It’s an evening of comeback stories as the Essendon Bombers and the Hawthorn Hawks go head-to-head at the MCG.
For the Hawks it’s the return of Jarryd Roughead who spent the entirety of last year on the sidelines due at first to a PCL injury and then later a battle with cancer.
Roughead is now cancer-free and to make his return all the sweeter, it’ll be as the captain of the club for the first time.
That’s the kind of feel good story that every fan in the game can get around – less so Essendon’s story, which is still widely controversial.
Regardless of that fact it’ll be great for Dons fans to see a large number of formerly-banned players come back into the fold.
How you feel about this game will depend largely on how you feel about Essendon’s prospects this year.
Are they set to be bottom four battlers once again? Or will a new coach and the return of some stars drive them up the ladder? And if they do improve, will it be by enough to beat Hawthorn?
If you like the Dons tonight they are $3.15 to win. That said if you think the Bombers will get up, you might as well take the $3.60 for a win of 1-39 points, they’re very unlikely to do better than that.
It’s a tough game to predict though because there’s just so much unknown about both teams – Hawthorn have also had something of a make-over this off-season, losing Jordan Lewis and Sam Mitchell, but gaining Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara.
Tom Mitchell at $2 to get 30 or more disposals looks like decent value – he’s an absolute ball magnet and should find more of the pill being the main man at Hawthorn.
Also, Cale Hooker at $5.50 to kick three or more goals could be worth a flyer – if he plays forward, that kind of return is very achievable.