcher, Angus Monfries
F: Justin Westhoff, Jay Schulz, Jake Neade
Foll: Matthew Lobbe, Brad Ebert, Hamish Hartlett
Int: Ollie Wines, Andrew Moore, Paul Stewart, Kane Mitchell
Emerg: Jack Hombsch, Tom Logan, Matt Thomas
In: Westhoff Mitchell Colquhoun
Out: Cornes (suspended) Logan Thomas
Saints look at Port’s AFL list with envy
Port Adelaide’s AFL list is where Scott Watters wants St Kilda to be as quickly as possible.
While the Power’s resurgence has been one of the surprises of this season, the Saints coach says it is no accident the Port have played consistently well.
Port Adelaide are eighth and must beat the Saints on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium to consolidate their finals hopes.
“Obviously they’ve been building over three, four, five years,” Watters said on Thursday.
“You look at a lot of the quality and talent they’ve got through, they’re starting to mature.
“Kenny (coach Ken Hinkley) is doing a great job – they’re a good side on the up.
“It’s taken them time to build the Boaks and the Hartletts and the Wingards, etc – so they have quality.”
By contrast, the Saints are rebuilding and will be major players in trades and free agency recruiting later this year.
The Saints have pushed West Coast, Fremantle and most recently Carlton, giving Watters confidence they are closing on a win.
“We’ve been pretty close to getting a result in recent weeks and haven’t been able to sustain it,” he said.
“We’re going to keep chasing that pretty strongly.
“Last week, our ball use wasn’t great – particularly when we had opportunities early in the game.
“But our level of intensity from a defensive point of view has been pretty good.”
Watters is hopeful that veteran small forward Adam Schneider will resume this weekend in the VFL.
Schneider only managed eight games last year and just one so far this season because of injuries.
“He’s almost missed two years of footy,” Watters said.
“It’s just about getting some durability back into his body and into his preparation.
Watters wants Schneider to play on in 2014.
“He’s 28 and a terrific player – we’re a better club if Adam Schneider is fit and playing and we’ll give him every opportunity to do that,” he said.