The Adelaide Crows will look to come back into top flight form when they host the Western Bulldogs at home to kick off Round 16.
The Crows have had a pretty indifferent fortnight – coughing up an home upset loss to Hawthorn, and then only narrowly getting away with a win over Carlton. However, despite them being up and down in recent times, it can’t be denied that they’re one of the better teams in the league, and rightly find themselves in second on the ladder. They also have the best percentage in the league currently, and aside from their local rivals Port Adelaide, no one even comes close. That make the equation fairly simple – so long as they keep winning fairly often they should have no trouble locking up a top-four spot.
The Bulldogs, on the other hand, are no guarantee to make finals at all at this stage. They are tenth on the ladder and 12th for percentage. Of the seven wins they’ve had this year, only four of them have been by more than a goal, and they have only won two of their last seven. Scoring, simply put, is the problem – since Round 5 they’ve only had 100+ plus score and they have recorded the fifth-least points of any team in the comp.
This week the Crows have brought back some senior experience – Andy Otten, Charlie Cameron and Scott Thompson. Kyle Hartigan is injured, Hugh Greenwood being rested, and Jonathon Beech has been dropped.
The Dogs have lost Shane Biggs, Bob Murphy and Tom Campbell to injury, and dropped Tory Dickson. Fletcher Roberts, Matthew Boyd, Clay Smith and Tom Liberatore are their inclusions.
This will be the first time that the Dogs have ever played the Crows at Adelaide Oval. They haven’t beaten Adelaide in Adelaide since 2010, but have only had two attempts in that time. It’s a tough match to read as it mostly depends on which side can click back into form – but Adelaide at $1.92 to beat the -24.5pt line is our bet.
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