Gold Coast Suns vs Adelaide Crows: AFL live scores, blog

The Gold Coast Suns can remain on track for the unlikeliest of finals berths with a win over Adelaide to conclude Round 14. Join The Roar for live scores and rolling coverage from 3:20pm (AEST).

This is the last match of the AFL’s much-maligned three-week stint of six matches apiece, as each team enjoys a mid-season break. Fresh off their byes, both the Suns and Crows will be primed for a contest.

The Suns have defied pre-season expectations to remain well and truly in touch of the top eight at the midway mark, with their six wins including shock upsets over Fremantle, Carlton and Sydney.

They currently sit eleventh, but with a handy fixture ahead, the Suns remain in the finals race up to their eyeballs – but they simply must defeat sides like the Crows, especially on home soil, to keep the flame flickering.

The loss of half-back Lachie Weller to a season-ending knee injury is a hammer blow, but spearhead Levi Casboult returns as one of three inclusions.

The Crows ensured they wouldn’t head into their bye with a sixth straight loss by accounting for West Coast, but that victory over one of the league’s worst outfits was far from convincing.

Adelaide seemed on the verge of something special when they stunned Richmond and the Western Bulldogs in consecutive weeks, but since then, have fallen off markedly.

Key defender Jordon Butts and top draft pick Josh Rachele are welcome returnees for the trip to the Gold Coast, with Rachele in particular badly missed for a number of weeks with a corked thigh.

Prediction

I think that the Suns will keep on marching towards the finals and win this match by 15 points.

Game information

Opening bounce: 3:20pm (AEST)
Venue: Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast
TV: Fox Footy
Live stream: Kayo Sports, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go
Betting: Suns $1.20, Crows $4.65 (odds via PlayUp)

Gold Coast

B: S. Lemmens, S. Collins, C. Graham

HB: J. Farrar, C. Ballard, W. Powell

C: C. Budarick, N. Anderson, B. Ellis

HF: N. Holman, M. Chol, B. Ainsworth

F: I. Rankine, L. Casboult, J. Jeffrey

FOLL: J. Witts (c), M. Rowell, T. Miller (c)

I/C: A. Davies, O. Markov, D. Swallow, S. Flanders

EMG: J. Bowes, S. Day, E. Hollands, D. Macpherson

IN: Casboult, Flanders, Lemmens

OUT: Weller, Rosas, Day

Adelaide

B: T. Doedee, J. Butts, N. Murray

HB: J. Dawson, W. Hamill, B. Smith (c)

C: J. Hately, B. Keays, J. Soligo

HF: J. Rowe, D. Fogarty, W. Milera

F: S. McAdam, T. Walker, J. Rachele

FOLL: R. O’Brien, R. Laird, S. Berry

I/C: M. Crouch, R. Thilthorpe, N. McHenry, P. Parnell

EMG: L. Murphy, M. Hinge, H. Schoenberg, E. Himmelberg

IN: Butts, Rachele

OUT: Murphy, Hinge