AFL Finals Week 1 Betting Preview: Game Odds, Trends, Analysis for Week Ahead

The AFL Finals are set to begin this weekend, and after one of the most dramatic and tight seasons on record, we are hoping for more of the same from the eight best sides in the league when the September action begins.

After the Adelaide Crows secured their second Minor Premiership, and first since 2006, they are in the box-seat to stay on home turf until Grand Final day. If they are to achieve that, they'll have to beat the Greater Western Sydney Giants on Thursday night when the clubs play in the opening final of the year.

Having won nine of 12 games on their home deck this campaign, including a 56-point thumping of the Giants in Round 1, it is the Crows who'll go in as $1.50 AUD favorites, with the visitors, who've won just four of nine games away from home this year, out at $2.60 according to AustralianGambling.com.au.

Twenty-four hours after that clash in the city of churches, the Geelong Cats and Richmond Tigers are set to battle it out in front of 100,000 fans at the home of football, the MCG.

These two clubs have vastly different finals records in the last two decades. The Tigers haven't won a final since 2001, while the Cats have won three Premierships in that time. The stakes couldn't be much higher with a home Preliminary final spot on the line.

The midfield battle between last year's Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield and Dustin Martin, the man who's likely to take that mantle this year, will be a treat for the full house.

The Tiger Army will be out in force to see if Damien Hardwick's men can finally break their finals duck, but it is the Cats who are favorites at $1.74, with Richmond out at $2.10.

There are two do-or-die Elimination finals on Saturday, the first of which takes place in the Harbour City, when the Sydney Swans, the league's in-form-team, are the shortest priced favorite of the weekend to beat the Essendon Bombers.

Just $1.20 is what you'll get if you back the hosts, with punters jumping on board the side who has won 14 of their last 16 games. The Bombers haven't won a final since 2004, and that's not expected to change here, with the red and black way out at $4.60 in head to head betting.

The focus shifts back to the City of Churches on Saturday night for the second Elimination Final of the weekend, when the Port Adelaide Power host the West Coast Eagles.

Most visiting teams have poor records at the Adelaide Oval, but that's not the case for the Eagles, who've tasted success in five of their six games at the venue.

The hosts have won three games in a row, though, including a 115-point demolition job of the Suns in Round 23, which sees them enter this one as $1.46 favorites. The visitors are a $2.75 chance to end Port's season and advance to the semi-finals.