AFL Betting Tips and Strategies

Australian Football League, also known more simply as AFL, is one of the most prestigious sporting competitions in Australia. It dates back to the 19th century and features 18 teams. If you enjoy watching it, you can now bet on it too. In this guide, you will learn more about this beautiful sport, its historical roots, and of course, AFL betting strategy and AFL betting tips.

A Brief History of Australian Football

Australian football started in Melbourne in 1859, as a remix of rugby. School students from the region invented their own version of the sport so to speak, and its popularity grew enormously over the years. Then, in 1877, the Victorian Football Association was established. This lasted for a few decades and then, in 1896, after an off-field political battle, the Victorian Football League (VFL) was born. This league featured strong clubs such as Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, and Collingwood, and would go on to last for nearly 100 years.

In 1990, the VFL was renamed the AFL (Australian Football League). Under its new name, Australian football became much better known and is currently one of the most important sports in this country, attracting numerous spectators with its excellent matches. At the moment, the main sponsor of the league is Toyota.

AFL Teams

These are the 18 teams that are currently competing in AFL:

·       Melbourne Demons

·       Brisbane Lions

·       Fremantle

·       ST Kilda

·       Sydney Swans

·       Carlton

·       Geelong

·       Collingwood

·       Richmond Tigers

·       Bulldogs

·       Hawthorn

·       Adelaide

·       Port Adelaide

·       Gold Coast Suns

·       GWS Giants

·       Essendon

·       North Melbourne

·       West Coast Eagles

By far, the strongest team is Melbourne, followed by Brisbane and Freemantle. But the situation could change next year, so make sure you always stay up to date with the latest developments.

Australian Football Rules

Australian football, sometimes called footy, Aussie rules, Australian rules, or simply football, is derived from rugby and, as you might expect, it looks and feels a lot like it. However, it is far less brutal. There are 18 players on each side, as well as 4 goal posts. Matches last for 4 20-minute quarters or 80 minutes in total. The playing field is enormous, ranging from 135-185m in length and 110-155m in width. Of course, given the number of players, this is perfectly fine. However, it does mean that each player gets less time to shine in the spotlight.

The objective of the game, just like in soccer or rugby, is to score as many points as possible. There are many rules that the players must follow but if you watch the sport for a few hours, you’ll start to get the idea. For example, you can watch a replay of the 2021 Grand Final between Melbourne and Western Bulldogs right here.

The players need to fulfill certain roles, such as Full Forward, Full Back, Half Back, Half Forward, or Center Line. These roles correspond to the areas where the player is expected to be throughout the game.

Because there’s so much action going on, in Aussie football there are 7 umpires in total. These umpires carefully follow everything that’s going on and ensure that both sides play fairly.

AFL Betting Strategy

When you bet on AFL, the first thing that you should do is develop an AFL betting system. If you already have a sports betting system, you can use that with tiny modifications. But if you don’t, spend an hour or two and consider the following concepts:

Number of AFL Bets per Week

Try to figure out how many bets you want to place per week. Usually, the more time you spend watching the game and researching the teams, the more matches you can bet on.

Amount Wagered per AFL Bet

This should be decided based on your total weekly amount. Always prioritize the best matches, or the ones that you’ve thoroughly researched.

The Risk versus Reward Factor

Some bettors enjoy safer bets that offer smaller rewards, while others like to bet on big upsets and earn a lot of money when the underdog wins. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide how you want to approach this.

AFL Live Betting

This is one of the most thrilling forms of sports betting that you can engage in. Watching an AFL match is fun, but when you also bet on it live it’s 10 times more thrilling. The odds will go up and down based on the score, giving you the opportunity to predict the end result on the fly. The big advantage of this type of gambling is that you have a lot of information at your disposal. It’s one thing to do your research ahead of the games, and it’s another thing to be able to analyze the teams in action while watching the games live. When you see their tactics and strategies unfold, you can often figure out more easily who the stronger side is.

AFL Betting Tips

Here are several AFL betting tips that you can use when betting on Australian football.

Do Social Media Research

In today’s world, every athlete is on social media. If you follow the teams and their players, you will often gain valuable insights into their current form and mental state.

Apart from following the AFL teams themselves, you can also follow AFL punters and analysts of the sport during the weekends or whenever they post their content. Very often, their predictions prove to be accurate, and their input can give you a better idea of who the favorites are.

Keep an Eye on the Recent AFL Transfers

When you bet on a team, keep in mind that you are actually betting on its players. If a star player left the team recently, you can be pretty certain that its strength is lower than what it used to be. Similarly, if some weak players got replaced by much stronger ones, you can expect the overall performance to go up.

Knowing about people like Simon Goodwin, Leon Cameron, Harry McKay, and others may prove to be valuable in the long run.

Keep an Eye on Injuries

Whenever key players get injured, managers need to improvise. In AFL, a team’s success may come largely as a result of 2 – 3 players’ brilliance and synchronization. If one or more of those players are unavailable, the entire roster can be greatly affected by their absence on the pitch.

Research Seasonal Results

Taking a quick look at the standings table for the current season and ideally for the previous one as well can give you a better idea of what is likely to happen in a given match. Some teams are highly consistent, in the sense that they deliver season after season. But others experience huge swings in performance. Sometimes they end the season well and start the next one terribly. Or they may start well but by the end of the same season, they’re a shadow of their former selves.

Bet on the AFL Finals

The AFL Grand Final always offers a huge range of sports betting options and opportunities. If you want to bet on AFL, make sure you don’t lose this match. Every round of AFL is hyped, from the first game to the last game. But the final battle of the AFL season is truly special. You can often bet on the number of total points that will be scored, who the best player will be, whether it will be a low scoring game or not, and much more.

Study the Game Itself

The last AFL tip is to study Australian football as much as you can, even if you don’t play it yourself. This is one of the best AFL tips anyone can give you and the reason is simple: when you truly understand what you’re looking at, your betting decisions improve significantly. Whether you watch a match on a Friday night or a Saturday night, on a live stream or on TV, if you’ve studied the game thoroughly, you will quickly spot the high scoring players of the match and many other things that most people can’t guess without studying the game.

AFL Betting Markets

Here are some of the most important AFL betting markets that you should know about.

League Winner

This type of AFL betting market allows you to predict which team will win the Australian Football League and it’s usually available before the start of each season. The odds vary depending on how many strong teams are in the race. Sometimes, a competitor such as Melbourne is the clear favorite, which means that its odds are slightly lower while everyone else’s odds are considerably higher.

Match Winner

Ahead of each match, and even during each match when live betting is available, you can wager that one of the two teams will be the winner. If that team manages to beat its opponent, your bet will be won.

Quarter Winner

For each of the 4 quarters of the match, you can bet on who you believe will win it. The results of such AFL bets depend strictly on the number of points that were scored during that quarter.