Gold Coast v West Coast tips, predictions and best bets; AFL Rd 2 preview

The Gold Coast Suns will go into Saturday night’s clash against 2018 premiers West Coast as heavy underdogs. Our AFL experts have scoured the betting markets and presented our free Gold Coast v West Coast tips.

The Suns are often given a leave pass for poor performances but you get the feeling that won’t fly with coach Stewart Dew, who has come from high-performance teams in Hawthorn and Port Adelaide.

But there is no denying the task in front of the young Suns, facing a West Coast team that has been boosted by the return of Nic Naitanui to full fitness and the addition of silky midfielder Tim Kelly from Geelong.

We expect Suns youngsters such as Matthew Rowell and Noah Anderson to gain a lot by playing against the classy Eagles midfield, but we suspect the $6 on offer at Unibet for a Gold Coast victory is around the mark.

The Suns were clearly outpointed by a more experienced Port Adelaide team in round 1 in what could only be described as a limp display, and there was not much in reserve to return to the line-up.

Meanwhile, West Coast dismantled Melbourne in round 1 and will be confident of going 2-0 with no notable injuries after the enforced COVID-19 layoff, although dour midfielder Mark Hutchings will come into consideration after he gets some match practice.

Below we examine the Gold Coast v West Coast odds and give our betting tips ahead of their round-2 AFL clash.

Gold Coast v West Coast odds

Start:	7:40PM Local Time, June 13
Venue:	Metricon Stadium
Head-to-head odds:	Gold Coast ($6) v West Coast ($1.09)
Line Betting:	Gold Coast +31.5 ($1.90) v West Coast -31.5 ($1.90)
Premiership Odds:	West Coast $7; Gold Coast $251

Suns v Eagles betting tips

Our AFL betting expert has scoured the odds and found some value. Here are our Gold Coast v West Coast tips:

Matt Rowell to get 20+ touches at $2.75

The no.1 draft pick was solid without being brilliant on debut against Port Adelaide and we expect him to perform better this time around. We did tip Rowell at longer odds in rd 1 to get 20 touches and he failed us, but we’ll stick with him here. Unibet is offering around the $3 mark for this bet.

Jack Darling to score three or more goals

Jack Darling finished the 2019 season with 59 goals, 10 more than teammate Josh Kennedy and we don’t see any reason he won’t continue to be the Eagles’ main goal-kicker. Darling is offering slightly more value at $3.80 to kick three or more goals this time around and we are tipping it to be raining goals for the Eagles, so this should work in our favour. If you are looking for something with a bit of value in this same market, young Eagles forward Oscar Allen is paying $23 to kick more than three goals and against the inexperienced Suns backline he could shine, after showing plenty last season.

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Gold Coast v West Coast prediction

While there is the obvious elephant in the room — how will players return after the coronavirus layoff? — we don’t think there is any chance of the Suns causing an upset against premiership fancy West Coast. We expect the Suns to be competitive in the opening half, until the Eagles run all over them in the second half. The Gold Coast v West Coast betting is a bit too lop-sided for our tastes, so we’ll be sticking to the player markets in this one. Our final Eagles-Suns prediction? West Coast by 47.

Suns v Eagles lowdown

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