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Aussie
Rules
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Centrebet Capers
CRICKET Ricky Ponting described it as 'the greatest one day game of all time' but a few punters around the country are probably still scratching their heads trying to work out how Australia lost to South Africa on Sunday. Australia went into the match warm favourites at 1.45 after winning the toss. We had already taken some big bets for the Aussies to win, including $35,000 at 1.55 and $20,000 at 1.60. Another wager of $18,000 was placed after the Aussies elected to bat first at 1.47. The series was tied at 2-2, and while we had taken two $10,000 bets for South Africa at 2.50 prior to the toss, nobody wanted to touch the Proteas when they were forced to bat second. As records tumbled with the Aussies smashing their way to 434 runs, we wondered whether it was even worthwhile putting up a half-time market. As it was advertised, we went ahead anyway and posted Australia at 1.01 and South Africa at 26.00. Nobody took the big odds South Africa but we didn't have too much trouble laying Australia. Two punters each placed $20,000 to win $200 and we even took one bet of $300 to win $3. It took possibly one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history to put paid to those bets. Now it is on to the Test series and the first Test gets under way today (Thursday). We were a bit surprised to see an avalanche of money for the draw. Nearly all of it came from India, led up by $USD 20,000 and $USD 7500 at 3.00 and 2.90 respectively. Australia are now out to 2.25 and very hard to sell so it looks like Aussie punters see this one as we do a real danger game. Locally, the Pura Cup final will be played next week and while Queensland are favourites at 1.50, we rate Victoria an outstanding chance to win. Queensland were woeful in the last match of the season and have a host of players in South Africa with the national side. When you also consider that they have lost the last three Pura Cup finals at home, the 1.50 looks poor value. RUGBY LEAGUE Looking at the results and the tipsters polls from around the country, one would expect that bookies would have had a 'fill up' on the first round of NRL but nothing could be further from the truth. Only two of the seven favourites found themselves in the winners circle and one of those two, Newcastle were backed for a stack. After opening at 1.85, the Knights eventually started at 1.75, landing one monster sized bet of $50,000 at 1.80. Probably the biggest 'go' of the round was the Cowboys. As much as 2.30 was given early in the week and while we didn't join in until late, we were also hit. Bets of $20,000 (2.10), $15,000 (2.20) and $12,500 (2.10) ensured that we were hoping that the Cowboys would maintain their record of losing their first round match, a record that had stood since 1998. It only took 15 minutes to work out we were in big trouble and the Cowboys thumped Brisbane 36-4. That victory has seen them catapulted to equal favourites to win the title at 7.00. They share that honour with the Roosters and the Dragons. Round one is behind us and the upcoming fixture looks just as hard on paper. The danger with the second round of any competition is that too much can be read from the first round so we think that we can look forward to some more upsets this week. The Tigers have been solidly backed to beat the Bulldogs on Friday night with two of the early bets being $10,000 to win at 2.60 and another $10,000 with 5½ points start. Melbourne take on the Roosters in Sydney and several of those punters who backed the Storm last week think that they can repeat the dose this week. In the first 24 hours of trading, close to $25,000 was placed on Melbourne with 4½ points start with little or no interest shown in the Roosters. The Broncos are another outsider, albeit slight, who have met with backing in their match against Cronulla. The early bets included three of $5000 with 2½ points start as well as 'win' bets of $8000 and $5000 at 2.10. The Broncos have a bit of work to do from last week, but you have to respect money. AUSTRALIAN RULES Adelaide are into 5.50 co-favourites to win this year’s premiership and if they score a convincing win over Geelong in the final of the NAB Cup, they will go to outright favourites. The odds for the Crows have more than halved since we put out our first market which saw them open at 11.00. They, along with Geelong (16.00 into 7.00) have easily been the best backed sides to win this yea and ironically they meet in the night grand final. In last week’s matches both winners ended up being favourable results, even though Adelaide and Geelong were favourites. Melbourne firmed from 3.50 into 2.85 and carried two bets of $10,000 receiving 16 points start. In the other match, Fremantle came in from 2.28 to vie for favouritism at 1.95 with the biggest wager there being $13,000 at 2.05. Adelaide, courtesy of the home ground advantage, head into this week's final as hot public elects. The 1.30 on offer attracted bets of $6000 and $4000 already but with a chance that Geelong will name Kent Kingsley and Brad Ottens in the forward line, we can expect to see some money for the Cats. The knee injury to Port Adelaide's Warren Tredrea has seen their title hopes blow in the betting. Port were14.00 before their NAB Cup campaign started but are now out to 21.00. A Port fan placed $13.000 on Port to make the final eight two weeks ago at 1.80, but that price is now 2.10. Even though Ben Cousins has now been replaced as captain of the Eagles there has been a rally for Cousins to win back to back Brownlow Medals with the price cut from 17.00 to 15.00. FORMULA ONE Fernando Alonso will be hoping for a repeat performance on the Sepang circuit where he landed the victory from pole position last year. He shouldn’t have it all his own way as the list of previous winners here is formidable with Michael Schumacher taking three victories from six outings, Ralf Schumacher and Raikkonen topping the podiums on the other occasions. Betting on this Grand Prix has been quiet thus far as punters appear to be adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach. Behind the front runners Giancarlo Fisichella will want a better performance from his car, if he gets it a podium could be on the cards. Juan Pablo Montoya is already under pressure to perform after a mediocre race last time out whilst team mate Raikkonmen smashed his way through the field to grab third from the back of the start grid. He should be more confident as he holds the lap record at the Malaysian GP. DANCING WITH THE STARS Punters finally hit the mark when Alicia Molik was voted off on Tuesday night. Alicia had been backed from an opening 4.00 into 2.50 with solid backing also coming for Noelene Brown and amazingly Jennifer Hawkins at 151.00. Alicia and Kate Langbroek were the bottom two in voting, with Alicia failing to make the cut so that means we have a ready made favourite for eviction in two weeks time and that is Kate at 1.80. Toby Allen continues to be the judge’s choice every week and has now been slashed to odds on to win the title. We did take two separate bets of $1000 for Toby last week at 2.30 but there is also plenty of interest in most of the others, notably Grant Denyer. 'The little guy' has already shown he is capable on the dance floor and is hugely popular so he’s now a solid second elect at 3.00. Until next week, good punting For further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 02 9206 8715 or centrebet@centrebet.com
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