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Aussie
Rules
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Centrebet Capers
RUGBY LEAGUE The end of a very long rugby league season is only days away, and Australia will go into the final of the Tri Nations as favourites, but they are by no means over the line. Great Britain had a nice little workout in preparation for the final in a two point victory over New Zealand last week. Even though only pride was at stake, there was good interest in the match, including a bet of $12,000 on New Zealand with 8½ points start. Australia rounded off their preparation with an ordinary 18 point win over France, and that was after the French had led early in the first half! Great Britain have been the surprise packets of the series, and although Darren Lockyer is back in the side now, the Aussies will still have their work cut out. We have installed Australia favourites at $1.55, with the Brits at $2.40 and a handicap of 4½ points start. Apart from an early bet of $5000 on Australia, the bulk of the bets have been for Great Britain with the handicap start, but all bets have been small. RUGBY UNION England were the only favourite to cover on the union games we covered last week, with the big shock being provided by Argentina when they defeated France 24-14. The other three fav's all won, and there was a truckload of money going through France, who were $1.05 following on from a big win over Australia. We also took two bets of $10,000 for the French to cover a 20 point spread, and they proved a big disappointment to those punters, and their fans, when they again turned on an inconsistent performance. The Wallabies have always had a problem 'burying' sides, and they fell well short of the 19 point handicap when 31-17 winners over Scotland. Although there was some 'smart' money for Scotland with the start, the bulk of the big bets, including $12,000, was for the Wallabies conceding the start. This week, an injury ridden Australia will go in as 6½ point outsiders against England. A sign of where Aussie punters think our side is at was the fact that the first wave of bets, totalling about $9000, was all for England to win at $1.45. We have really struggled to lay Australia at $2.75, but have seen some money for them with the start. The All Blacks were ordinary against Wales, and France were humiliated by Argentina, so that has made way for what is shaping as a heavyweight betting battle when these two sides meet in Paris on Saturday. We have assigned slight favourtism ($1.85) to France, and two early bets of £2500 will ensure that they carry that tag into the game, but our Kiwi clients have been just as eager to take the $1.95 for their side. For the record, we think that the All Blacks will be too good, and are more than happy to accommodate those who want to be on France. BASKETBALL Basketball was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the weekend as a result of one of the wildest brawls ever seen in professional sport. The rematch of last season's Eastern Conference finals was going along very nicely for the visiting Indiana Pacers until Ron Artest's reaction to a hard foul incited members of the crowd to throw things at him. Artest reacted to that and the rest has been very well documented. The NBA reacted strongly by handing out suspensions to the Pacers' trio of Artest (season), O'Neal (25 games) and Jackson (30 games). It may be a few months before the ensuing appeals and court cases are over but what it does mean is that Indiana, who were a genuine championship contender, are now in deep trouble. These are their three most important players and whilst it is unclear if Artest's suspension will include the playoffs it may be an irrelevant point anyway. Championship betting has been suspended until the full impact of these suspensions becomes clear but you can guarantee that the Pacers will be big drifters in the betting. As a point of interest, the game was called as “official”, which meant that those on the favourites lost their money (but they were going to anyway), but also those who took the under 180½ game total (including bets of $5000 and $3000) received an unexpected bonus! Round 8 of the NBL was a huge fixture of 11 matches and they produced their fair share of surprise results. There was no bigger shock than Hunter getting a comfortable win over Perth in Perth and that was a bonanza for bookmakers. Hunter then returned home and defeated Townsville and are now looking very much like a potential finalist. Earlier in the round Townsville had defeated Sydney in another surprise result but the biggest blow to the Kings were serious injuries to likely rookie of the year Luke Kendall and leading scorer CJ Bruton. The depleted Kings had to face West Sydney a few days later but regrouped magnificently to send the Razorbacks back home a very dejected team. They get the chance for revenge this week when the Kings visit them. It is hard to see the Razorbacks turning it around but all season long we have seen how much difference a week and home court makes so don't write the Razorbacks off. Only three of the eleven favourites covered the spread and even though bookies did not have it all their own way they finished comfortable winners. This round it is Perth's turn to suffer the quirks of the NBL draw as they journey to Queensland and play the three Queensland teams in the space of four days. Our tip is that they will return home winless. In WNBL action Bulleen emerged as a contender by getting their second win over Sydney who then inflicted the first defeat of the season on the Rangers. It took a while but our fearless prediction that after recruiting Shelly Hammonds, the Perth Lynx would surpass last season's total of wins, come to fruition. Their win over the AIS was their first in nearly two years. GOLF Two of our regular golfing clients struck form with a vengeance last weekend when one landed a winning bet of $30,000 on Tiger Woods in Japan at $3.25, while the other backed England at $6 to win the World Cup of Golf for a collect of $174,000. That means we have some serious ground to make up this week, and while the start to the Australian summer of golf is normally on the quiet side, this weeks Australian Open has seen an unprecedented splurge by punters. Favourite Stuart Appleby ($7) has been backed to win $150,000 in a single bet, as has Stephen Leaney ($26), Brett Rumford ($51) and Steve Conran ($61). Peter Lonard is the defending champion, but last year the event was held in Victoria. This year, following on from his win last week in the NSW Open, he has attracted a bet of $10,000 at $10, and numerous smaller bets, while equal second pick, Robert Allenby, is also popular with bets of $2500 and $2000 at $10. Veteran Peter O'Malley has been backed to win $100,000 at $41, while Bradley Hughes has been supported to win a similar amount. The action isn't only confined to Australia with a couple of big bets struck in two other tournaments as well. In the Shinhan Korean Championship, favourite Padraig Harrington has been backed to win $100,000 at $4.50, with third favourite Miguel Jiminez backed to win the same amount at $8. Dane Thomas Bjorn is our $7 favourite to win the Volvo Chinese Open, but the money has been for those behind him in the betting. Bets of $5000 have been taken for Brad Dredge and Paul Broadhurst, both at $21, while there has been a $3000 bet for David Park at $41. It will be interesting to see how the Europeans cope with the likely steamy conditions in Shanghai. CRICKET How bad is a country going when Glen McGrath can make nearly as many runs as the 'best eleven' of that particular country? That is exactly what happened to New Zealand when they suffered an innings plus defeat in the first test in Brisbane. The only entertaining aspect after the second day was the maiden test 50 for McGrath, which was followed up by Jason Gillespie’s first 50, indeed a sad day for New Zealand's pedestrian bowling attack. The Aussies went into the match hot favourites at $1.40 after opening at $1.60. The last sizable wager we took was $30,000 at $1.45, but thankfully the Kiwi's did get themselves into a decent position which gave us some leverage to balance the books. At different stages, the draw was layable at $2.75 when rain was predicted over the weekend, and we even saw some money for New Zealand at $6 prior to the Aussie tail wagging. While the game itself was a loser for us, the exotics more than compensated, especially the Aussie high bat. Michael Clarke ($9) was completely neglected by punters, with preference being given to the experienced players. Matthew Hayden attracted bets of $4000 and $2000 at $4.25, while Ricky Ponting had a bet of $2500 placed on him at $5. The second and final test will start in Adelaide on Friday, and while all the early money has been for an Australian win, Adelaide Oval has a history of springing surprises. The opening $1.50 was taken with bets of $30,000, $20,000 and $16,000, and even a price change to $1.45 hasn't really stemmed the tide. With the skies all clear, the draw is hard to sell at $3.40, while there have been a handful of small bets for a New Zealand win at $11. Matty Hayden has been struggling to amass runs recently, but that hasn't stopped punters getting behind the tall Queenslander and Justin Langer to score the highest opening partnership. Bets of $6000 ($1.60) and $5000 ($1.55) have come for the duo to outscore the New Zealand openers. Betting will be available 'ball by ball' throughout the test, as well as 'next man out' and 'form of dismissal'. ENTERTAINMENT Casey Donovan is the newly crowned Australian Idol, and Casey's win provided Centrebet with one of our biggest ever results on a reality show. Casey started the outsider at $4, and in fact was the outsider for most of the series from the time that the twelve semi finalists were known. All up, close to $200,000 was wagered on Idol, and the final closing prices were $1.20 for Anthony, and $4 for Casey. There had been a rally early in the week for Casey, who got into $2.70 after NSW Premier Bob Carr threw his support behind her. There was a real 'state of origin' feel about the whole event as the push for Anthony from Victoria was quite substantial, especially after last year's winner, Guy Sebastian, tipped Anthony as the winner. We took three separate bets of $5000 for Anthony at $1.28, as well as several bets around the $1000 mark, but there was equally as much support for Casey, although the amounts were much smaller. One thing that we did notice on this show that was a little different from others was that there were a high number of bets from females, particularly on Casey in the final days, so perhaps we are beginning to see a shift away from the male domination of these types of shows? GREYHOUNDS The Melbourne Cup of greyhounds will be held on Thursday night at Sandown Park, and the interest following an intriguing box draw has been big. Whiskey Assassin has taken all before him of recent times, winning the Geelong and Shepparton Cups, as well as the Shootout two weeks ago. But the powerful sprinter has drawn poorly in box four with a reliable beginner on his outside, so he will be a risk in our book. We have taken close to $4000 for Whiskey Assassin in early trading at $2.40, but there is a good spread of money amongst several other runners as well. The Tony Lockett owned Hallucinate was awesome in his heat win, and has come up with box one in the final. He had the same box in the Shootout, but on that occasion the inside of the track was awash after heavy rains. Hallucinate is currently $2.70 to win the Cup, and has been quite popular, as has Sydney boom sprinter Malfoy ($7), backed to win close to $5000 early in the week. Malfoy is unbeaten at Sandown, but is notoriously slow early, so will need luck. If there is to be an upset, it might come from Born Yesterday, drawn well out in box 8. Currently a $13 chance, Born Yesterday uses plenty of the track, and will be the one running on if there is any trouble on the first turn. We are also covering the Bold Trease Carnival Cup over the longer distance. Arvo's Athena is the favourite at $2.40, but second elect Triple Trio has been best backed following two early bets of $1000 at $2.50. Triple Trio needs plenty of room, and although he has a shocking beginner on his inside (Sleeveless), there is a lot of speed in the race. HARNESS RACING The Miracle Mile is always an exciting race on the harness racing calendar, and this year’s race should also be a great battle following the all important barrier draw. Run around the Harold Park circuit in Sydney, it is a huge advantage to draw well, and following on from the draw, Victorian Sokyola ($2.60) looks an outstanding chance to make it back to back wins in the classic event. Jodi Quinlan has the drive this year, and while we haven't taken any big bets for Sokyola as yet, there is enough interest to say that he might even push Kiwi Elsu for favourtism. We opened Elsu at $2.20, but have eased the New Zealand star out to $2.30, looking for some kind of decent money, but it isn't around at the moment. The other two Kiwi's in the field, Mister DG ($14) and Roman Gladiator ($8) have both been supported to take out in excess of $10,000 by New Zealand fans, but both will need there share of luck. Sand Pebbles was an impressive winner last week, and is drawn (barrier two) to take any advantage of a speed battle up front. We have seen plenty of interest coming from NSW for Sand Pebbles at $10, and also two bets of $2000 to finish in the top three at $2.50. Until next week, good punting. For further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 08 89555800 or centrebet@centrebet.com.
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