Friday’s only AFL Round 23 match is between Sydney Swans and Hawthorn Hawks. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:50pm local time with the game to be played at ANZ Stadium. The away team Hawthorn Hawks are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Sydney Swans and Hawthorn Hawks.

Round: Round 23 7:50 PM August 30, 2013
Stadium: ANZ Stadium
Weather: 25° Shower or two.

Featured Bookmakers:

Sydney Swans $2.40 vs Hawthorn Hawks $1.57 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

Sydney Swans $2.45 vs Hawthorn Hawks $1.55 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

Sydney Swans	2.40	2.40	2.45	2.40	2.40	2.42
Hawthorn Hawks	1.57	1.57	1.55	1.57	1.57	1.57

Preview:

The final round of the regular season kicks off with a clash that sees fourth placed Sydney up against Hawthorn.

Sydney suffered a 44 point defeat at the hands of Geelong last week. It was only the fourth time they faced a team inside the top eight since round 14. Of those four games, they’ve won one.

Sydney are missing some key players at present and last week, those player’s absences were noticeable as Geelong led at every change. Add to their injury list Daniel Hannebery, who will miss this week’s clash with a knee injury and Sydney will have to do it tough.

Losing two in a row and three of your last four is not ideal for the Swans heading into the finals.

The Hawks had to find something in the second half as they trailed a spirited North 117 – 103 at the major break but, as all good teams do, they did find a way with the comeback led by Captain Luke Hodge.

A win here will see Hawthorn claim the minor premiership – their second in row and one that would be thoroughly deserved.

When they last met back round 7, Hawthorn were comfortable victors 119 – 82. That win kept the ledger balanced as each of the clubs has won two each of the last four encounters but with Sydney just struggling for some traction and Hawthorn out to secure the minor premiership and keen to hit the finals running, they’ll be too good for the Swans and would expect they’ll cover the 10.5 line that’s in place.

Teams:

Sydney Swans:
B: Rampe Grundy Everitt
HB: McVeigh T Richards Malceski
C: O’Keefe K Jack Rohan
HF: Bolton White McGlynn
F: Parker Tippett Mumford
FOLL: Pyke Kennedy Bird
I/C: Biggs Cunningham B Jack Mitchell
EMG: Lamb Morton X Richards
IN: Shane Biggs, Brandon Jack, Jude Bolton, Harry Cunningham
OUT: Jed Lamb (omitted), Daniel Hannebery (hand), Rhyce Shaw (knee), Nick Smith (calf)
New: Shane Biggs, 22, Bendigo Bombers

Hawthorn Hawks:
B: Stratton Lake Whitecross
HB: Burgoyne Gibson Birchall
C: Smith Hodge Hill
HF: Breust Franklin Lewis
F: Hale Roughead Gunston
FOLL: Bailey Mitchell Sewell
I/C: Savage Duryea Anderson Puopolo
EMG: Spangher Cheney Simpkin
In: Taylor Duryea, Jordan Lewis, Paul Puopolo
Out: Cyril Rioli (ankle), Liam Shiels (ankle), Brent Guerra (back soreness)

Swans can be great without stars: Goodes

Sydney’s perennial saviour Adam Goodes appears unlikely to rescue the reigning premiers in September, but the dual Brownlow medallist believes the AFL club has the depth to contend with the best.

Goodes on Thursday expressed optimism he would return in the finals, but the fact is the 33-year-old hasn’t played since June 13 and is still unable to run freely.

Swans coach John Longmire said last week “things need to go well pretty quickly” for Goodes to play again this season, meaning it’s unlikely he’ll be fit in time to feature in September.

Incredibly, almost half of the Swans’ 2012 premiership team won’t be taking the field against Hawthorn on Friday night at ANZ Stadium.

It doesn’t bode well for the finals, but Goodes believes the current Sydney team are just as capable of knocking off premiership favourites Hawthorn, Geelong and Fremantle.

“I definitely think so. I think we’ve shown that in the last 12 weeks,” he said.

“The players that we do have coming into the team, they just come in and play their role.”

The Swans lost games to Collingwood, Geelong and Hawthorn in the final month of their 2012 regular season, and defeat on Friday night would make for a similar form-line heading into this year’s finals series.

“Unfortunately against Geelong and Collingwood (this year) the opposition were a lot better on the day than us and we didn’t have enough contributors,” Goodes said.

“We’ve got one more game before the finals to really make sure we nail that, and really get that confidence back that we need.”

The Hawks are likely to slip to second spot on the ladder if the lose to Sydney, and coach Alastair Clarkson was wary of the threat posed by an undermanned Swans.

“You only need to look back to this time last year, when Sydney weren’t winning these types of games,” Clarkson said.

“But we know they won games when it was most important … they’re going to be a formidable opponent tomorrow night and a formidable opponent in September.”

If Hawthorn win, they will host Sydney in week one of the finals.

Clarkson didn’t plan on leaving anything up his sleeve for what would be the year’s third grand-final rematch.

“Winning form is good form and we don’t want to muck around with that,” he said.