The St Kilda Saints will be desperate to get their first win on the board when they host the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium in Round 3 of the 2017 AFL Season.
The Saints haven’t necessarily been bad over the first two weeks but have fallen short of getting a win in a season where they were tipped to contend for a finals spot.
In Round 1 they put in a strong effort early but fell away from the second quarter onwards to eventually be overrun by Melbourne in a disappointing defeat.
They kept their heads high going intro Round 2 against West Coast in Perth and nearly pinched a win, but couldn’t hold out for all four quarters.
The Brisbane Lions on the other hand got a very narrow win in Round 1 over the Gold Coast Suns tot start their season off the right way.
They also impressed last week against Essendon even though they didn’t get the points – they fought back to take the lead in the latter stages of the match but couldn’t hold on.
The Saints have gained one star and lost another with Nick Riewoldt set to return from a knee injury this week, but Jack Steven is out due to a punctured lung.
Brisbane on the other hand have brought in a raft of young talent – draft picks Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry will debut, while Josh Schache is in the team for his first game of 2017.
The Saints are at very short odds to win, $1.18, which is fair enough given they’re well ahead of the Lions in the maturity stakes, and playing at home. However it doesn’t offer great value.
With the Lions in good form and Jack Steven absent, it might just be possible that they could cause an unlikely upset, at $4.95 for them to win or $5.50 to win by 1-39 points is potentially good value there, if you feel like a flyer.