Melbourne v Western Bulldogs tips, prediction and odds; AFL 2022 Round 1 Preview

Welcome to our Melbourne v Western Bulldogs tips, prediction and odds analysis ahead of their AFL round 1 clash on Wednesday night.

Both of these teams will again be in the premiership mix and should be around the top four, with early season wins always important to achieving these goals. However with injuries still to play a major role in the year, it will be hard to draw many conclusions from this early season bout.

Reigning premier Melbourne has been installed a $1.60 favourite to defeat the Bulldogs ($2.34), who are the team they vanquished in last year’s grand final. The $1.90 line has been set at 9.5, which looks around the mark given the Demons’ grand final victory.

Melbourne eclipsed the Bulldogs by 74 points in last year’s decider, with their stars such as Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver putting their opponent to the sword.

The Demons will be missing two of their premiership stars with Harrison Petty and Trent Rivers both still on the injury list, however they will have Adam Tomlinson available after his long-term knee injury.

The Bulldogs will be missing a handful of players for the clash including top draft pick Sam Darcy, the son of club great Luke Darcy, spearhead Cam Bruce (knee), Hawks recruit Tim O’Brien and Toby McLean (knee). However key defender Alex Keath is likely to play despite suffering a heavy knock against the Brisbane Lions in their final practice match.

Continue reading for our free Melbourne v Western Bulldogs betting tips, predictions and odds analysis ahead of their Wednesday, March 16, season opener.

Melbourne v Bulldogs betting tips

our AFL betting expert has examined the markets and found some value Melbourne v Bulldogs betting tips:

Adam Treloar to have 30 possessions

Treloar was one of a number of Western Bulldogs players who were struggling with injury in the second-half of last season. He’s offering some serious value to return to his freewheeling, high-possession counts and we’re willing to back him in this week, against a Demons team that usually backs in their own. Treloar is paying $3.30 with Aussie betting sites to get over 30 touches in possession betting.

Christian Petracca to get 20 possessions and kick two goals

This market is available at Unibet, although you could also put it on as a same game multi. Petracca was arguably the no.1 man in the AFL last season and from all reports he’s even fitter, having lost weight over the off-season. While it wouldn’t surprise if Petracca receives a tag, we think the Bulldogs might back their own players in, this early in the season.

Demons v Bulldogs prediction 16/3

Melbourne deserves their favouritism for this clash and have not put a foot wrong throughout the preseason. They look to have a little bit more firepower up front than the Western Bulldogs with the likes of Bayley Fritsch, Ben Brown and Petracca, who does spend sizeable chunks of time up forward. With this match being a round 1 fixture, the Bulldogs boasting players as good as Marcus Bontempelli and the extraordinary odds discrepancy we are willing to take the underdog here with exposed form still being evaluated. Our final Demons v Bulldogs prediction? Bulldogs by three points.

MORE BETTING TIPS

Relevant news