Australian football is a game all on its own. Commonly referred to as Aussie Rules, this sport is a combination of soccer, rugby and even a few touches of American football. It’s pretty much only played in Australia, through the Australian Football League (AFL), but is played in a few other places around the world.
The AFL itself is massively popular in Australia. The matches bring in big crowds and fill stadiums week after week. The tournament is also carefully followed by television and streaming viewers around the world. Betting on Aussie Rules is great fun, but you need to make sure you understand the sport and the betting etiquette first.
Learn The Rivalries
There are some incredible rivalries between teams in the AFL, which is quite something considering how close some of those teams are located. The history of Aussie Rules has the game starting up in Melbourne and many of the teams that compete in the AFL are still based in the city. They have also spread far and wide across the large continent country.
The local derbies showcasing the big rivalries (think Man City and Man United in the English Premier League or Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in La Liga) can have a massive impact on the betting. Odds can soar, small changes can impact the statistics, and even the location of the match can impact what people will bet.
Stadiums Differ In Size
There is no strict regulation on the size of the field and the stadium used for the AFL. Some teams have dedicated stadiums for their season and others end up playing on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, for example. This means that sometimes they are playing on a large ground and other times on a smaller ground. Some teams will also specialize in bigger grounds and others will be better on smaller grounds.
Travel Times Impact Games
As mentioned before, Australia is a vast place. There are times when teams have to travel several hours to play a match against their nearest rival. This can give the home team a massive advantage over their opponents in that match. It’s also important to note if your team played away recently and could still be feeling the effects of travelling for their next home game.
Moneyline Means Head To Head
A lot of people will use the Head to Head method of betting on Aussie Rules matches. When you hear this, just think about it as pure Moneyline betting. This means that you are simply placing your bet on the team that you think will win and that’s it. You don’t need to involve any other thinking, including topics like points spread or handicaps.
The Scoring
In Aussie Rules, there are two ways to score points. A player can kick a goal, which means the kicked ball must go between the two middle posts and over the goal line. This is worth six points. The other method of scoring is called a behind, and this is when the ball crosses the goal line on either side of the posts. It can be kicked across or run across – either way gets the team one point. Typical matches range between 75 and 100 points each.