AFL Round 1 Preview

Can you imagine the scenes if Sam Lalor opens the goal-scoring? Not only would it be an amazing story for the No.1 draft pick but will give him the greatest confidence boost to kick-start his season.

After claiming the 2024 Wooden Spoon, 2025 doesn’t look to bright for the Richmond Tigers, while the Blues are one of the favourites of the competition.

Coming off a win against the Swans, the Hawks are the clear favourites for this week and it is hard to imagine the possibility that they will lose to the Essendon Bombers.

Will Day produced a man-of-the-match performance last round and emerged as a possible suitor for the 2025 Brownlow Medal. After kicking multiple goals last week, it’s hard to go past him again especially against a weakened side.

While the Cats are normally tested by the Fremantle Dockers at their home ground, the away team will be without multiple star players due to them being sidelined with injury. Due to this, the Cats should be able to prevail over the line.

Without Tom Hawkins in the sqaud for the first time since joining Geelong, forward Jeremy Cameron is under even higher expectations this season and is the primary target in the forward 50.

In a remmatch of the 2024 AFL Grand Final, the Lions will travel interstate to face the Sydney Swans who are coming off a disappointing loss to the Hawks last week Although they will be playing away from home, it’s hard to see the Lions not continuing their dominance against its opposition.

The clear favourite to win the 2025 Rising Star award, young Lions midfielder Levi Ashcroft will be looking to make a name for himself in his first match for the club as he joins older brother Will Ascroft in the line-up.

While the Bulldogs don’t have the strongest line-up this season, the Kangaroos are likely to find themselves near the bottom of the ladder once again due to the inexperienced squad on their books.

While the Bulldogs enter the match as heavy favourites with all pundits and commentators selecting them to win, the scoreline may still remain relatively close and is unlikely to be a blow-out.

After a disappointing loss to the Giants last round, the Magpies will be eager to bounce back and continue to force pressure and Power from head coach Ken Hinkley. It’s also very rare to see the Magpies register back-to-back losses.

As the Magpies look to bounce back, they will need to rely heavily on their stars in the midfield and forward line. A key member of this is star Nick Daicos who had a forgettable match against the Giants and failed to show what he is capable of.

After a strong 2024 campaign, it’s hard to go past Adelaide key forward Darcy Fogarty to kick the opening goal of the match. Izak Rankine and Taylor Walker are other options.

While the Crows are the heavy favourites to walk away with the win, expect to see a low-scoring match between the two sides which will be under the total market line.

The GWS Giants always manage to have quick starts especially in the opening quarter of the match. Expect no different from the Western Sydney-based side as they attempt to carry their form from last week into the match.

In what is set to be the ‘Match of the Round’ the Giants and Demons both have a similar squad and both have star power in their line-ups. Although they will be playing away from home, the Giants gain the edge after they produced a strong victory against the Collingwood Magpies.

Harley Reid is looking to make sure that he doesn’t have second-year syndrome this season and there is no better way to do this than to be a force to be reckoned with in the forward line and bag a couple of goals.

The Suns struggled away from home last season, but 2025 marks a new season and they will be looking to change they ways as they travel to Western Australia to begin their season.