Reprinted courtesy of Sportingbet Australia
Thursday 1st September 2005
AFL
Week 1 of AFL Finals kicks of with West Coast hosting
the Swans on Friday night. Despite their last up loss
to Adelaide and a loss to Sydney away, West Coast
are still the punters favourites to win this game.
There has been some great betting on this match with
the punters slightly favouring the Eagles.
Geelong host Melbourne in the second AFL Finals match of the weekend. The Demons have had a hard month of football and have been affected by injury. The punters feel that Melbourne have run their season and have backed the Cats to win in a close one.
St Kilda travel to Adelaide to play the third match of Preliminary Finals. St Kilda have had recent experience of the heartbreak that losing at this time of year feels like and will be looking to draw on this experience to boost their performance this weekend. Adelaide is the favourite to win at home even without the vital contribution from suspended captain Mark Ricciuto. While there has been some good money for St Kilda to cause an upset, the safe money has gone to Adelaide to continue their 2005 campaign.
Sunday AFL action will see the Kangaroos host Port Adelaide at the Telstra Dome. Port snuck into the top eight and will be out to prove their worth this weekend. The Kangaroos have had the better of Port in recent seasons so will be confident heading into this match. The punters have backed the Kangaroos well with some large bets for them to win.
NRL
Friday night NRL action takes us to Parramatta Stadium
where minor Premiership hopefuls Brisbane and Parramatta
do battle. The winner of this match will be in prime
position to claim the Minor Premiership and will be
watching the clash between St George and Newcastle
closely. Parramatta have been well backed by the punters
straight and at the line, with a few large bets for
Parramatta to have a big win.
In one of the games that will decide the make-up of the Final eight Manly travel to Canberra where they have to win. Both teams have had a poor second half of the year. A disastrous month will mean that Manly will have to lift if they want to play Finals football. The money has been quite evenly split with Canberra backed to win in a close one.
On Sunday Newcastle play away to 2005 favourites St George. This game should be a cracker with St George potentially playing for Minor Premiership and Newcastle playing to get off the bottom of the ladder. Both teams are in excellent form. If Newcastle didn't lose their first 13 games, they would definitely be in Finals contention. There has been a lot of money go the way of St George to finish the normal season on a high, condemning Newcastle to the Wooden Spoon.
In other games Cronulla has been well backed to leave Souths in contention for the Spoon, North Queensland have had all the support to beat Melbourne at home and The Roosters if they win this game could make the Finals and are the punters choice to finish off the Dogs.
Rugby
Union
The Wallabies travel to Auckland on Saturday to take
on an All Black team that beat the Boks last week.
The Aussie will have to lift for this game, though
it may be too much considering the injury toll. The
Aussies have had some backing for the win with a few
large bets for them to finish the Trinations with
a win.
Cricket
The fifth Ashes test gets underway at The Oval next
Thursday. Australia must win this test to retain the
Ashes. The Aussies are favourites at the moment even
though the Poms have had the momentum leading up to
this match. A draw will be good enough for the English
so has been well backed.
Thursday 15th September 2005
AFL
Sydney had a last minute win over Geelong last week
and the team will be looking for a better performance
when they travel to the MCG this weekend. Barry Hall
is again captain and has to improve markedly if the
Swans are any chance to win against the 2005 favourites
St Kilda. St Kilda had a good last up win against
Adelaide in the Qualifying Finals and the walking
wounded at the club would have appreciated the week
off to recover. St Kilda are still favourites for
this match even with the number of key players that
are expected to miss the clash. The Swans will still
consider themselves a big chance of playing in the
Grand Final. Some punters agree, so the money has
been quite evenly split. Most of the large money has
been for a Sydney win with a few good bets for Sydney
to win by more than 40 points.
Adelaide beat the Eagles at home in the last round of the normal season to steal the Minor Premiership. That should be a wake up call, that they are not always strong at home, when they play at Subiaco Oval this weekend. Adelaide have had a slight hiccup since that match going down to St Kilda in the Qualifying Final. They did however bounce back strongly the next week to beat arch rivals Port in a runaway game. West Coast has had a week off to recharge their batteries and focus on winning. The punters feel that the week off and Adelaide's mixed form in the finals will be enough to see the Eagles through to the Grand Final. There has been some strong money for the West Coast win, with a few punters tipping Adelaide in a tight one.
NRL
The Storm and Cowboys travel to Aussie Stadium on
Saturday to continue their 2005 campaigns. Melbourne
will be going into this match with a lot of confidence
after beating a near full strength Brisbane team last
week. The Cowboys will have to fight back after their
embarrassing performance aginst the Tigers last week.
Melbourne will be happy to see the Cowboys last score
line as they know how dangerous the Cowboys can be
in attack, especially broken play attack. Melbourne
are favourites to win this match, though the punters
feel that the Cowboys were hard done by last week
and have the ability to bounce back and win through
to the next round. Brisbane will be very disappointed
with the end of their season. They have hardly looked
like a premiership winning team since the middle of
the season. Melbourne had a good win against them
last week, which would have sapped a lot of confidence.
The Tigers on the other hand will be overflowing with confidence after their massive last up win over the Cowboys. This is the joint ventures first taste of finals football and they don't look like they will die wondering. This will be a harder test for the Tigers than last week and they will be looking to attack at any opportunity and prey on the Broncos lack of confidence. The punters feel that Wests will be able to overcome Brisbane and set up a Finals show down against St George, with most of the money for a Tigers win.
Horse
racing
In the Melbourne Cup Pre-Post market betting has been
well spread amongst the favourites with Plastered
having some good support to win the Cup in November.
Swift Tango, Makybe Diva and Stella Grande have also
come in for some early support.
Thursday September 22nd 2005
AFL
Sydney had what some consider an unlucky loss when
they last played West Coast in the Qualifying Finals.
Since then Sydney has had hard wins against the Cats
and 2005 Premiership favourites St Kilda. They have
proved that they are good in the tight games so the
Eagles will be looking to open them up and score quick
points.
West Coast have had an easy run to the Grand Final when compared to the Swans. After beating the Swans at Subiaco, the Eagles had a week off before playing Adelaide. The Eagles lost against Adelaide in the last round of the Home and Away Series so knew that they could not treat the game lightly. Their 16 point win will have come as a relief for the squad.
Sydney's chances of winning their first flag as Sydney and the clubs first since 1933 have been boosted with the confirmation that Barry Hall will line up on Saturday. Hall will be looking to make a more positive mark on this game as he has not really fired this finals series.
In the Head to Head market the punters are finding it hard to split the teams, there have been a couple of large bets on the Sydney win and there is a diverse opinion of what the games margin will be. In the exotic markets Sydney is expected to start the steadier team even considering their relative lack of Grand Final experience. The Swans have been well backed as the first scorer. Chris Judd, Barry Hall and Adam Goodes have all had some interest to win the Norm Smith Medal, with Hall firming up after Tuesday night's judiciary result.
Rugby
League
The first game of NRL action this weekend will see
a strong finishing Tigers take on 2005 powerhouse
Dragons. The Tigers have shown some great skills and
commitment to rack up big scores against both Queensland
teams in the Semi Finals. They will feel confident
going into Saturdays clash that they deserve to play
finals football. The Dragons have had a week off,
with their last outing being a close win over a determined
Cronulla. Nathan Brown will be looking for his team
to lift this week as the Tigers are a much more dangerous
proposition than the Sharks. The Tigers may be carrying
the momentum into this match though the punters feel
that the class of the Dragons will see them get home.
There still has been some great interest in the Tigers
especially to win by less than 13 points.
North Queensland ground out a good win against the Storm last week. The Eels will be a different proposition. Both teams play an especially quick brand of football, with the Eels more dangerous in close and Cowboys with a very talented back three. Consistency will be the key for the Eels because any lapse in concentration in attack or defence could see a try being scored against them. The Cowboys will be looking to get in behind the Eels as much as possible as this strategy has produced the most tries for them this year. Parramatta are strong favourites to win this one with most of the money picking an Eels win. There has also been a lot of interest in margin betting for this game with most of the bets being for the Eels win, though with a differing opinion of by how much, under 12.5 points or over 12.5 points.
Golf
In The Presidents Cup Golf Tournament the International
team is at long odds, though at the moment look like
they have the talent to beat the United States team.
Horse
racing
The Caulfield Cup the first major race of the Spring
Racing Carnival is on soon. There has been plenty
of interest in this race. With Makybe Diva firming
up as the sentimential favourite, coming in at $21.00,
which is still considerably longer than current favourites
Plastered and Confectioner.
Thursday 29th September 2005
NRL
Not many people would have predicted that Wests and
North QLD would face each other in the Grand Final.
The Tigers thrashed The Cowboys in the first week
of the Finals Series and will not be resting on any
laurels as the Cowboys have really gone from strength
to strength after that loss. The Tigers are favourites
to win their first premiership as a joint venture
and the clubs first since 1969 (Balmain).
There has been a lot of interest in margin betting with quite a few punters favouring the West win by more than 13 points. There have also been some large bets for Wests to get up. North Queensland has had some support as well, especially the straight bet for the win.
Cricket
The Aussies have a chance for redemption in the Cricket
when they take on an ICC World XI in both ODI and
Test Matches. The punters have justifiably not shown
much faith in the Aussie team, though they should
perform better in home conditions, which will not
be as conducive to the swing bowling that devastated
the batting line-up in England.
Soccer
The A-League is in full swing and early season favourites
Sydney have struggled so far. They are still strong
favorites to win the first A-League premiership, with
Melbourne Victory the next best backed team.
Horseracing
Feature spring racing this weekend will focus on the
Epson Handicap and The Metropolitan at Randwick. Some
of this field will be building up to the Caulfield
Cup and Cox Plate so expect the runners that are targeting
these races to be nearing their peak.