With many sports at home and abroad being put on hold due to the COVID19 break there are some slim pickings for backing a winner.
Fortunately, we’ve gone deep into the Neds sportsbook to bring you our best tips from the available world of sports.
TUESDAY MARCH 24th
Channel 7 News v Channel 9 News
They say nobody knows news like Seven but Channel 9 news is the who’s who of news.
The 6 pm news ratings battle between Seven and Nine have been one of the fiercest and most competitive since Bruce Gyngell said “Good evening, and welcome to television.”
In the current climate, News is becoming more important than ever right now and millions of Australian’s are tuning into Seven and Nine news every night to remain informed.
This is a fascinating market to look into, cities like Perth love Channel 7 news whereas punters in Melbourne tend to opt for Channel 9 news with Peter Hitchener.
Seven are favourite to win the News head-to-head nationally but with the juggernaut that is Married At First Sight it’s worth taking the dots at the $3.50 to win the news night.
Peter Overton bring it home!
Melbourne 2 pm Forecast
If there’s one major capital city in Australia where the weather can change in an instant – it’s Melbourne.
Jacket on. Jacket off. Jacket on. Jacket off.
Four seasons in one day.
Melbourne is forecast to have a top of 18 degrees today and I reckon at around 2 pm it’ll get to the 17-degree mark before it gets to its peak temp of 18 later in the afternoon.
Things are really heating up in the Bowls Grand Prix and the clash between Kevin Rands and Neil Smith is set to be epic.
Rands goes into this with plenty of confidence but Neil Smith is a formidable opponent and it won’t be a roll in the park for either bowler.
Smith is the underdog at $2, but Rands is a man on the mission and worth backing at the $1.74
MONDAY MARCH 23rd TIPS
Moscow Liga Pro Men’s Singles – Sergey Morozov v Igor Poletaev
Russia is currently gripped by the action of the Moscow Liga Pro Men’s Singles tournament and it’s easy to understand why.
This is some of the best Ping-Pong punters have ever seen and the matchup between Morozov v Poletaev is one Table Tennis fans have been anticipating since the tournament got underway.
Sergey Morozov is a bit of a Nick Kyrigos-esque type of player in the Table Tennis world where you love him/hate him/love him but you ride every bump with him along the way.
While his opponent, Igor Poletaev has delivered some consistent results of recent, the edge and flare of Morozov could prove a deadly combination and worth taking at the even $2
Bowls Grand Prix – Penny Strong v Jonathan West
The F1’s may not be racing, but the Bowls Grand Prix is still racing and the “Battle of the Sexes” matchup between Penny Strong and Jonathan West is going to be one to keep an eye out.
You’re always in for a fight when Penny Strong steps up to the green.
The way she rolls the ball to the jack is poetry in motion and big Jonathan West better bring his A-game.
It’s neck and neck in the betting with Jonathan West the narrow favourite but when Penny gets rolling – there’s no stopping her.
I’ve been a big fan of Penny Strong for a number of years now and she’s easily my best bet for the day at $1.91
Will All Ordinaries Closing Price Be An Odd or Even Number?
With all the unpredictability, It’s fair to say it’s brutal on the stock market at the moment.
It’s a pretty simple method for predicting a winner in this one – tossing a coin.
Heads – even, Tails – Odd
Given that tails never fails, we’re backing an odd number to close the all ordinaries by the end of trade today.
Tom Petrovski, don’t let me down!
FRIDAY MARCH 20TH TIPS
If you enjoyed the casual F-bomb last night between Richmond and Carlton, boy have we got good news for you!
It’s another ghost game tonight between the Dogs and Collingwood, this time from Marvel. The Pies won by only nine-points when these two met back in Round 14 last year, but if last night’s game taught us anything, it’s that footy can get pretty frantic with no one in attendance.
Jordan de Goey and Marcus Bontempelli are the two names to watch tonight, but I like Josh Bruce to kick a bag. He’s only faced Collingwood seven times in his career and kicked a goal in each, but he’s a real key to the Doggies’ chances this season if he can work alongside Aaron Naughton.
Plenty of spicy matchups to watch on and off the field in this one.
Wayne Bennett vs Anthony Seibold, the Broncos’ forward line vs the Rabbits’ backline – sign me up.
Seibold was a no show last year against Bennett losing 22-20 at Suncorp and 38-6 in Sydney. Can you trust Brisbane was enormous last week against the Cowboys, but can you trust them to win two games in a row? The Broncos accomplished that only three times last year, so I’ll take the Bunnies please and thanks.
Our main man Sven Happek got the job done last night saluting at $3.20 so we’re gonna try and keep the good times rolling with another table tennis roughie!
Dwain Schwarzer should take plenty of confidence into this game as the outsider after beating Nico Wenger yesterday 3-0. He faces a tough test beforehand against Dauud Cheaib, but if there’s one thing we (pretend to) know about Schwarzer, it’s that he’s a resilient S.O.B that always bounces back.
The William Reid Stakes marks the final Group 1 of the season at The Valley tonight and our racing aficionado the Profit Prophet is all over the favourite Bivouac.
“Bivouac had the Newmarket Handicap won at the 500m a fortnight ago and once again, he’ll take a power of beating in the William Reid. You don’t need me to tell you about the Exceed And Excel colt’s record and ability because clearly, it speaks for itself, but he is now a two-time Group 1 winner and in my opinion, is the best sprinter currently going around. His chances in the Manikato here in spring were undone by the rails draw, which he’ll have to deal with again on Friday, but I think it’s fair to say that he’s a better horse this time and will take beating regardless.”
THURSDAY MARCH 19TH TIPS
If we were doing this blog from another country, doing a tip for a match of Australian Rules Football would be like betting on Table Tennis, German Volleyball and E-Sports.
Fortunately, there is some normality in the available world of sports with the AFL deciding to proceed with Round 1 and the season opener between Richmond and Carlton going ahead behind closed doors at the MCG.
We all know the saying, ramping it up from zero to one hundred but for last year’s feel-good story, Marlion Pickett he’s going from playing in front of 100,000 on his Grand Final day debut to nobody in his second game of Football.
Pickett jumped straight into the deep end on Grand Final day and it was like he’d always been there, I think he’ll easily adapt to playing in an empty stadium given he’s played in all levels of football from the prison team, WAFL to the big leagues.
I’m backing him for the sentiment in this one.
Think about it, Pickett comes off the bench in the first minutes, receives a handball from Dusty, runs inside 50, kicks a goal and the crowd goes wild…from the comfort of their lounge room.
Nothing can stop Rugby League! For now.
The Bulldogs will host the Cowboys at an empty ANZ Stadium tonight as the show goes on.
Our in-house profit prophet and League Linguist, Jared Timms gave his insight to the game in our Round 2 Tips & Preview
“Round 2 is underway in Sydney on Thursday night and an intriguing contest between the Bulldogs and Cowboys looms.
I really didn’t expect a lot from the Dogs in Round 1 and in retrospect, that was silly, because the Eels are always overrated, particularly early in the season. In a week dominated by absolutely appalling behaviour, there were actually some promising signs for the long-suffering Canterbury fans and ultimately, they did themselves proud.
Everything was expected of the Cows, meanwhile and it was not a good display. They left enormous holes in defence and were pretty one-dimensional at the other end of the field. I don’t have particularly high hopes for them, even this early in the season and we might be witnessing the last few months of life under Paul Green.
More than happy to be with the Dogs as the outsiders, particularly at home.”
Perhaps Operator Please were on to something when they wrote their 2008 hit “This just a song about Ping Pong”
Table Tennis is the sport to get around in these tough times!
There was much hype about world sixth seed Sven Happek going into this tournament but his recent form has been a bit rusty and he went down to my man, Dwain Schwarzer overnight at the Challenger Series in Germany.
Sven is a proud man and will be desperate to make a statement as he takes on fellow German David Steinle in a clash of Ping Pong Titans.
The straight-set loss the Dwain Man suffered overnight will hurt, but Sven will come out fighting and teach Steinle a lesson as to who rules the German Ping Pong circuit.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18th TIPS
Dwain Schwarzer v Sven Happek
The International Table Tennis series is still going and the matchup between Dwain Schwarzer and Sven Happek looks to be the more even contest according to this market.
I’m told that it’s like Rafa taking on Djokovic in the Ping-Pong world.
Schwarzer goes into this contest the underdog with four wins and four losses in his past eight outings.
Happek goes into this match the favourite but lost his most recent match up 0-3.
It’s a toss of a coin this one, and I’m backing the Dwain man in this contest.
DOTA 2 – NO MAJOR NO PROBLEM: NOPING E-SPORTS v INFAMOUS
Really like the recent form of the Pingers (Noping) in this one as they take on their old rival infamous.
I’m told the boys have been training hard on their multiple screens and these “gadget type operators” are looking to this matchup in DOTA 2 – No Major Problem to make a statement on Friday night.
I think the Noping team are primed for a dominant win and I’m backing them 2-0.
Wentworth Park Race 5 (8:27 PM AEDT)
It’s all systems go for the Dishlickers and we’ve called in the insight of the Dishlicker Delicatessen with a tip for tonight’s meet at Wentworth Park.
His best bet is Blue Bronte in Race 5.
“Blue Bronte has been absolutely airborne of late and looks the one to beat again in the fifth at Wentworth Park tonight. Simply put, she doesn’t know how to run a bad race and has won each of her last four starts with utter ease, in slick time. Her best form would see her finishing lengths ahead of these rivals and she is my best bet of the night.”