Saturday first AFL Round 1 match is between Hawthorn Hawks and Brisbane Lions with the game to be played at Aurora Stadium. The opening bounce is set to commence at 4:40 PM with home team Hawthorn Hawks currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Hawthorn Hawks and Brisbane Lions.

Round: Round 1, Saturday 4:40 PM March 22, 2014,
Stadium: Aurora Stadium
Weather: 21° A few early showers.

Odds Comparison:

Hawthorn Hawks	1.08	1.07	1.06	1.07	1.08	1.08
Brisbane Lions	7.50	8.50	10.00	8.50	7.50	8.00

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Preview:

Hawthorn play Brisbane on Saturday, 4.40pm at Aurora Stadium.  The Hawks will be big favourites to win here, although as we saw last week, anything is  possible.  Make no mistake, however, this will be a tough initiation for Lions coach Justin Leppitsch, especially considering their massive 131 point loss to Hawthorn in the NAB Challenge.

Hawthorn have a couple of things to prove this year, with a premiership to defend and a team to restructure after the loss of a key player.  While Lance Franklin will be missed, however, the Hawks have managed to perform well without him in the past.  Interestingly, Hawthorn are now without a single player in the Top 10 Official AFL Player Rankings, with 11th placed Cyril Rioli out this week due to suspension.  The Hawks should win easily, having beat the Lions in their last four matchs by 75, 42, 65, and 58 points.

Teams:

Hawthorn Hawks
Backs: Duryea Gibson Burgoyne
Half-backs: Suckling Cheney Birchall
Centres: Shiels Mitchell Lewis
Half-forwards: Breust Roughead Hill
Forwards: Gunston Hale Puopolo
Followers: McEvoy Hodge
Rover: Langford
Interchange: O’Brien Smith Simpkin Wanganeen
Emergencies: Litherland Woodward Ceglar
New: Ben McEvoy, 24, St Kilda; Tim O’Brien, 19, Glenelg (SANFL); Derick Wanganeen, 23, Port Adelaide (SANFL)

Brisbane Lions
Backs: Harwood Merrett Adcock
Half-backs: Clarke Patfull Golby
Centres: Hanley Rich Aish
Half-forwards: Green West Zorko
Forwards: Mayes Brown Rockliff
Followers: Leuenberger Redden
Rover: Moloney
Interchange: Paparone Taylor Close Lester
Emergencies: Bewick Robertson Lisle
New: James Aish, 18, Norwood (SANFL); Lewis Taylor, 19, Geelong U18; Michael Close, 19, North Ballarat U-18; Trent West, 26, Geelong

In the news:

The closest Hawthorn come to looking like they are starting the AFL season with a premiership hangover is on paper.

The Hawks will be without seven players from last year’s grand final team when they host Brisbane this Saturday in Launceston.

By contrast, Fremantle fielded all but two members of their losing grand final team when they smashed Collingwood by 70 points a week ago.

But the Hawks have powered through the pre-season and will be strong favourites for Saturday’s match.

They obliterated an understrength Brisbane side by 131 points before also thrashing North Melbourne and Melbourne in practice matches.

The Hawks are determined not to repeat the genuine premiership hangover of 2009, when they finished out of the finals, and have spoken of unfinished business heading into this season.

Only two of the premiership team absentees are due to injury, with Brad Sewell and Ben Stratton suffering hamstring injuries during the Melbourne game.

Lance Franklin was lured north by Sydney’s massive free agency deal, while Max Bailey and Brent Guerra have retired.

Norm Smith medallist Brian Lake and Cyril Rioli are serving suspensions.

St Kilda ruckman Ben McEvoy will make his Hawks debut, while Derick Wanganeen and Tim O’Brien were named for their first senior games.

Kyle Cheney, Taylor Duryea and Will Langford come into the side along with Matt Suckling, who missed all of last season with a knee reconstruction.

First-round draft pick James Aish, a two-time premiership player at SANFL team Norwood, heads three Brisbane players named for their AFL debuts.

Michael Close and Lewis Taylor are also in line for their first senior games.

Former Geelong star Paul Chapman leads four Essendon newcomers for Friday night’s clash against fierce rivals North Melbourne.

Caretaker coach Mark Thompson said during the week they probably would not name too many debutants for round one, but in the end they picked three – Patrick Ambrose, Martin Gleeson and Zach Merrett.

Kangaroos father-son recruit Luke McDonald is set for his senior debut and boom free agency signing Nick Dal Santo will play his first official game for North.

As expected, injury-plagued St Kilda and Melbourne will have plenty of newcomers for Saturday night’s match.

Saints trio Jack Billings, Luke Dunstan and Eli Templeton were named for their AFL debuts.

Recruits Shane Savage (Hawthorn) and Luke Delaney (North) are also in the team.

Melbourne’s line-up features six newcomers, including debutants Jay Kennedy-Smith and Alex Georgiou.

Bernie Vince (Adelaide), Daniel Cross (Western Bulldogs), Viv Michie (Fremantle) and Dom Tyson (GWS) have also joined the Demons.

The Bulldogs’ squad for the Sunday match against West Coast in Perth includes Robert Murphy, who has made a speedy recovery from an elbow injury.

But new captain Ryan Griffen has not recovered in time from back tightness.