Saturday third AFL Round 19 match is between West Coast Eagles and Gold Coast Suns with the game to be played at Patersons Stadium. The opening bounce is set to commence at 2:40pm local time with home team West Coast Eagles currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between West Coast Eagles and Gold Coast Suns.
WHERE AND WHEN: Patersons Stadium, 2:40pm AWST Saturday, August 3, 2013
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Opening odds comparison:
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| West Coast Eagles | 1.45 | 1.45 | 1.41 | 1.42 | 1.45 | 1.46 |
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Gold Coast Suns
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2.75 | 2.85 | 2.90 | 2.85 | 2.75 | 2.77 |
Preview:
The West Coast Eagles play the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday, 4.40pm at Patersons Stadium. The Eagles should be able to take advantage of their strong forward line
and win this match, although it wont be a walk in the park. The Gold Coast have grown up a lot in 2013, and will want to keep their momentum going in the last few
weeks of the season. While the Eagles have the potential to punish the Suns on the scoreboard, they first have to get past a strong Gold Coast midfield that looks more
confident all the time.
Teams:
West Coast Eagles:
FF: 12 Sharrod Wellingham 29 Scott Lycett 27 Jack Darling
HF: 15 Jamie Cripps 17 Josh Kennedy 33 Josh Hill
C: 3 Andrew Gaff 11 Matt Priddis 18 Bradd Dalziell
HB: 26 Sam Butler 16 Eric Mackenzie 28 Ashley Smith
FB: 31 Will Schofield 23 Darren Glass 30 Blayne Wilson
FOLL: 20 Dean Cox, 10 Scott Selwood, 34 Mark Hutchings
INT: 43 Ashton Hams, 5 Brad Sheppard, 32 Andrew Embley, 19 Adam Carter
EMG: 40 Cale Morton, 1 Mitchell Brown, 44 Jamie Bennell
In: D.Glass, B.Sheppard, A.Embley
Out: M.Brown, C.Masten (ankle), C.Morton
Gold Coast Suns:
FF 30 Campbell Brown 23 Charlie Dixon 39 Timmy Sumner
HF 24 David Swallow 12 Sam Day 33 Aaron Hall
C 11 Harley Bennell 9 Gary Ablett 6 Alex Sexton
HB 36 Greg Broughton 16 Rory Thompson 8 Luke Russell
FB 18 Trent McKenzie 17 Steven May 48 Sebastian Tape
FOLL: 15 Daniel Gorringe, 25 Danny Stanley, 10 Dion Prestia
INT: 26 Matt Shaw, 5 Jarrod Harbrow, 40 Andrew Boston, 1 Jaeger O’Meara
EMG: 31 Jackson Allen, 44 Nathan Bock, 38 Joel Wilkinson
In: R.Thompson, D.Prestia, D.Swallow, D.Gorringe
Out: J.Brennan, M.Weller, J.Gillbee, T.Nicholls (knee)
Sore Naitanui eager to return this year
Is the risk worth the reward?
That’s what West Coast are weighing up as they prepare to make a decision on whether to play star ruckman Nic Naitanui again this AFL season.
Naitanui has battled groin issues for much of the year, and will miss his second straight game when the Eagles take on Gold Coast at Patersons Stadium on Saturday.
West Coast are highly unlikely to make the finals after slipping three wins adrift of eighth spot.
On the one hand, coach John Worsfold wants to wrap Naitanui up in cotton wool to ensure the 2012 All-Australian is firing on all cylinders next year.
But Worsfold also feels Naitanui’s development would be helped by returning for the final two or three weeks of this season.
“It helps us have a look at our team with him in it,” Worsfold said of Naitanui, who took longer than expected to recover from pre-season groin surgery.
“I understand that some people say ‘why wouldn’t you just put him in cotton wool now?’
“What would make him a better footballer would be learning about his body, doing a rehab, training, coming back, and having an understanding of what he can do and playing a couple of games towards the end of the year.
“Then having his normal off-season break would mean mentally he’d be really looking forward to the pre-season, and not having some doubt about ‘am I going to get sore again next year?’
“There’s pros and cons for all that.”
Naitanui is feeling fresh after having 10 days’ rest to get over his latest bout of groin soreness.
The 23-year-old was eager to return against the Suns this week, but West Coast want to take a cautious approach with the 201cm Fijian.
If Naitanui doesn’t pull up sore from training over the next week, he would be a chance to return against the Bombers on August 11, or the home clash with Geelong on August 17.