West Coast vs Essendon Preview & Prediction | 2025 AFL | Regular Season | Round 6

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West Coast Eagles back at home for another testing afternoon against the Essendon Bombers.

Kick-off date/time: Friday 18th April, 2025: UK – 9:10am / Local – 4:10pm / US ET – 4:10am / US PT – 1:10am

How to watch on TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – Some matches are televised on Fox Sports channels

How to watch online: UK – discovery+ & Watch AFL / US – Watch AFL

The prediction

The West Coast Eagles are home for the first time in three weeks against the Essendon Bombers in a rare Friday night matchup in Perth. The Eagles have suffered heavy defeats to Carlton (71), GWS (81) and Fremantle (38) in three straight away losses and will welcome being back as the home side at Optus Stadium.

The Bombers have sandwiched a bye around wins against Port Adelaide and Melbourne to stop a downward trend that was developing over the opening rounds of the competition. Their glaring holes in defence have been tightened in the past few matches and that has coincided with Jordan Ridley being back to full fitness across half-back.

The Bombers have won the past four contests against the Eagles and have done so by an average winning margin of 21 points. Essendon will look for continued match winning contributions from Zach Merrett (30 possessions vs West Coast last five matches) and Nic Martin (25 per game) while the Eagles will rely heavily on veteran Oscar Allen (2.5 goals per game) and youngster Harley Reid who was held in check his first time against the Dons in 2024.

The Eagles are in for some long days in this full re-build. While they showed glimpses against the Lions in Round two, we think this looks like a comfortable Bombers victory in the west.

West Coast vs Essendon tip: Essendon to win and Nic Martin to have 25+ disposals