AFL Betting Tips 2025: Round 12 Best Bets And Betting Trends
Round 12 of the 2025 AFL season marks the beginning of the controversial mid-season byes, which for a couple of clubs can't come quickly enough.
There'll still be wall-to-wall football across the country this weekend with the seven matches to be played covering five states or territories, offering punters a plethora of interesting contests including three between clubs either in or hovering around the top-eight.
As always, we'll be looking into the hundreds of markets offered by some of the best betting sites to pluck out what we hope will be three profitable selections along with the best odds in the market for some popular player props.
AFL Round 12 Predictions:
- Collingwood -8.5 Points Vs Hawthorn - 1.90 With Picklebet
- GWS Vs Richmond: Under 173.5 Points - 1.90 With PlayUp
- Melbourne -13.5 Points Vs St Kilda - 1.90 With Ladbrokes
Collingwood Vs Hawthorn, Friday 7:40pm AEST
This was already going to be our most confident play of the week before news emerged that Collingwood coach Craig McRae was welcoming back five starters (Hill, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Moore and Schultz).
It means we’ve missed the best price available for the Collingwood victory, but we believe they’ll overrun a Hawthorn side that are really struggling against the better teams in the competition.
Whereas the Pies finished one kick short of adding Geelong to their 2025 scalps that include Adelaide, Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs, the Hawks have lost their last three games against top-eight sides.
Their three-game winning streak in April and May were all over clubs situated 11th or lower in the ladder at the start of Round 12.
Collingwood have been ahead at quarter-time in each of their last seven fixtures, averaging nearly 26 first quarter points compared to Hawthorn’s 16.
They have the form to take the early lead and hold onto it through to the finish.
We’ll back them at the line rather than the half-time/full-time double just in case there’s a hiccup along the way.
Mabior Chol’s goalless effort last week means he presents slightly better value for 2+ goals at 2.25 despite clearing 2+ goals in seven out of 11 games this year, whilst his return of 2.3 in the last meeting demonstrates the opposition should be no problem.
Best Bet: Collingwood -8.5 Points Vs Hawthorn - 1.90 With Picklebet
Player Prop: Mabior Chol 2+ Goals - 2.25 With Bet365
GWS Giants Vs Richmond, Saturday 4:15pm AEST
Australian betting apps are expecting a bloodbath in western Sydney on Saturday afternoon when eighth-placed Giants, set out to win consecutive games for the first time since early April.
The spread is 44.5 points, even though the Giants have been underwhelming this year with a 3-3 record as favourites and despite Richmond’s eight losses this season being split evenly between the 1-39 and 40+ point margin brackets.
Richmond managed just 58 points last week against Essendon, a bottom-half defence, and they are not expected to fare much better against a Giants side conceding an average margin of 78 points a game.
The Giants and Tigers are 14th and 15th respectively when it comes to total points this season (165.1 and 164.5), which is well below the 173.5 point mark set by AFL betting sites for this clash.
The likelihood of GWS winning big presents some opportunities on goalscorer markets.
The one that caught our eye is Giants' half-forward flanker Darcy Jones, who has scored two goals in three separate ENGIE Stadium fixtures this season, so this is worth considering at an interesting price.
Best Bet: GWS Vs Richmond: Under 173.5 Points - 1.90 With PlayUp
Player Prop: Darcy Jones 2+ Goals - 2.50 With Betr
Melbourne Vs St Kilda, Sunday 3:20pm AEST
The red centre becomes centre stage for the first time this season as Melbourne continues its annual tradition of taking one home game to Alice Springs, which they have done for more than a decade now save for one COVID-forced year off.
After three scrappy affairs that had an average of just 115 total points, the Demons were blown out of the water 141-49 by Freo in Round 13 last year, so Dees fans in Alice Springs will be glad they’ve found some scintillating form in recent weeks including wins over Brisbane and the Dockers.
Their opponents are heading in the complete opposite direction, losing six of their last seven games, including most concerningly to a couple of sides (West Coast and Carlton) who have had little to offer in 2025.
That’s why, with an average score of just 71 points in their last six weeks, we believe they’ll struggle to get within 13 points of an in-form Melbourne.
Kozzie Pickett delivered our biggest win of Round 11 last week and continues to drive Melbourne’s mid-season charge, kicking 16 goals in his six games, five of which were wins.
He’s now the favourite to be Melbourne’s top goalscorer, so all of the value has been sucked out of that market, but those still keen to ride the wave will find Unibet delivering the best price at time of writing (1.58).
Best Bet: Melbourne -13.5 Points Vs St Kilda - 1.90 With Ladbrokes
Player Prop: Kysaiah Pickett 2+ Goals - 1.58 With Unibet
