AFL PREVIEW ROUND 23 – CARLTON V ADELAIDE

CARLTON v ADELAIDE
ETIHAD STADIUM SAT 0725 PM

FORM

CARLTON (LWLLL)

Blues fans will have a 17th season to enjoy Kade Simpson at Ikon Park with the 35 year old signing a new contract to play on into 2019. Despite his age, Simpson is incredibly reliable and also consistently finds himself as one of the Blues best players. Dale Thomas who had a bottle thrown at him last weekend against the Dogs and Sam Docherty are also expected to play on next season.

ADELAIDE (WLWLW)

Whilst the Crows season is over, they showed great fight against the Kangaroos who still had a remote chance of making the finals. Whilst Taylor Walker remains out of the side for the rest of the season, Josh Jenkins is in good form in his absence with three goals in each of his last two matches.

Jenkins is the leading goalscorer for Adelaide this season with just 39 goals. Three players kicked 45+ goals last season, Eddie Betts (55), Taylor Walker (54) and Jenkins (45).

STATS THAT MATTER

• The Crows have had plenty of the ball this season, ranked second in the competition for kicks per game and fifth for disposals per game. All of that possession hasn’t translated into effective attacking pressure with Adelaide struggling to get the ball into their 50m zone, ranked just 10th in the AFL for inside 50s.

• Matt Crouch had the ball on a string against North Melbourne with 46 disposals, 4 marks and 5 tackles. The midfielder will be licking his lips coming up against the Blues young players.

• The Crows have played twice at Etihad Stadium this season, splitting the games with a loss against the Bombers (12 points) in round one and a win over the Saints in round 4 (49 points).

• The Crows have had ten matches this season decided by 15 or less points. Of those ten matches they have held up well and won six times.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The last time these two teams played was a high scoring 125-70 win to the Crows at the Adelaide Oval. The Blues who have yet to kick 100+ points this season are one of the lowest scoring teams in the AFL although the Crows are not the high scoring team that they were last season.

Carlton had their chances against the Dogs with 9 lead changes but just couldn’t manage to score enough to take control. Just 11 goals were kicked in the opening three quarters before the match got moving.

HOW IT’S SHAPING UP

Adelaide by 24

BEST BETS: Carlton Blues +43.5 ($1.92), Adelaide 1-39 ($2.40)