The multi-bet — the punter's chance for a menage a trois between different sports — appears to be the new source of trouble for players who nodded off during the AFL's education sessions on gambling. How are those compulsory classes going? Dopey Ryan Crowley must have been yawning — or dreaming about being a full forward — during the drug education classes, too.

Players can't bet. Officials can't have have a flutter and even player managers are barred from plonking a few quid on a team or player. Media could well be next in the no-bet zone.

But this crackdown is very much limited to those inside the AFL tent, because the fans are surrounded by tempting odds. They are under scoreboard pressure to wager on the game - the big screen begs for your money - and under heavy television and radio bombardment. You can bet on who will kick the first goal, the first coach to be terminated and all manner of exotic dances with your money.

This column does not wish to provide further encouragement for wagering on AFL outcomes in 2015, but is willing to provide a few forecasts for those who succumb to the siren call of the TAB and other agencies. Consider what follows an informal form guide of sorts for season 2015.

Australian football, as the sagest of coaches Allan Jeans once put it, is played with an oval ball on an oval shaped field "so anything can happen".

In reality, the game and competition have developed some highly predictable patterns, such as Hawthorn winning games, Melbourne losing them and having little luck with the resultant (injured) early picks. Jack Gunston doesn't miss set shots, Travis Cloke does. Fans complain about umpiring in round three or four before turning their ire to the genuine travesties, such as ticketing, food prices (amazingly, redressed by the MCG) and the endless inequities of the fixture.

So, actually, there is something akin to a "safe bet" in the AFL, even if there are few, if any, of what the punter calls "locks" or "morals". Hawthorn to make the top four is a pretty safe bet, but everyone recognises this and the odds are accordingly short – $1.25 (TAB).

Port Adelaide to make the first four are a far more appetising proposition. I consider Port to be slight flag favourites, ahead of the Hawks and Swans, on the basis of  their age, addition of Paddy Ryder and greater scope for improvement, plus the Power's upward momentum as the competition's team of destiny.

At $1.75 to make the top four and $3.50 to play in the grand final, Port represents, not a punter's paradise, but the old fashioned "value bet". About half of the TAB bets for the flag lately have been on Port, who, it must be acknowledged, are significantly weaker than Hawthorn and even Sydney down the spine.

St Kilda, of course, are a safe bet to finish in the lower reaches of bottom three, and while the Demons should improve further and the Dogs have some talented kids, these sides can be dismissed from finals contention - the Dogs entering the season without Ryan Griffen and Tom Liberatore, probably their best players last year.

Carlton, Brisbane, Collingwood have some hope — each nurses optimism — but the odds are against each seeing September action, for myriad reasons. Collingwood has insufficient experience, Carlton insufficient talent, the Lions inadequate key position players.

For the past few years, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney have been written off before the first bounce. This year, our advice - with the proviso of responsible betting - is to back the Suns, who are $2.25 to make the finals. Rodney Eade's team is a finals value bet - the greater surprise would be if it did not make the eight, albeit injuries (or just Gary Ablett's shoulder) can stop anyone.

One Victorian club boss nominated as "a safe bet" that there would be complaints from strong Victorian clubs that "we gave Gold Coast too many [recruiting] concessions".

GWS are the potential sleeper in the field. They are not expected to make the eight, but I see no reason, given the teeming talent - and particularly the acquisitions of Griffen and Joel Patfull - why they shouldn't win nine or 10 games, with some prospect of claiming even more and sneaking into eighth. The Giants are $9 to play finals, which appeals in the category of "speculative bet."

West Coast just missed last year and begin 2015 without the game's best negating defender from 2014, Eric McKenzie, whose omission from the All-Australian side was the AA selectors' standout blunder. The Eagles have their lost their most valuable player and, thus, should be marginally odds against to play finals. The TAB offers $2 on them missing the eight - a worthwhile bet, albeit there is something unseemly about wagering on losses, known as "shorting" in the money markets.

Neither Richmond nor Adelaide are sure bets for the eight. They belong in the "more likely than not" camp.

The only "safe" Brownlow bet is to avoid the medal until the season is run. If you put a premium on value, Griffen and his old Dogs teammate Callan Ward are $101 to take the Charlie in 2015, Dyson Heppell — assuming no significant suspension — shapes as another over-the-odds prospect at $34 (all TAB).

Some fans will rue that the market for "exotics" does not allow for gambling on tribunal verdicts. And while there is a market for sacked coaches, you will not be able to bet on James Hird quitting, post the Essendon decision - an outcome that, based on form, should be long odds indeed.

The safe bet for Mick Malthouse is that his position and prospects of remaining coach at Carlton will fill many columns and clog the airwaves throughout the season. We wager, too, that Nathan Buckley will receive similar scrutiny, although, all things considered - including contracts and recruiting calls made - his real reckoning is likely to be 2016.

Speaking before the 1977 grand final, Ron Barassi said the greatest risk of all was to take no risks. The gambler's corollary is that the safest bet of all is to avoid them.

Whatever lies ahead, what we should wish for in 2015 is not what punters typically want – a season of uncertain outcomes on the field.