The first game on Sunday for AFL Round 11 is between St Kilda Saints and West Coast Eagles. The opening bounce is set to commence at 4:40pm with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The favourite for the match is away team West Coast Eagles. View our preview and teams for the game between St Kilda Saints and West Coast Eagles.

Round: Round 11 4:40 PM June 09, 2013
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Weather: 17° Cloudy

Featured Bookmakers:

St Kilda Saints $3.10 vs West Coast Eagles $1.34 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

St Kilda Saints $3.30 vs West Coast Eagles $1.35 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

St Kilda Saints	3.10	3.20	3.30	3.20	3.10	3.12
West Coast Eagles	1.37	1.35	1.35	1.35	1.37	1.38

Preview:

The only game scheduled for Sunday sees St. Kilda hosting West Coast, both coming off heaving defeats.

St. Kilda’s loss was their third in succession and eighth of the season. They were never in the hunt against North (133-65) and, should they be competitive here, would need to produce a significant form reversal.

It was the fourth time in the past five weeks that the Saints have failed to register more than 77 points.

West Coast’s loss was their first in four weeks and came at the hands of Richmond on Monday night (103-62).

At home and given their recent form, it was a poor performance by West Coast and continues a worrying trend for the Eagles who this season, have yet beaten a team who are in the eight.

The last time these two sides met resulted in a win to West Coast, their first over St. Kilda since 2008.

St. Kilda’s two wins have come from the five games they’ve played at Etihad this year but would expect that, on their recent performances, West Coast would be too strong.

Teams:

St Kilda Saints:
B: Dylan Roberton, James Gwilt, Jack Newnes
HB: Sean Dempster, Rhys Stanley, Nathan Wright
C: Jarryn Geary, Nick Dal Santo, Jimmy Webster
HF: Farren Ray, Nick Riewoldt, David Armitage
F: Stephen Milne, Beau Maister, Tom Hickey
Foll: Ben McEvoy, Leigh Montagna, Jack Steven
Int (from): Arryn Siposs, Trent Dennis-Lane, Sam Dunell, Josh Saunders, Sebastian Ross, Ahmed Saad, Clinton Jones

In: B.Maister, C.Jones, T.Dennis-Lane, J.Saunders, S.Dunell
Out: S.Fisher (foot), J.Ferguson

West Coast Eagles:
B: Blayne Wilson, Eric Mackenzie, Sam Butler
HB: Shannon Hurn, Mitchell Brown, Matt Rosa
C: Adam Selwood, Scott Selwood, Daniel Kerr
HF: Ashton Hams, Jack Darling, Chris Masten
F: Dean Cox, Josh Kennedy, Josh Hill
Foll: Nic Naitanui, Matt Priddis, Luke Shuey
Int (from): Patrick McGinnity, Mark Hutchings, Brad Sheppard, Andrew Embley, Jamie Cripps, Andrew Gaff, Jacob Brennan

In: A.Hams, J.Brennan, P.McGinnity, J.Cripps, B.Wilson
Out: D.Glass (hip), M.LeCras (arm)

St Kilda need fast start against Eagles

After delivering one of the worst opening quarters in St Kilda’s recent history, coach Scott Watters says his AFL side needs to be ferocious from the opening bounce against West Coast.

The Saints were smashed last weekend by a rampant North Melbourne, who led by 55 points at the first change.

Their opponents at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles, were similarly lacklustre, falling to Richmond by 41 points in Perth on Monday night.

“I know they’ll be fired up,” said Watters on Wednesday.

“They wouldn’t be happy with that performance at home but we’ll worry about what we need to deliver.

“We need to be ferocious from the start so we look forward to that.”

A positive that Watters took out of the first-quarter thumping was that it was a learning experience for the younger, inexperienced members of his side who hadn’t faced such early adversity before.

He said much of the match review had focused on that quarter, where his midfield were completely outclassed.

“It wasn’t acceptable what we delivered but we get a chance to learn from that and improve so that’s where our focus is,” Watters said.

“It’s a steep learning curve for a lot of our younger players to go through that first quarter.

“It’s about how young players respond early in the game to being put on the back foot by a side that was really up and about.

“They need to find solutions to get back in the game as quickly as possible.

“After quarter-time, once they had a chance to resettle, they played some better football.”

Watters expected promising young Saint Nathan Wright to play on Sunday after copping a knock to his back against the Kangaroos.

Wright, 18, only recently returned from a broken jaw.

“He’ll be tested later in the week but we think he’ll be right to play.

“He’s an unbelievably tough kid.

“We brought him straight back into the side off a broken jaw.

“It says a lot about an 18-year-old that based on his performances this year he comes straight back in.”