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Aussie
Rules
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Centrebet
Capers
If you thought Daryn Cresswell was feeling the pressure when he lined up to kick the winning goal for the Swans against the Kangaroos on Saturday night, how do you think the punter who had $137,500 riding on his boot felt ? The pressure shot was the result of a controversial free kick and while Cresswell was probably breaking out in a cold sweat reaslising his kick could win the match, we have no doubt the Victorian punter was probably feeling even more nervous. Cresswell's successful kick won the punter a whopping $137,500 as the final leg of a $25,000 "pick four" bet. It all started on Friday night with Adelaide at -5½ against West Sydney in the NBL series decider who got up by 18 points. The second leg was Newcastle to beat the Sharks in the NRL, again no worries for our client with the Knights winning 52-8. His third leg was Melbourne to beat the West Coast on Saturday afternoon and again he didn't have too many worries with Melbourne winning by 34 points, so it all came down to the last leg -- the Swans to win! We had the money "spent" when the Kangaroos held a handy lead early in the last quarter, and even when the Kangaroos "went defensive" with two minutes to play we thought the 'Roos would hang on. The umpire who awarded the free kick to Cresswell has come in for plenty of criticism, but in punting you have to take the good with the bad, and while that was one that went against us, the one week suspension handed down to Brownlow Medal favourite Andrew McLeod was one that went our way. McLeod was the favourite to win the Brownlow when betting opened just after Christmas and he was one of the best backed including one wager of $2,000 each way at $11. McLeod had a good start to the season and was on the third line of betting prior to last weekend, and when you consider that he should have won the coveted award last year, it seems as though McLeod is "jinxed" as far as the Brownlow is concerned, much like Chris Grant. Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley is the new favourite at $6 ahead of James Hird and Brisbane's current holder Jason Akermanis at $8. Another Lion, Simon Black is also off to a flying start to this season and is third pick at $9, while Peter Bell (Fremantle) is into $21. Bell was backed to take out $40,000 two weeks ago when he was double those odds. Bell's form was one of the main reasons Fremantle were able to beat Richmond by 11 goals on Sunday. This was an even betting match, with the Dockers landing winning bets of $8,000 and $6,000 at $2.30, but they were still a handy result as Richmond were the final leg of several big multiple bets that were still alive. The "rumour mill" was working overtime on Friday when the story got around that several Essendon players had the flu. If they did have the flu, one wonders what they would have beaten Adelaide by if all was well. Their 50 point thumping of the Crows was also a winning result after Adelaide were backed from $3.50 into $2.75. The handicap also moved after two $10,000 bets at the +22½ and +20½ points start. The money for Melbourne was on the mark when they defeated the West Coast. Melbourne firmed from $1.55 into $1.45, and we couldn't find any takers for the Eagles. Nobody wanted to be on the Bulldogs either, especially when Scot West was ruled out. Bets of $10,000 and $6,000 were placed on Brisbane conceding 34½ points start, as well as a win bet of $18,000 at $1.15. The Bulldogs gave us a terrific sight when they got within two points in the last quarter, but still remain winless after four rounds. Colonial Stadium is a ground that the Bulldogs play well at, and there has been some smart money around to say they can beat Melbourne on Friday night. $12,000 worth of bets at the opening quote of $2.20 was enough for us to cut the odds to $2.15, and Melbourne have been hard to sell at $1.68. The traditional Anzac Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon might appear one sided to most punters, but we are not so convinced. Just like the Carlton/Collingwood clashes, the Collingwood v Essendon matches invariably throw up the occasional odd result. Essendon look a real good risk conceding 29½ points start, and we have taken just under $28,000 at that handicap. Brisbane and Sydney both travel this round, and both are also conceding big starts. Brisbane looked a bit "flat" last week, and while they should beat the West Coast, we have been eager to "lay" Brisbane at the minus 29 points. Sydney, $1.14 to beat St Kilda, or -44½ points, face up to a side that has been under fire all week, and also who play well at Colonial Stadium. A Melbourne punter has placed $50,000 on Sydney to win ($1.20), and the Swans have also been coupled up in a $20,000 treble with Essendon and Brisbane. The "showdown at the park" between Adelaide and Port Adelaide is a good betting contest even though Andrew McLeod is out. Crows supporters have been lining up to take $2.65, and against that there is any amount of money, including two $9000 wagers, for Port. Brisbane remain premiership favourites at $2.30, with port Adelaide back into $8 after their hollow victory over Carlton. [Rugby League | RUGBY LEAGUE] Friday night favourites always shorten in the betting, but that didn't happen last week, and we were pleasantly surprised by the end result. The rampaging Newcastle Knights racked up another big score when 52-8 winners over the Sharks, and we were caught by surprise when punters rallied behind the Sharks, even after full back David Peachey was ruled out. They firmed from $3.75 into $3, and a Victorian man had three cracks at the Sharks with the handicap start, investing a total of $27,000 on them. Melbourne defeated St George-Illawarra in a dour struggle at Olympic Park on Saturday. Good money came for both sides, but a late bet of $15,000 for Melbourne (-3½) was enough to tip the scales in favour of the punters. Thankfully the Brisbane Broncos "switched off" in the second half against Penrith on Sunday. The Broncos led 22-4 at half time, and staggered over the line to win 30-26. All of Rugby Leagues biggest punters were prepared to bet against Penrith being competitive, and the charge was led by a $20,000 wager from a Sydney client on the Broncos at -16½ points start. A New Zealand client had $12,000 on Brisbane to win by over 12½ points, and capped off a bad weekend by having the same wager on Parramatta to win by more than 13 points. The Eels struggled against Souths, eventually winning 22-14 in greasy conditions. There are a couple of terrific matches this week, firstly today (Thurs) when the Dragons play the Roosters, and on Friday night when Newcastle travel to Brisbane. The Roosters got a few players back from injury last week when 58-12 winners North Queensland, and that seems to be the only inspiration needed to back them today. The Roosters opened at $1.60 with a bet of $7,000, and the -3½ points was taken by two Sydney clients with wagers of $9,000 and $6,600. The Dragons have been playing just fairly of recent weeks, but if "try scoring machine" Nathan Blacklock can strike form, we think they can definitely win. Penrith haven't won a game yet but go in as $1.20 chances to beat North Qld. The Panthers showed some of their true form against Brisbane, and punters agree with our assessment. We have taken a $10,000 bet for Penrith to win, and also bets of $5,500 and $4,000 for them to beat an 11 point handicap. The Bulldogs are a good side away from home, but they were given a torrid workout against New Zealand last week. We think they might be worth a risk against the Sharks on Sunday, and punters have been very accommodating. After opening at $2, the Bulldogs are now into $1.75 after close to $55,000 was placed on them when betting opened on Monday. The Sharks defense was abysmal against Newcastle, but some of that can be attributed to the kicking game of Andrew Johns. There isn't an Andrew Johns in the Bulldogs side, so we will give the Sharks another chance! St Helens are the $1.58 favourites to win this Saturday night's Challenge Cup, which will be televised in Australia. St Helens are in trouble with the ruling body for leaving most of heir first grade side out of last week's match against Bradford, so don't read too much into that 54-22 defeat. The early money has been for Wigan (+4½), but we expect St Helens to be easy to "lay" at the $1.58 getting closer to the match. [Rugby Union | RUGBY UNION] The wheels have fallen off for the ACT Brumbies, and they now look in danger of not having a home final. Worse still is the thought of not making the finals, and we imagine that the client who placed $50,000 on them to make the semi's at $1.08 is having heart palpitations after thinking the $4.000 potential win was better and safer than bank interest. It wasn't a great spectacle when the Brumbies took on the Waratahs, but the NSW side gained the points in a hard fought 19-11 win. We recorded a win on the match as the late money was all for the Brumbies at $1.80. The Stormers finally showed what they are capable of after coming from behind to beat the Chiefs. The Chiefs, the $1.45 favourites, led at half time, and aside from being a bad result to win, we had also taken a bet of $18,000 that they would lead at half time and full time ($2). Imaging our surprise when the Stormers did just that in the second half, going on to win 45-33 A "truckload" of money went on the Crusaders to beat the Sharks, and punters can consider themselves very lucky to collect after the Crusaders kicked a penalty goal two minutes from full time to win 37-34. Bets of $20,000 and $16,000 were included in some of the bigger "win bets" (both from NZ), but we got to keep two $15,000 bets that went on the Kiwi side conceding 7½ points start. The Crusaders are now into $1.90 to win the title ahead of the Waratahs ($3.50) and the Brumbies ($4). The Reds are the third Australian side that make up the top four at the moment, but they face the moment of truth this week. With doubts on captain Daniel Herbert, five-eighth Elton Flately and lock Nathan Sharpe we have list the Reds as slight outsiders against the Sharks. With so much at stake, punters have taken the risk with the Reds, and we saw close to $14,000 come for them as soon as betting opened at $2.10. The Waratahs are at home to the Hurricanes, and while they are in good form, the Hurricanes have had the advantages of a week off. Some money has come fro the Hurricanes at $3.20, but we have taken two $5,000 bets from NSW for the Waratahs at -8½ points ($1.90). Its very similar in the Brumbies v Highlanders match. New Zealanders have taken the $3.20 and +8½ points for the Highlanders, but the bigger punters who dictate the market think the Brumbies can get back into winning form. We have taken bets of $9,000 and $6,000 for the Brumbies to win as well as a bet of $8,000 at -8½ ($1.90), so it seems certain they will start shorter. [Golf | GOLF] Justin Leonard won the Worldcom Classic last weekend, but not before he tried very hard to lose it! Leonard, who entered the last round as a $1.55 favourite sank some unbelievable putts to save par before he "hit the wall" on the back nine allowing Heath Slocum to momentarily take the lead. The way Leonard was playing, its not hard to work out why there were no takers for the $1.55, but now that he is finally back in form, he might stay there. For a moderate event, we saw plenty of activity on the Worldcom. Plenty of outsiders were backed to win, as well as a $5,000 bet for Sergio Garcia at $12. Phil Mickelson started favourite at $10, and was backed to take out just over $50,000, but again was found wanting when the pressure was applied. We posted Mickelson at $2 after the second round, taking bets of $1,800 and $500, but it looks as though punters are growing weary of Mickelson's capitulations. The big names are missing from the Greater Greensboro Classic this week, but that hasn't really affected the betting turnover that much. Scott McCarron is the $13 favourite from Jim Furyk ($15) and last year's winner, Scott Hoch, who is a $17 chance. Early betting has seen Steve Flesch ($34), Shigeki Maruyama ($41) and Loren Roberts ($51) all backed to win $15,000 each way by a Victorian client, while both Furyk and Rocco Mediate ($31) have each been backed to win $12,000 by a client from Sydney. No one player has dominated this event recently, but looking for a bit of value, Aussie Greg Chalmers is finally starting to find some of his Australian form. Dudley Hart has finished top four at two of the past three years, and must also rate a chance at $31. The Canarias Open will be played in Spain this week, and as it is played on a different course each year, we can't use past history as a guide. Spaniard Sergio Garcia is our $3.50 favourite ahead of Retief Goosen ($4.50) who has had a $3,000 wager placed on him from a German client. A group of Australian punters have backed several players to take out close to $20,000 including Richardo Gonzalez ($51), and Anthony Wall ($10). As usual most of the three and two balls will be available daily. [Formula One | FORMULA ONE] So dominating are the Ferraris in Formula One racing that now we have found more interest from punters on who will fill the podium placings rather than backing somebody to beat Michael Schumacher. We posted the German at $1.60, and while we have seen about $8,000 for him to win, we haven't taken one decent bet for any driver to beat him in this weeks Spanish Grand Prix. Podium betting is different however. A German client has invested $10,000 on Ralf Schumacher at $1.95, two $5,000 bets have gone on Juan Pablo Montoya at $1.80, and Kimi Raikkonen ($4.50) and Jarno Trulli ($9) have each been backed to win over $20,000. Ralf Schumacher and Montoya have been matched up in a head to head, and punters have stuck with Montoya. We have taken two bets of $2,000 and a series of small bets for Montoya, and basically nothing for Schumacher. We have also taken a $4,000 bet for Jensen Button ($1.55) to beat Nick Heidfield, and a $2,000 bet for Aussie Mark Webber ($1.90) to beat home Enrique Bernoldi. [Motor Bikes | MOTOR BIKES] Honda look like they hold all the aces in the motor bike Grand Prix's just like the Ferraris do in the Formula Ones. Tohru Ukawa won his first Moto GP when he outgunned raging favourite Valentino Rossi in last weekends South African Grand Prix. Ukawa, who made his debut in the 250CC way back in 1994, sat on the back of Rossi for the entire race, and it was obvious from the vision that Rossi would have a battle on his hands as he chose a "soft" tyre for this event. That was no help to those who took the $1.40 to win, but as we reported last week, a client from Singapore tipped correctly that Ukawa would improve vastly as he placed $3,000 on the Japanese rider to fill a placing at the odds of $6. Third placegetter Loris Capirossi also landed a winning bet of $4,000 at $1.80, but we did recoup some of those losses when Carlos Checa and Daijiro Katoh failed to run a place. There was also an upset in the first of the Superbike races in Japan, with the second going to Makato Tamada. Tamada, granted a wild card, started the $2.50 favourite to win each race. Surprisingly, we took bets of $2,000 and $1,000 on Tamada to win race one, but nothing on race two, so we did have some luck there. Troy Bayliss, ($3.50) was backed to win both events, while Japan's Noriyuki Haga, started $4 and was backed to take out $8,000 to win race one. The only rider in the betting that punters forgot about was Colin Edwards, who went around "unwanted" at $7. At least with both Bayliss and Valentino Rossi being beaten at the weekend, we might have renewed interest in the bikes from here on in. [Entertainment | ENTERTAINMENT] Damian's eviction from the Australian Big Brother was a shock for most, but if you followed the polls on the Big Brother site, and also the betting fluctuations, it would not have been such a shock. The betting on the first eviction rivaled the betting on some of the football matches for the weekend, and for the first four days, the money was for Katrina ($1.65) and Turkan ($2.25). It was only when the polls showed a close contest that we began to see money for Damian, who came into $4 after touching $7. Katrina looks a good thing to get the bullet this week. We opened her at $1.50 and took $8,000 worth of bets, but we have taken plenty of bets for Turken at $2.50. Early indications are that Alex will be safe, and is a $5 chance. Marty is still the $3 favourite to win, but he was given a nomination this week. The public, and more importantly the housemates, have warmed to Nathan, and he is now ¼ the odds he was last week. Nathan was $13, but is now into $4 and that is being taken. There is also an eviction in Norway tonight (Thurs), and that is a good betting duel between Remi ($1.60) and Johannes ($2). Bets coming in are split down the middle, so it's too close to call, while Dennis, the outsider at $7, looks safe for another week. Sunday night is "Logie Night" in Australia, and Georgie Parker is still the $1.30 favourite to win Gold. Rove McManus has met with support, now into $3.20, and veteran actor John Wood also had admirers at $10. "All Saints" and "The Secret Life Of Us" are $2.50 equal favourites to win the Silver Logie for most popular programme, while Samuel Johnson (Secret Life Of Us) has easily been best backed to win most popular actor. One Melbourne fan of the "AFL Footy Show" has outlayed $3,000 at $1.10 (win of $300) to say that Eddie McGuire and his crew will be the most popular sports programme. This bet looks a lot safer than backing Eddie's beloved magpies to make the finals! [Soccer | SOCCER] We have had a taste over recent times of what the betting on the World Cup might be like, and this week with the Champions League semi finals on, betting has gone "through the roof". Tuesday's match between Barcelona and Real Madrid was a "bottler" to bet on but Wednesday's game between Man United and Bayer Leverkusen was the biggest match we have ever bet on outside World Cup and "Euro" fixtures. Man United opened at $1.55, and we have often mentioned their popularity, and this match was no different. A Norwegian punter placed the biggest bet on them of 200,000 NOK ($AUD40,000), but we did also take €15,000 and $20,000 at $1.53. While favourite punters were happy to take the short odds, we took bets of $10,000 and $5,000 for a draw at $3.50 (drifted to $3.60!) and also several bets in the vicinity of $2,000 for Leverkusen at $6 and $6.25. The final result, a 2-2 draw was perfect for Centrebet, and puts a lot of pressure on Man United in next weeks return leg. Tuesday's semi saw educated money come for eventual winners Real Madrid. Barcelona had injury problems, and two bets of $10,000 for Madrid at $3 off two sharp punters from Italy was enough to force us to cut the price. Money came for the draw at $2.90, but when we chased Barcelona out to $2.40, we were totally surprised by the 2-0 win of Real Madrid, and they now looked to have been handed a certain final spot. There has also been a few midweek English Premier League matches this week, and we paid a severe penalty when Blackburn and Newcastle drew 2-2 on Tuesday. The draw was backed from $3.25 into $2.85, with the two largest bets being $12,000 at $3 after we took $8,000 at $3.25. Both of these bets came from Malaysia. With Liverpool and Man United still mathematical hopes to win the Premier League, we have seen heavy support for both in the upcoming round, and not much interest in any of the other matches. Four bets, all from Scandinavia, totaling just under $54,000 have been placed on Man United at $1.45 to defeat Ipswich. A German client has placed €8500 euro on Liverpool at $1.70 to beat Tottenham, and we have also taken bets of $10,000 and $8,000 from Australians for Liverpool. Things are really warming up in regards to the World Cup. We still have Argentina favourites at $4.75, but over the past two weeks, close to $10,000 in bets has come for France at $5. Last time the World Cup was on we saw a lot of action from Italian members of the community based in Melbourne, and we are again seeing that with Italy one of our worst results at $7. We were standing England for the "national debt", and had them into $11, but since the well documented injury to David Beacham arose, we have hardly taken a bet for them The Danes continue to back their side at $71, and have been backed to take out 7 million DKK with us should they win the Cup. We have also started to open a few accounts from Japan who have backed one of the host nations from $101 into $71 with Centrebet, while a Victorian client has backed South Korea at $8 to win $32,000 in Group D. Most of the favourites have been coupled up in the Groups, with the popular combinations being France ($1.28 - Group A), Spain ($1.40 - Group B) and Italy, also $1.40 to win Group G. Frenchman Thierry Henry is the $9 favourite to win the "Golden Boot", but Brazil's Ronaldo ($13) has been backed to win $50,000 by a Swedish client to score the most goals for the tournament. For those wishing to know when
Centrebet will open the first round of matches, it will be the day after
the Champions League final in mid May. Until next week, good punting. For
further information contact Gerard Daffy at
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