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[Rugby League | RUGBY LEAGUE] Parramatta may have boasted a pretty impressive recent record against Brisbane, but punters threw the form guide and statistics away last Friday to plonk on Brisbane to toss the Eels, and the Broncos didn't let them down in recording an emphatic 26-6 win. The money early in the week had been for Parramatta, but Friday saw bets of $40,000 and $20,000 arrive for Brisbane conceding three points start, as well as "win" bets of $18,000 and $6000 at $1.60. It's hard to believe punters were taking $2.50 Parramatta to win the premiership after round one, but now the Eels are out to $18, while Brisbane have come into $3 equal favourites with the in-form Bulldogs. Melbourne carried some big bets against Penrith on Saturday, the largest being $40,000 at -3½ points. The Storm have had plenty of turmoil off the field recently, and were out of the game early as Penrith led 24-4 at half time. It wasn't a great spectacle, but the win by Penrith has given them some "breathing space" as they are now out to $5.50 to win the wooden spoon. Canberra claimed another big scalp at home when 38-30 winners over Auckland in an exciting match. The Raiders beat Newcastle two weeks ago, and New Zealand's form has definitely slipped over the past month. Incredibly, the Warriors were a huge "go" in this match, firming from $1.45 into $1.30, with the handicap finishing on 9½ points. A $50,000 wager was placed on New Zealand (-7½ points) by a Sydney client, and we also took bets of $20,000 (-8½) and $22,500 for an outright win at $1.45. After trailing 16-0, the Warriors fought back to lead 18-16 at the half, but Canberra never gave up, scoring two converted tries in the last three minutes to snatch victory, also giving them a faint glimmer of hope of making the finals. There was a concerted push for St George Illawarra to cover a 10 point spread against Wests, and while the Dragons ended up with three players in hospital, they still outclassed Wests 42-8. The scoreline (50 points) fell just short of our game total of 52½ points, which unfortunately for a Sydney client denied him a big win after he tossed $30,000 on the game total exceeding 52½ points. He probably thought he was in big trouble at half time when only eight points had been scored, but Wests have been involved in some huge blowout scores this season, so you can never predict what will happen. The Dragons landed a $40,000 winning bet ($1.90) conceding 11½ points start, and also another big one of $14,000 at -12½ on the day of the match. Punters got their fingers burnt badly when North Qld gave the Eagles a football lesson. We took a bet early in the week of $4000 for North Qld at $4, but they drifted to $4.25 on game day following constant support for the Eagles. This was a costly loss for the Manly side as with Melbourne's loss the door was open for the Eagles to make a run for the final 8, but now they will struggle. Sunday also saw one of the most dramatic finishes of the year when Hazem "Magic" El Masri kicked the Bulldogs to victory from the sideline after the siren. Naturally this was a great betting game, with money for both sides, but oddly the biggest Newcastle bet, $30,000 at $1.85, came on the day of the match after Timana Tahu and Robbie O'Davis were ruled out. Giving the Knights 19 points start, and a beating, at Newcastle, will give the Bulldogs a huge psychological advantage if they meet in the finals. Backing sides that have to back up on Friday night's after playing the previous Sunday is always dangerous, but at least in this week's clash between Newcastle and St George, neither is disadvantaged as both played last Sunday. The Dragons have been in excellent form but go into this match as big underdogs. We opened up the Knights at $1.48 or -6½ points, and immediately took several bets totaling just over $17,000 for the Knights to beat the handicap. Cronulla continue their march to the finals on Saturday night when they play the Roosters at Aussie Stadium. The big worry with Cronulla is that in the first half of their past two matches against the Eagles and Souths, they haven't scored a point! They won't want to be giving the Roosters a start, but still and all the Roosters haven't set the world on fire recently. The Sharks winning streak has seen money come for them in this match at $2.40, but one of our big league punters has bet early placing two bets worth $18,000 on the Roosters at $1.65 before Jason Stevens was ruled out. A couple of interesting matches confront us on Sunday. A back in form (to some degree) Penrith host New Zealand, with New Zealand the 6½ point favourites. We can't see any reason why Penrith can't win again, but Warriors fans are again out in force early with two bets of $10,000 taken on a New Zealand win. Browsing through the draw, if Souths can beat Wests on Sunday, then there is a very strong chance that Wests will finish on the bottom of the ladder. Wests were raging favourites against Souths three weeks ago, but were belittled 38-24, and while they hold a two point buffer on Souths at the moment, it looks highly unlikely that Wests can win any of their matches after this week. It never ceases to amaze how a bad game can generate good betting, and this is another of those matches. We posted Wests at $2.30 and took bets of $6000 and $5000, but that had been offset by a $10,000 bet for Souths at $1.60. Souths are currently the wooden spoon favourite at $2.20, but Wests are now into $2.40 following wins at the weekend by Penrith and North Qld. [Australian Rules | AUSTRALIAN RULES] The flu sweeping through Hawthorn saw a plunge on Brisbane last weekend, and the Hawks probably wished they had been quarantined as they were thrashed 101-68 by the premiership favourites. Brisbane firmed from $1.72 into $1.53, with one of Aussie Rules' biggest punters leading the nationwide plunge. The same punter was the inspiration behind the other big "go" of the round, the Bulldogs. The Western suburbs side were backed from an isolated $2.25, and we joined in when punters started to take our $2. Originally, we were happy to be on the Bulldogs, but the $2 seemed short, however in the finish it was nowhere near short enough. Several $10,000 bets were placed on the Bulldogs, and were always in command as they scored a 34 point victory. Those that took the short odds for both Essendon and Port Adelaide would now be breathing big sighs of relief. Both sides had big leads, before both seemed certain to lose. Essendon hung on to beat Richmond by one point in one of the season's worst games on Friday night. This was just another of those games where the bookies were going to 'scoop the pool', only to see Essendon eek out a win, much to the delight of favourite backers, one in particular who plonked $20,000 on Essendon at $1.28. Of course we got to hang onto all the money that went on the Bombers to beat the 26½ point handicap. A Victorian punter got his money's worth when he took Essendon and Port Adelaide in a $15,000 double. After 'getting out of jail' on Essendon, the gods were smiling down on him when Port Adelaide, after surrendering a 50 point lead, kicked a goal in the last minute of play to beat Melbourne by 4 points. This was a popular double, but like Essendon, we also got a handy result as there was ample to say that Port would win by more than 25 points. West Coast bounced back to give Collingwood a 58 point hiding, continuing the dominance of sides from the west. We labeled this game as a chance for Collingwood to go over, but they were really hard to sell, touching $2 at the finish. What we missed out on from the win by the West Coast was more than made up by Adelaide's dogged 3 point win over Geelong. The tag of favourtism is something that doesn't sit too well with Geelong, and we did have a good win on this match as we forced Geelong in at $1.58. The "bravest punter of the week award" must surely go to a Sydney client who gambled $25,000 to say St Kilda ($1.72) would beat Fremantle. Sure he got the cash after looking in trouble early, but right at the moment that's a very courageous bet to be having on a side that's not traveling all that well. I don't think the same punter will be re investing any of his winnings on the Saints this week as they have to take on Port Adelaide at Footy Park. St Kilda are $5, with Port at $1.15, and we have already taken two bets worth $8500 to say Port will cover a 36 point spread. When the draw was done, nobody could have predicted how good Collingwood would be, and how bad Carlton would be going, so Friday night's match of the round is shaping as a fizzer. Collingwood are $1.18 or -35½ points, and the only reason that we have been happy to take some money for the Pies conceding the big start is that there is so much feeling between these two clubs that we hope Carlton "lift" for the occasion, and Carlton did beat the Magpies in the first round. Every other match for the round has some sort of bearing on the possible make-up of the final 8, so it looks like being a big round for us as these type of scenarios create more betting activity. The big one is on at Colonial on Saturday night. Essendon are in big trouble, and have to front up to Brisbane. It's hard to believe Essendon are the price in this match that they were to win the premiership when betting opened ($3), but such is their popularity that we have found punters keen to take that. Apparently Dustin Fletcher will be back this week, so two Melbourne punters have each placed $4000 on the Bombers to win. Essendon have had trouble scoring since James Hird was injured, and while going for favourites is a dangerous caper, Brisbane should get the points here. Essendon have Adelaide away the following week, then Collingwood at the MCG, so if they weren't already in enough trouble, a loss this week will see the odds of an Essendon premiership blow right out the gate. Sydney are only playing for pride for the rest of the season, but their supporters think they can win again on Sunday. The opening quote of $2 was taken by several people, with the largest bet being $5400, but a win by the Crows can consolidate them in the top four. Mathematically the Bulldogs can still make the final 8, but would need to win all their remaining games. I don't know about that happening, but we think they can at least chalk up a win over the West Coast Eagles on Sunday. We posted the Bulldogs at $1.50 with West Coast at $2.55, but only saw just under $7000 in bets for the Eagles in the first 48 hours of trading. [Rugby Union | RUGBY UNION] Australia won the match, and it looked as though they also won the fights, when 11 point winners over South Africa in last Saturday's Tri-Nations match in Brisbane. When the Wallabies led 24-3 early in the match, it looked certain that it was going to be a huge winning margin, but the tenacious Springboks got themselves back into a position where they could have won when trailing by 6 points before the Aussies scored a late try after a bonus point gamble by skipper George Gregan. The winning margin of 11 points just fell short for those who conceded the start, most of which came from abroad. Bets of $20,000 and $10,000, from New Zealand, and a £4000 bet from England, were the largest placed on the Australian handicap. It seems most Australian's saw this as a danger game, and decided to keep away from conceding the start, a wise move! The Tri Nations Series will still be alive and well if the Wallabies can beat New Zealand on Saturday, and we think they will. The first match in Wellington saw a rush of money come for Australia to win, mostly from Kiwi's, and the shocking weather conditions were one of the main factors why the All Blacks got the win. It's a different ball game this week, with the weather tipped to be ok, so we are keen to take on Kiwi fans who think they can win. Betting opened with Australia favourites at $1.70 and New Zealand $2.10, and we immediately got several bites from across the Tasman. Three bets to the value of $26,000 came for New Zealand, but we are looking for more after an English client also joined in early with a bet of £8000 on Australia at -2½ points. Well over $100,000 was wagered on this match in the first 24 hours of trading, and with the two World Cup favourites doing battle on a match that will be televised world wide, it looks as though we are well on the way to breaking another betting record. With both sides then having to go to South Africa, the Tri-Nations title betting is at a delicate stage. There has been money for Australia this week at $2.50, but if they are to win the title, they need to win this week, and a bonus point would be handy as well! We have taken a $4000 bet for the All Blacks at $1.45, while South Africa are the outsiders at $34. [Cricket | CRICKET] With very little cricket on around the world at the moment, we rarely hear from our Indian cricket punters, but some of them resurfaced late last week to play on the England v India Test. Once again it was the draw that they were after, with one placing $USD 20,000 on the draw at $1.90 before the match started, while another placed $USD 10,000 at the end of the first days play at $1.57. A couple of English punters joined in at the close of play on the second day, one with a bet of $5000 at $1.36, but a capitulation by India, which saw them bundled out for 221, some 266 runs behind, all but ended any hope of a draw. England did land one winning bet of $5000 at $4.25 after day one, but it was still a very handy result. Betting on the second Test at Trent Bridge will be available on Saturday. [Commonwealth Games | COMMONWEALTH GAMES] As expected, the betting on the Commonwealth Games has only been lukewarm, and with Australia bagging a heap of medals, even our Aussie punters are having trouble deciding where to plonk they're parochial dollars. We made mention last week of the difficulty we have had in the past with these Games as some competing nations, or competitors, just don't take the Commonwealth games seriously. Several of the big names in athletics have incurred "injuries" which has made them unavailable, so it really would be a pointless, and costly, exercise to price up most events before at least one run down. Having said all that, we have decided to attack most events with head to head betting, and the interest levels have been pretty good once we have all see heats and semi's etc. One interesting bet we did take this week was on the women's 400 metres hurdle final. Now Australia's Jana Pittman had been extensively covered by the media as the probable winner of the final, so we expected to see plenty of action for her to take gold at $1.45. While plenty did help themselves to those odds, it was a punter from Sweden who had the honour of placing the biggest bet, that being 50,000 SEK ($AUD 10,000), so we know of at least one person outside of Australia who was also sweating on Jana getting gold. Ian Thorpe has been splashed all over the newspapers as well, with the "Thorpedo" tipped to dominate the pool. We put up a market as to whether or not Thorpe would be the first person in history to win seven gold medals at one Commonwealth Games. Graham Smith and Susie O'Neill won six gold in 1978 and 1998 respectively, but with Thorpe, the only two questionable events were the men's 400 metres freestyle, and the 100 backstroke. We posted Thorpe at $4 to win seven gold, taking a series of small bets, but there was money to say the record would not be broken, including one bet of $3000 at $1.20. With the 400 metres medal safely in his keeping Thorpie is now at $2.20 to break the record. [Golf | GOLF] Tobias Dier, a $126 chance, shot four sub 70 rounds to win the Dutch Open by one stroke from Jamie Spence. Dier gave us a good result as nobody found him at the big odds, and although he was well in contention the whole tournament, leading into the last round, punters weren't attracted to the German. In fact prior to the last round, Dier was our $2.40 favourite, yet nearly $6000 in bets were placed on Padraig Harrington, who was three shots in arrears. Harrington wound up in third place along with Peter Lonard. Dier is a $51 chance to make it two wins on end in this week's Scandinavian Open, but we haven't found many who think he can do it. Colin Montgomerie is our $10 favourite, and having won two of the last three, we would expect Monty to be our biggest liability, but that is not the case. Easily the best backed in Stockholm has been Jesper Parnevik. Most of the money has come from Sweden, led up by a bet of 5000 SEK ($AUD 1000) each way at $18. Jesper did win this event back in 1998, but his form over the past two year's has been far from flattering. Others to meet with support have been Pierre Fulke ($23), Carl Petterson ($26) and Anders Hansen ($31), all backed to take out in excess of $20,000 by a new Swedish client. Australia will be represented by Peter Lonard, a $15 chance in our market. The head to heads available have been popular, especially the match up of Thomas Bjorn and Niclas Fasth. An English client has placed £2500 on Fasth at $1.90, but we have been inundated with bets from Denmark for Bjorn. In the US, modified stableford points will be the scoring system used for this week's tour event, "The International", to be played in Colorado. The punters are not too keen on this scoring system, and as a result of that we have only seen limited action on this event. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson are the $9 equal favourites, and with Els resuming after a week off following his US Open win, it will be interesting to see how he plays. We have laid him to take out close to $20,000, and the South African is a previous winner having won back in 2000. A New Zealander has backed both Sergio Garcia ($17) and Stuart Appleby ($41) to win $25,000, while a South Australian client has ploughed into Charles Howell, backing him to win $20,000 at $51, also "saving" on outsiders Bob May ($101) and John Senden ($126), backing each to win just over $12,000. Most of the big names are missing in
this week's Ladies event, the Wendy's Championship. Mi-Hyun Kim is the
$8.50 favourite, with early money for Julie Inkster ($9), Kellie Kuehne
($41) and Michelle Redman ($34).
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