Aussie Rules Football Odds: Gold Coast Suns vs. Port Adelaide Power
Spread: Port Adelaide -18.5
Over/Under: 145.5
Time: 4:40 a.m. ET
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Although their Round 11 match that was set to take place in Shanghai had to be relocated and re-scheduled, the Round 1 clash between the Gold Coast Suns and the Port Adelaide Power is at its regularly scheduled time and location of 4:40amET at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast.
In contrast to their expansion counterparts the GWS Giants, the Gold Coast Suns have had a rough go in their short time in the AFL. They won their second Wooden Spoon in 2019 (the colloquial “award” for last place) and are the odds-on favorites to repeat that unfortunate feat in 2020. They come into this matchup having lost their last 18 games, with the last three defeats coming by an average margin of 77.6 points.
While the Port Adelaide Power finished only 10th in 2019, they have looked like the Harlem Globetrotters in the history of this matchup. They have won the last five meetings with the Washington Generals…er, Gold Coast Suns, with the average margin of victory being 57.6 points. That stretch even included a 135 to 20 drubbing in Adelaide.
But the dominance hasn’t only come with the Power at home in Adelaide as they have never lost in Metricon Stadium. The Gold Coast has traditionally been sports franchise purgatory, and saying the Suns have struggled to attract support would be an understatement. The lack of fans shouldn’t be a factor in this game, since there were never going to be any to begin with.
The Suns have made marginal offseason upgrades, including multiple top-5 draft picks, but the gulf between the Suns and the rest of the AFL is massive. They averaged only 61.4 points per game, nearly 10 points less than the next lowest team. No 18-year-old or low-end free agent is going to be able to immediately fix that.
The forecast calls for 80 degrees and clear skies, but you can bank on the Suns taking a beat down.
The Pick: Port Adelaide -18.5
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